Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) co-sponsors and entertainment industry vessels Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) have had a very busy few weeks both responding to and ignoring the immense criticism to the DNS filtering aspects of SOPA. This week Leahy proclaimed that he'd be willing to make a not-really-concession by rushing the bill to a vote and then maybe studying the DNS impact at a later date. Leahy issued a statement urging everybody to essentially ignore the Internet-breaking aspects of the bill, while downplaying criticism coming from all corners of the Internet:
 It is amazing to me that the opponents apparently don t want to protect American consumers and businesses. Are they somehow benefiting by directing customers to these foreign websites? Do they profit from selling advertising to these foreign websites? And if they do, they need to be stopped. And I don t mind taking that on -Lamar Smith (R-Texas) |
I remain confident that the ISPs including the cable industry, which is the largest association of ISPs would not support the legislation if its enactment created the problems that opponents of this provision suggest. Nonetheless, this is in fact a highly technical issue, and I am prepared to recommend we give it more study before implementing it. As I prepare a managers amendment to be considered during the floor debate, I will therefore propose that the positive and negative effects of this provision be studied before implemented, so that we can focus on the other important provisions in this bill...
In other words, please ignore the devastating, free-speech crushing, Internet breaking aspects of this bill and just pass it. You can trust me and my handlers in the entertainment industry to investigate and fix the problems later. Maybe.As for ISP support, while myopic media executives at cable ISPs likely love SOPA because they incorrectly think it will stop piracy, the engineers at those ISPs realize the bill's fatal flaws. Unfortunately, that latter segment probably won't get their voices heard, just like when they warn bean counters of security vulnerabilities that are costly to correctly address. Leahy went on to suggest that people really shouldn't be upset about SOPA, because it was built with the input of everybody:
The process in drafting the legislation has always been an open one in which we have heard from all third parties, and have worked to address as many outstanding concerns as possible. It is through this process that we have gained the support of the majority of third parties who will be asked to take action under the legislation, as well as a bipartisan group of 40 cosponsors in the Senate.
Except like with most one sided, corporate lobbyist drafted bills, the bill creation process wasn't open in the slightest, with no hearings held on PIPA whatsoever, and consumer and expert input that disagreed with the MPAA/RIAA perspective being utterly ignored. The fact that you've assembled a group of bipartisan cosponsors who have absolutely no idea how technology works and are happily willing to gobble up entertainment industry cash and talking points -- isn't really anything to brag about and does not constitute consensus.Meanwhile, Leahy's co-sponsor Smith has been taking aim at SOPA opponents like Facebook, Google and OpenDNS -- claiming that they're opposing the bill not because the bill is absolute and utter crap, but because they're secretly making money off of foreign pirate sites. Or something.
It is amazing to me that the opponents apparently don t want to protect American consumers and businesses. Are they somehow benefiting by directing customers to these foreign websites? Do they profit from selling advertising to these foreign websites? And if they do, they need to be stopped. And I don t mind taking that on."
While Smith is busy accusing Google and Facebook of being unpatriotic pirate lovers, Smith himself is taking some heat for the fact he's pushing an anti-piracy law while quietly ripping off website backgrounds without getting permission from the artist. The raw, blistering hypocrisy and ignorance SOPA/PIPA sponsors are exhaling this week needs to somehow be harnessed and used to solve the world's looming energy crisis.read comment(s)