 | Submitted by QuintonD on Fri, 01/20/2012 - 07:36 |
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So there has been a lot of controversy regarding SOPA and PIPA ... and a hell of a lot of protest to boot. It looks like the protesting by the likes of Wikipedia, Google, and others seems to have had an impact. You have to love Democracy and Freedom of Speech ... even here in South Africa, it is good to see the impact that these actions have. Eight US lawmakers have withdrawn their support for proposed anti-piracy laws after blackout protests by an estimated 7,000 websites, including Wikipedia, Google and WordPress.
The proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) have been criticised by supporters of a free internet because they aim to make internet companies accountable for hosting and linking to websites offering illicit downloads of film, TV and music. This was quoted from here: SOPA and PIPA lose key supporters Google even posted more information about it on their blog here. And even though a Senator Marco Rubio stated the following on his Facebook page here: A Better Way to Fight the Online Theft of American Ideas and Jobs
By Senator Marco Rubio In recent weeks, we’ve heard from many Floridians about the anti-Internet piracy bills making their way through Congress. On the Senate side, I have been a co-sponsor of the PROTECT IP Act because I believe it’s important to protect American ingenuity, ideas and jobs from being stolen through Internet piracy, much of it occurring overseas through rogue websites in China. As a senator from Florida, a state with a large presence of artists, creators and businesses connected to the creation of intellectual property, I have a strong interest in stopping online piracy that costs Florida jobs. However, we must do this while simultaneously promoting an open, dynamic Internet environment that is ripe for innovation and promotes new technologies. Earlier this year, this bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously and without controversy. Since then, we've heard legitimate concerns about the impact the bill could have on access to the Internet and about a potentially unreasonable expansion of the federal government's power to impact the Internet. Congress should listen and avoid rushing through a bill that could have many unintended consequences. Therefore, I have decided to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act. Furthermore, I encourage Senator Reid to abandon his plan to rush the bill to the floor. Instead, we should take more time to address the concerns raised by all sides, and come up with new legislation that addresses Internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the Internet. ... he still ended up taking a lot of flak in the comments. :) Anyway, it will be good to see how it turns out, maybe our own Government will look at how it is handled by the U.S. and start to rethink some of their own "stupid" bills that they have recently passed ... *shrug* ... one can only dream I guess. |
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