(crossposted from Green Mountain Daily, thus the Vermont center of gravity. In the body of the diary, I take some shots at the claims of economic damage done to the economy by online piracy. Not sure how good they are, economics isn't my strong suit.)
And the blood's in the water. Keep the heat on. Backpedaling from you-know-who, the author of the Senate abomination:
I and the bill’s cosponsors have continued to hear concerns about the Domain Name provision from engineers, human rights groups, and others. I have also heard from a number of Vermonters on this important issue. 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....
Uh-huh. That's a start, but it doesn't go anything like far enough.
Let me be clear: Both these bills need to be KILLED. Shot in the head. Burned. Scrapped. Start over.
Seven Days points out:
Leahy, who is famously friendly with Hollywood, had by far the biggest haul in 2010: He collected $346,056 from the music/movie/TV industries, and $140,620 from the computers/internet industries, according to ProPublica.
Bromage also points out the other two-thirds of Vermont's congressional delegation have been substantively silent on the issue:
Both U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch are listed as "unknown" on ProPublica's score card — and their press offices would not, or could not, reveal much more than that on Friday.
Which is, in my view, unacceptable. I read it as tacit support in the form of absence of opposition.
The White House has, however, dialed in. Depressing, in a sense, that the Obama administration's stance offers more in the way of encouragement than that of our Congresscritters.
Additional sub folda.
While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.
Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small. Across the globe, the openness of the Internet is increasingly central to innovation in business, government, and society and it must be protected...We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet. Proposed laws must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS), a foundation of Internet security...
The House version of the Internet censorship legislation is also being walked back in just the same way:
Rep. Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), one of the biggest backers of the Stop Online Piracy Act, today said he plans to remove the Domain Name System requirements from the Stop Online Piracy Act.
"After consultation with industry groups across the country," Smith said in a statement released by his office, "I feel we should remove DNS-blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the [U.S. House Judiciary] Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision.
CNET further notes:
Both bills are heavily supported by a wide group of copyright owners, including the big record companies and Hollywood film studios.
Like you didn't already know that.....but it can't be said enough.
As to the claims about the horrible, horrible damage that online piracy does to the economy, let's take a look at how the economics break down. Economics are not my strong suit, so I hope you appreciate the headache I'm giving myself trying to lay this out.
Bureau of Labor Statistics chart data:
These are actually projected growth figures, but I think they give a rough metric of what portion of the economy is accounted for by what industry. To look at the internet sector's share, I'd suggest adding the "information" to the "Professional, scientific, and technical services" figure.
Then compare that to "arts, entertainment, and recreation."
Employment in computer systems design and related services is expected to increase by 45 percent, accounting for nearly one-fourth of all new jobs in this industry sector. Employment growth will be driven by growing demand for the design and integration of sophisticated networks and Internet and intranet sites.
By contrast:
The arts, entertainment, and recreation industry is expected to grow by 15 percent by 2018. Most of the growth will be in the amusement, gambling, and recreation sector. Job growth will stem from public participation in arts, entertainment, and recreation activities—reflecting increasing incomes, leisure time, and awareness of the health benefits of physical fitness.
we see that movies and music are accounting for only a small portion of that figure, which also includes waterskiing, casino gambling, Six Flags, snowboarding, etc...in short, that part of "the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry" that claims injury from online piracy reflects only a small portion of that small portion.
So I say we're getting smoke blown up our collective asses when it comes to the assertions of the sponsors of the Internet censorship bills about the horrible effect online piracy is having on the economy. I also ain't buying the "only foreign websites" thing either.
NO LAW THAT ALLOWS THE GOVERNMENT TO BREAK THE DNS SYSTEM SHOULD EXIST. PERIOD.
These bills amount to one thing: Lobbyists over liberties. And these walkbacks aren't enough.
And the heat is not being turned down:
Outrage over a pair of bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect Intellectual Property Act in the Senate, is building ahead of a planned protest on Wednesday in which popular websites plan to black out their front pages to raise awareness... critics said that creates a slippery slope toward censorship of websites that corporations don’t like.
James Allworth, a fellow at the Harvard University Forum for Growth and Innovation, said the bills would hurt the economy, stifling tech sector innovation.
“This is one of the few engines for growth in the economy right now,” he said. “It seems strange in the midst of the recession, you’d look at an area of the economy that’s growing and effectively take steps to slow that down.”
On Wednesday, websites such as the popular Internet meme website group Cheezburger Network and link-sharing site Reddit will deliver black screens to their visitors, with some linked text reading, “This is what the web could look like under the Stop Online Piracy Act. Keep the web open. Contact your representatives or find out more.”
Oh, speaking of your representatives:
Sanders raised $11,500 from music/movie/TV and $5591 from computers/internet, ProPublica reports, while Welch raised $37,400 from the music/movie/TV industries and $13,750 from the computer/internet industries.
It gets clearer and clearer.
You wouldn't eat a sandwich made with moldy bread after simply cutting the mold out. The bread would still taste like shit.
And both these bills taste like shit. They both need to be killed. Not amended, not reviewed, not have a few parts held in abeyance:
KILLED.
Dump them and start over. People are watching now. Congress thought they'd slip these through under the radar. They found out they were very, very wrong. A second attempt at legislation to combat online piracy would now come under intense public scrutiny from the second pen met paper.
Congress "is realizing that they are not going to slip these bills in the cover of night," said Corynne McSherry, the intellectual property director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology advocacy group that has been among the most outspoken critics of SOPA and PIPA. "They didn't let the Internet participate in the legislative process and the Internet is speaking now."
When asked whether the removal of the DNS provision is sufficient for EFF to drop its opposition, McSherry said it's not even close. Though the DNS portions are deleted, Protect IP still targets financial transaction providers, Internet advertising services, and providers of "information location tools," or ILTs, including search engines and other Web sites.
"These bills need to be killed altogether," McSherry said. "Our view all along has been they are not fixable."
Make them trash both SOPA and PIPA completely, and start over.
And even THEN, this little excursion won't ever be forgotten. We WILL be watching.