Friday, December 16, 2011

The evil SOPA is dead …. for now…. [Update: or not...]

by on December 16, 2011 @ 4:22 pm · 0 comments

in Anti-Statism, IP Law, Police Statism, Protectionism, Technology

Update, from Masnick’s post below: “Update…. Or not. Despite the fact that Congress was supposed to be out of session until the end of January, the Judiciary Committee has just announced plans to come back to continue the markup this coming Wednesday. This is rather unusual and totally unnecessary. But it shows just how desperate Hollywood is to pass this bill as quickly as possible, before the momentum of opposition builds up even further.”

FYLR

Great news!! As noted on Techdirt: SOPA Markup Runs Out Of Time; Likely Delayed Until 2012.

More on SOPA.

From Demand Progress:

Huge Victory In House — Let’s Slam The Senate

Holy moly. We did it — at least for now. The House Judiciary Committee looked certain to vote for the Stop Online Piracy Act today. Instead, because of the work of so many rank-and-file Internet users, the bill’s lead sponsor acknowledged that our concerns are legitimate, and adjourned the committee without holding a vote!

Here’s Wired’s take:

The House Judiciary Committee considering whether to send the Stop Online Piracy Act to the House floor abruptly adjourned Friday with no new vote date set – a surprise given that the bill looked certain to pass out of committee today.

It’s amazing work: Politicians are, for the first time, having to contend with the Internet as a political force — and we might actually win.

But now we need to focus attention back on the Senate, where Marjority Leader Harry Reid says the PROTECT IP Act will be the first bill he calls for a vote next year.

Will you let him and your Senators know that they need to stop pushing this legislation? It’s an election year, and they don’t want to do any heavy lifting. Pushing hard now could get them to back down altogether.

Just fill out the form at right to email Reid and your Senators.

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Canadian Copyright Horror: Criminalizing Bypassing Digital Locks; Forcing Students to Destroy Notes [C-11]

by on December 16, 2011 @ 12:33 pm · 3 comments

in IP Law

Skip Oliva sent me the following note about a chilling, censorious new copyright provision being debated in the Canadian parliament:

I’ve been reviewing C-11, a bill before the Canadian parliament to “modernize” the country’s copyright laws. The Conservative government is trying to push the bill through with minimal debate. The attention-grabber is the bill makes it a crime, punishable by five years imprisonment, to bypass a digital lock on content.

But here’s the really bizarre provision. C-11 actually requires students who take online classes to destroy their notes after the course is over. Here’s the actual proposed language:

It is not an infringement of copyright for a student who has received a lesson by means of communication by telecommunication under paragraph (3)(a) to reproduce the lesson in order to be able to listen to or view it at a more convenient time. However, the student shall destroy the reproduction within 30 days after the day on which the students who are enrolled in the course to which the lesson relates have received their final course evaluations.

Since the Conservatives have a majority in the House and are not shy about shutting down opposition, I expect this will pass next year when the House resumes sitting.

These insane attempts to ratchet up copyright law–with provisions like these, the DMCA, SOPA, etc., show that the state consists of completely sociopathic maniacs out to establish a police state and destroy the Internet and freedom in the name of so-called intellectual “property”. There can no longer be any excuse for so-called “libertarians” offering tepid, unprincipled justifications for copyright law. The time has come for all libertarians to call for complete IP abolition. No more excuses.

[C4SIF]

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