[conspire] Fwd: [nylug-talk] What a Pig sounds like when it talks

[Ruben Safir]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/246500/congress_to_resume_sopa_hearings_next_week.html


Congress to Resume SOPA Hearings Next Week
By Grant Gross, IDG News    Dec 17, 2011 2:16 pm

The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will continue its 
hearing on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) on Wednesday, 
not until after Congress' holiday break, as originally believed.

Late Friday, Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican and 
committee chairman, scheduled a continuation of the hearing to amend the 
bill for this Wednesday at 9 a.m., even though many members of the 
committee may be out of town for the holidays. Representative Darrell 
Issa, a California Republican and opponent of the bill, tweeted the 
hearing announcement late Friday.

At the urging of some SOPA opponents, Smith said Friday he will consider 
a hearing or a classified briefing on the bill's impact on 
cybersecurity. More than 80 Internet engineers and cybersecurity experts 
have raised security concerns about the bill, which would require 
Internet service providers and domain name registrars to block the 
domain names of foreign websites accused of copyright infringement.


[Listadmin's comment:  I am retroactively removing from the archive
Ruben Safir's posting of the rest of the article, as this posting of an 
_entire_ copyrighted work, apparently without permission of the copyright 
owner, appears on its face to be a clear violation of copyright owned 
by publishers PCWorld Communications, Inc:   Retaining three paragraphs 
of the original 17 seems more in line with copyright fair use under 
17 U.S.C. § 107 and related caselaw.  Linuxmafia.com management takes 
valid copyright concerns seriously and takes action where necessary to 
curb and correct abuse it becomes aware of.   -- RM]



On 12/17/2011 07:42 PM, Ruben Safir wrote:
>
> Smith: Critics Continue to Spread Lies about SOPA
>
> Washington, D.C. . Chairman Smith responded today to a letter that
> appeared in several newspapers from founders of Internet companies like
> Google, Twitter, and eBay regarding criticisms of the Stop Online Piracy
> Act. Many of the claims in the letter are erroneous and simply restate
> concerns that were actually addressed by the manager.s amendment
> released on Monday.
>
> Chairman Smith: .It.s disappointing that some critics of the Stop Online
> Piracy Act do not understand what the bill actually does.  The manager.s
> amendment introduced earlier this week narrows the scope of the bill to
> ensure that it only applies to foreign rogue websites.  The bill defines
> rogue sites as foreign websites primarily dedicated to the sale and
> distribution of illegal or infringing material or foreign websites that
> market themselves as websites primarily dedicated to illegal or
> infringing activity.  Lawful companies and websites like Google,
> Twitter, Yahoo and Facebook have nothing to worry about under this bill.
>
> .Unfortunately, that has not stopped some of the bill.s critics from
> spreading lies about the legislation in an attempt to stall efforts by
> Congress to combat foreign rogue websites.  Companies like Google have
> made billions by working with and promoting foreign rogue websites so
> they have a vested interest in preventing Congress from stopping rogue
> sites.
>
> .In August, Google paid half a billion dollars to settle a criminal case
> because of the search engine giant.s active promotion of foreign rogue
> pharmacies that sold counterfeit and illegal drugs to U.S. patients.
> Their opposition to this legislation is self-serving since they profit
> from doing business with rogue sites that steal and sell America.s
> intellectual property.
>
> .American intellectual property industries provide 19 million
> high-paying jobs to the U.S. economy and account for more than 60
> percent of U.S. exports.  Congress cannot stand by and do nothing while
> some of America.s most profitable and productive industries are under
> attack..
>
> Background information on the Stop Online Piracy Act:
>
> The Stop Online Piracy Act targets foreign web sites that steal and sell
> America.s intellectual property and keep the profits for themselves.
> The manager.s amendment, introduced on Monday, addresses technical
> concerns with the first draft of the bill and is the result of
> conservations with additional stakeholders like Facebook and Microsoft.
> The bill takes legitimate concerns into consideration, while still
> providing strong tools to fight foreign rogue sites.  The manager.s
> amendment improves the legislation, increases industry support, and
> ensures the protection of American innovation and jobs.
>
> Specifically, the manager.s amendment:>
>
>     Clarifies that provisions of the bill apply only to foreign rogue
> websites.
>
>     Removes language that would have required redirection when users try
> to access an unlawful site.
>
>         Includes a savings clause that disallows a court from issuing an
> order that would harm DNS.
>
>         Makes sure that service providers have the ability to determine
> the best method to ensure compliance and prohibits courts from imposing
> any additional obligations on service providers.
>
>         Commissions an inter-agency expert study on any impact of the
> bill.s remedies on the DNS.
>
>     Makes clear that in an action by the Attorney General, service
> providers will not be required to block subdomains.
>
>     Narrows definitions in the bill.
>
>         Narrows the definition of rogue websites dedicated to illegal or
> infringing activity to ensure that monitoring is not required.
>
>         Narrows the definition of search engines to clarify that only
> services that operate primarily as search engines are covered, not
> search functions on other services or services powered by third parties.
>
>         Narrows the definition of payment processors to ensure that
> banks and credit unions are not included as such.
>
>         Narrows the definition of advertising networks to clarify that
> the bill covers entities directly involved in serving ads to foreign
> rogue websites.
>
>     Removes the .voluntary notice. section for rights holders.  This
> means rights holders are no longer required to provide notice to payment
> processors and advertising networks as a precondition to seeking
> judicial relief. Victims of IP theft will continue to use current
> voluntary market-based systems to address counterfeiting and piracy.
> The bill maintains immunity for financial institutions and online ad
> service providers.
>