We celebrated Monday when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor effectively signaled the death of SOPA, the Stopping Online Piracy Act. Cantor said the Internet censorship bill would not see a vote until there was consensus on the matter. As long as Darrell Issa, Justin Amash, and Jason Chaffetz are on the case there will be no consensus on sweeping Internet censorship, so Cantor’s position basically kills SOPA this Congress. This was a well earned victory for conservatives, and we owe the above allies thanks for sticking up for our values against formidable opposition. Barack Obama refused to pledge a SOPA veto even in the face of a massive petition from his supporters. Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith sponsored the bill, and notable tech leaders like Marsha Blackburn co-sponsored it. Well-funded groups like AFL-CIO, MPAA, and RIAA all lined up behind it. It took everything we had to be heard on this. Our movement could hold nothing back. Erick Erickson himself had to threaten a primary challenge to Blackburn, and he was right to do it. But we got our way, and we should be glad. But today, as SOPA protests go on across the Internet, we should be aware that there are a few lingering pockets of resistance, and be mindful of them. It all goes back to May 2011. RedState started work early against a new bill, called PROTECT IP (now being called PIPA in parallel with SOPA). Even as the administration was ramming Net Neutrality Internet regulation through the FCC, the RedState community knew that Net Neutrality wasn’t just a threat in itself, but it was also a stepping stone to bigger, more intrusive Internet controls. It was true, too. Net Neutrality passed, and no matter how loudly we cried out, no matter how hard Kay Bailey Hutchison pleaded for the Senate to take up the Net Neutrality repeal that House Republicans passed, it remained. And with the Internet already regulated, why not try for more? So Patrick Leahy’s PROTECT IP bill grew in support, gaining shocking co-sponsors like Marco Rubio. Why a TEA Party Senator would want to give dictatorial Internet censorship powers to Eric Holder, I have no idea. If not for Ron Wyden’s obstruction of the bill, it might have been worse yet. But Wyden did block the bill, and so PROTECT IP came to the House under the name of SOPA. Leahy’s idea found a Republican champion in Lamar Smith, and the bill backed by disgraced former Senator Chris Dodd’s MPAA brought in even more disappointing Republican sponsors. Marsha Blackburn has been a hero against Internet regulation, but she for some reason cosponsored SOPA. We at RedState complained and complained, for months highlighting this bill and its dangers. But as with Net Neutrality, allies were few and far between. But slowly, we grew the coalition. Erick Erickson joined my primary threats, and Darrell Issa put together a crack team of liberty-loving Republicans to make some noise. Together we made people realize how bad this bill really was. Now, suddenly, the whole Internet was screaming about SOPA. People who mocked and scorned us for months suddenly were rushing to be on our side. However unlike us, they put no pressure on their own side to do right on SOPA and PROTECT IP. Barack Obama, despite making no promise to veto SOPA, endures no criticism. Senate Democrats are left free of consequences to force a vote on PROTECT IP. Judiciary Ranking Member John Conyers and other House Democrats vote for SOPA’s censorship and are free of public censure. Conyers in fact laughably said “The notion that this bill threatens freedom of information is insupportable,” but what has the left done? They free ride on our primary threats by joining in on our attacks on Lamar Smith, whose picture is prominent in the Wikipedia page for SOPA. But today we continue to name and shame Republicans like Smith, Rubio, and Blackburn for their roles in supporting SOPA and PROTECT IP. We stand and demand electoral consequences for censoring the Internet. That takes time, effort, and money, and I’m glad our community is a coalition of the willing. Today I thank the RedState community for working, for joining our effort and applying the pressure it took to get Eric Cantor to come down on SOPA. I’m glad RedState’s community is here, because if Cantor ever backslides and SOPA becomes a risk to pass, we’ll need a full team effort once again. We’ll need action if SOPA starts to move again. RedState is online today not because we support SOPA, but because somebody had to do the heavy lifting to defeat SOPA, and that’s what we were part of. Thank you, RedStaters, for getting that done. Thank you Darrell Issa, Justin Amash, Jason Chaffetz, and other House members for getting this done. Thank you Orrin Hatch and other Senate Republicans for demanding against the odds that Harry Reid should stop his insistence on jamming PROTECT IP through the Senate. But most of all thank you, RedStaters, for showing up for small government and an open Internet even when it’s not the cool thing to do so.
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SOPA and PROTECT IP/PIPA: An Update
Some bills become unstoppable in the Congress. They pile up cosponsors, get leadership support, and cruise on through to easy passage. Not SOPA, or its original Senate version, PROTECT IP. They’re in trouble. While the left is fighting these bills with blackouts and protesting, our message is simpler: If you back SOPA or PROTECT IP, we will primary you. That matters. One guy who has clearly heard us, and is responding to our complaints by urging a slowdown on PROTECT IP , is Orrin Hatch. He’s a potential primary target and he knows it, so he’s listening. It’s refreshing, and certainly puts Hatch over many in Congress on this issue. Yeah, Free Press and the radicals are hypocrites on this , but SOPA really is a bad bill. Lamar Smith is even talking about removing some of the worst provisions , that’s how bad it is. Patrick Leahy is also talking about bending on PROTECT IP . We’re making progress. Keep it up. Industry is paying attention , the threat of a vote looms . Erick Erickson made it clear he’d even oppose Marsha Blackburn if she helped pass SOPA. This is serious and we need to be loud and committed to action. Look. It’s simply bad customer service for Google to sabotage its own new search service by deliberately omitting popular services like Twitter. But it’s an even worse idea to bring government into it . We need to leave government out of it . These big government losers need to suck it up, quit whining, and just stop using Google if they don’t like Google. Grow up people. Get a life already. Likewise, if you don’t like NFL blackout policy, quit watching. I don’t like bringing government into it , either. But the FCC under Barack Obama thinks it rules the world. So it’s irksome that they’re now crowing about their shameful behavior regarding AT&T . They claim it was a win of the rules for competition, but there were no rule of law there. There was no objective decision being made according to facts and evidence. This was government picking winners and losers according to the whims of commissioners. why do you think they’re getting hysterical about House Republicans wanting to constrain FCC action regarding spectrum allocation? They want FCC to rule according to their whims , and now Constitutionally-passed law. Congressional oversight and control over legislation annoys them. Thinking about why that would be suggests why it’s a good idea to begin with to pass laws constraining the FCC’s actions. Chuck Grassley is turning into a real beast on regulatory oversight. Good on him.
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Tech at Night: SOPA and PROTECT IP in yet more trouble. We need to constrain the FCC.
Internet access is not a human right. It’s not me saying that, either. It’s Vint Cerf, Google’s Internet Evangelist . ESA May be backing SOPA , but we’re seeing developers themselves such as Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios come out against it. But support for the OPEN Act is growing , as it protects American rights without trying to censor the Internet or impose destructive burdens on Americans online. Defeat SOPA. Pass OPEN. Everyone wins. Even if the RIAA and MPAA think they’d benefit from government picking winners and losers. I respect Haley Barbour for being Constitutional in his support for an Internet sales tax compact , but I still say it’s a bad policy. Not only does it run the risk of America ending up with a Canadian-style Harmonized Sales Tax, complete with a true national sales tax, but there’s a more basic issue than that. Sales taxes aren’t what are helping firms like Amazon win . Firms like Best Buys simply deserve to lose. And we must not let envy from failing retailers drive policy designed to punish the superior online competitors. One of the quiet stories of the Obama administration is the way he’s been letting Internet governance get out of hand . We used to be in charge, and we were great stewards of the Internet. Now we run the risk of UN-style control. The same UN that would vote to wipe out Israel if it could. Shocker: Lower Power FM is not the economic end of the world that big media firms would have had us believe.
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Tech at Night: Kill SOPA, and even a Constitutional Internet Sales Tax is the wrong idea
I’m back. I ended up taking an extended Christmas break because well, I liked having a break, plus there wasn’t a whole lot going on anyway. But, back to work! Lamar Smith and Chris Dodd still want to censor the Internet, by pushing the SOPA bill that we need to defeat. Why is it bad? Victims get no due process, ISPs have the burden of proof if government makes economically or technically unreasonable demands on them, and of course the largest reason of all is that it amounts to censoring the Internet without actually stopping foreign infringers of American copyrights. Let’s make sure to watch the SOPA sponsor list . They must be primary targets this cycle if they don’t turn. I don’t care who they are. Marsha Blackburn is one of my favorite members, but Erick Erickson is right to call her out . This is a bad bill, a terrible bill. Yes, the foreign leeches are annoying , but the problem is that SOPA doesn’t actually stop them. It attempts (poorly) to censor what Americans can see online. It doesn’t protect American property rights, but instead threatens them in an ostrich-like attempt to hide us from the rest of the world. Activists are already at work . There’s also an alternative to SOPA that actually will work. The OPEN act promoted by Darrell Issa and Ron Wyden would use proven techniques for stopping foreign infringers; Apple uses it already against patent infringement. The ITC exists for a reason. But, Chris Dodd’s MPAA and now the RIAA are demanding SOPA, not OPEN. They don’t care if the Internet is open; they think if they shut down the Internet in America that you’ll buy more CDs and DVDs. They want government to pick winners and losers, not just protect rights. OPEN protects rights. SOPA pits one industry against all others. Kill the bill. Primary the offenders. For those of us thinking of focusing on races other than the Presidential race, that’d be a great project to work on. I’m glad FCC censorship has its limits at least . Cable TV can show respected works without worry. PATENT WARS: The great, peace-loving Soviet Google buys more patents in bulk , though the firm continues to insist it uses patents only defensively. Meanwhile Some make the case that Apple should fight Android less and instead offer up patent licenses, to cash in on Android the way Microsoft does. Imagine if we ended the arbitrary scarcity of top level domains (think of .com, .net, .us, .ly, etc.). ICANN wants to expand our choices , but some in government want to hinder and slow down the process . I’m torn. On one hand it’s an obvious cash grab on the part of ICANN and the registrars, as they know deep-pocketed big businesses will buy up many more domains to try to protect their expensive brands. On the other hand, for the rest of us, the expanded choices will reduce costs. So in this case, self-interest on the part of registrars seems to benefit the public. The invisible hand moves. Some people give lawyers a bad name. Righthaven was one of those firms , trolling around the internet making suing people a business model. Moe Lane says they’re getting “force choked,” and I’m not about to cry about it, despite being a strong proponent of copyright. Online terror group Anonymous won’t quit. Like any other crime syndicate, they make threats against innocents at will , and make attacks that harm bystanders. Even when they try to do “good,” by attacking members of the fringe, fascist, racist, literally Nazi-loving political party in Germany, the Nationalist Party of Germany or the NPD *, they mess up badly. By breaking the law, they’re making the Nazis out to be victims, which is counterproductive.
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Tech at Night: The Return. Also, we still need to kill SOPA.
