Who Hijacked Our Country

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Media Blackout of Stop Online Piracy Act

Countless blog posts and “non-mainstream” news sites have been warning us relentlessly about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), H.R. 3261.  (The Senate version of the same bill is the Protect IP Act — S. 968.)

This bill is the ultimate example of using a nuclear bomb to kill a mosquito.  In order to be 100% certain that nobody anywhere will ever again distribute or download movies or music without paying, the film and recording industries are willing to destroy the Internet.  Period.  This is NOT an exaggeration.

You can get more information here and here.

Under this proposed law:  If a copyright holder complains that a certain blog or website is infringing on his/her copyright, that website will be shut down.  No questions, no court hearing, nothing.  One complaint — whether valid or not — and the “offending” website will be shut down.  Search engines will be forced to de-list any website that’s been accused of violating the Stop Online Piracy Act.  And if your own blog is even LINKED to a website that’s been accused of piracy — down you go.

This is more drastic than you’ve even imagined.  For example:  if someone complains that their copyright has been violated by a post on Facebook or a YouTube video, that entire website could be taken down.  No more YouTube because somebody somewhere made a complaint?!?!?!

This bill is being pushed through Congress by three small — but incredibly wealthy — organizations:  the film industry, the recording industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Search engines and Internet Service Providers — not exactly struggling mom-and-pop companies — are lobbying against this bill.  But they’ve been outspent four to one by the film and recording industries.

This bill is quietly — very quietly! — working its way through Congress, with strong support from both parties.  And there’s no indication that Obama will veto the bill if it reaches his desk.

A few politicians — of both parties — are alarmed by the Stop Online Piracy Act and are trying to fight it or at least water it down.  Paul Ryan has warned that the bill could lead to mass censorship.  Ron Wyden and Darrell Issa introduced a less extreme watered-down version of the bill, but it was defeated in the House.

Again, this bill has been warned about and argued about, all over the Internet, by millions of people.  And yet, you’ve never seen or heard ONE mention of this bill in ANY mainstream publication or website.

Could that be because so many “news” corporations and movie studios are owned by the same people?  Nah — just a coincidence.

A few millionaires are ready and willing to destroy the Internet just to make sure their own profits keep going up and up and up.  And most of the public doesn’t even know about this.  If you would like the mainstream “news” media to take a brief moment away from the Kardashians to warn the public that their Internet access could be gone forever —Please Sign This Petition.

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15 Comments:

Blogger Jerry Critter said...

This is a last ditch effort by the film and recording industries to maintain the status quo. It is akin to the buggy whip industry trying to outlaw the automobile.

We will always have movies and music but the form and distribution will change. The industries will have to change too or be left in the dust.

January 10, 2012 at 2:27 PM  
Blogger Lisa said...

Hmm just goes to show who has absolute power

January 10, 2012 at 2:50 PM  
Anonymous Jess said...

Even Paul Ryan is against this bill, that is a shocker right there but I'll take the support. Seems to me it's the movie and music industry a skeered that someone may get a movie or two illegally and they want to punish everyone else for it.

Oh and here we go again with links to shit, that has nothing to do with anything, from our resident under the bridge dweller. Fuck Lisa, 'Ima let you finish, but you are a stoopit bitch.

January 10, 2012 at 5:23 PM  
Blogger Lisa said...

Once again Jess has no response about the link except to name call. Typical .
It may not have anything to do with this post but I don't expect to ever see a post about it so I have to throw it in like that plus MSNBC is having a Media Blackout on the subject. I guess the White House Tweets told them not to report on it.
You think Maddow is reading those tweets from fans as she is talking?

January 10, 2012 at 6:20 PM  
Anonymous Jess said...

@Lisa, you stoopit stoopit bitch why do I, or anyone else for that matter, have to respond to your idiocy regarding things NOT to do with what the fuck we are talking about? Tom did not write about that now did he? Maybe you need to enroll in some kind of remedial reading and comprehension classes, to try and keep up with us librul eleetiztz.

The idiot says>> "It may not have anything to do with this post but I don't expect to ever see a post about it so I have to throw it in like that plus MSNBC is having a Media Blackout on the subject"

Write yer own fuckin blog, and maybe, maybe you can get the motherhumpers and inbred yokels to visit once in a while. Doesn't take very much from you idiots, once the echo chamber starts going so you might see, 2 people visit your erudite posts. Jesus but you are righteously pissing me the fuck off on Tom's behalf. Oh and for the record, Rachel Maddow, her liberal self, discussed this as did Lawrence O'Donnell. Maybe you need to get your head out of yer ass and you too would know these things.

January 10, 2012 at 7:05 PM  
Anonymous Jolly Roger said...

Lisa, you dumb broad, who let you out of the kitchen again? Let me try to explain it to you, even though you are too stupid to grok it. We tend to think for OURSELVES. I don't trust MSNBC any more than I trust FOX, and I largely ignore both outlets. You, being a moron who should never leave the kitchen, presume that every one of us has "our" opinions spoon-fed to us by some pundit, like you have "your" opinions delivered to you.

No, dumb broad, we don't. And FTR, you better go back and see who it was that was pushing the NDAA. The NDAA wasn't written for Obama, who the authors knew would never use the more draconian provisions contained in it.

As far as SOPA goes..... they are literally driving people down a Revolutionary path. Take their economic security, take their right to vote, take away their ability to communicate, and pretty soon the sons of Lenin are meeting in secret cells again.

January 10, 2012 at 8:51 PM  
Blogger Demeur said...

Knowing our experienced youth, they will always find a way around such obstacles. They haven't stopped music piracy and they won't stop this.

January 10, 2012 at 10:27 PM  
Anonymous S.W. Anderson said...

Excellent post, Tom. I followed the link and sent a message. I hope it does some good. I also hope it doesn't result in more requests for donations in my inbox. It's so bad now, if I were to give $10 every time some worthy group with a worthy cause asks for money, I'd be insolvent by this time next year.

You're right about this bill being dangerous. Just signing that petition to the media isn't enough. Maybe some pressure on senators and reps would be heeded in an election year.

January 11, 2012 at 12:21 AM  
Anonymous S.W. Anderson said...

Lisa is obviously ignorant of the fact that EVERY nighttime MSNBC show host, Maddow included, has reported those offensive provisions of the defense funding bill. They have reported about Obama's signing statement, and explained how that isn't binding on any future president. Maddow's piece on the matter after Obama signed it was anything but an attaboy and an endorsement.

Back under the bridge, Lisa, before you embarrass yourself again. Oh wait, I forgot. You don't do embarrassment.

January 11, 2012 at 12:28 AM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Jerry: You're right, the movie and recording industries are exactly like the buggy industry trying to crack down on those newfangled automobiles. Unfortunately Hollywood moguls have a lot more clout than the buggy whip industry. We'll see what happens.

Jess: Paul Ryan and Darrell Issa are both surprising. Then again, Patrick Leahy introduced the Senate version of the bill, so this cuts across party lines entirely.

BTW, Lisa does have a blog. You won't like it.

JR: I agree, too much economic fuckery and too much repression, and we'll have our own Arab Spring or Bastille Day in this country.

Demeur: I hope you're right. I think there's already some software that anyone can download if their website gets de-listed, so that their site is still listed on the search engines.

SW: This petition by itself won't be enough. But there's been a huge groundswell of opposition all over the Internet. I hope it'll be enough to counter Hollywood's billions.

I know what you mean about a clogged in-box. Every time I open mine, there's 50 new e-mails, mostly from groups whose petitions I once signed 6 years ago.

January 11, 2012 at 12:46 AM  
Blogger Randal Graves said...

HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSIC

January 11, 2012 at 6:21 AM  
Blogger Jerry Critter said...

Can you even buy tape anymore?

January 11, 2012 at 8:03 AM  
Blogger Lisa said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

January 11, 2012 at 8:52 AM  
Blogger Lisa said...

No fabricated anger over that bill I see. Unlike the fabricated anger we heard from the left on the fabricated Valerie Plame Story or the data mining of overseas calls.
For 2 years the left wing blogs AND THE MEDIA were tear jerking about those things.
The only mistake made was to give the democrats this kind of power. It seems the power goes to their heads alot more

January 11, 2012 at 8:54 AM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Randal: And now they're working on a new kind of tape that will record TV programs. Hollywood is doomed.

Jerry: They're getting harder to find. And most new CD players don't even come with a cassette player.

January 11, 2012 at 9:41 AM  

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