Stephen Colbert explains SOPA ~ Maybe Funny, But in Reality It's Total Censorship and Not Funny ~ December 21st

*Be careful if you use companies such as Google, Yahoo, PayPal, Twitter and eBay ...

SOPA has NOT been postponed to 2012! The Committee members who support SOPA quietly changed the hearing date to December 21st, trying to trick the American people into thinking it was over for the year. Link

Washington, After two days of debate, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) abruptly halted a key hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act, postponing a Committee vote on the bill until 2012.

The move marks a win for hordes of internet activists who oppose the bill, but gives lawmakers another opportunity to juice deep-pocketed corporations for campaign contributions.

snip ~ "The most troubling dynamic in Congress is the way the agenda itself becomes a tool for fundraising," notes Harvard University Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig. "Dramatic fights over billion-dollar industries are exactly what legislators want going into an election year, because it flushes money into their pot. " Link
_Watch _

Stephen Colbert explains SOPA ..

Stop Online Piracy Act

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If this passes anyone who is charged with a copyright violation can get 3-5 years prison for the first offense!

The bill may be passed before the end of the year. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R.3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors.

The bill expands the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.[2]

Now before the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the Protect IP Act.[3]

Continues ...read more ..

This video has the details. PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet

Watch here ~ Link
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PROTECT-IP is a bill that has been introduced in the Senate and the House and is moving quickly through Congress. It gives the government and corporations the ability to censor the net, in the name of protecting "creativity". The law would let the government or corporations censor entire sites-- they just have to convince a judge that the site is "dedicated to copyright infringement."

The government has already wrongly shut down sites without any recourse to the site owner. Under this bill, sharing a video with anything copyrighted in it, or what sites like Youtube and Twitter do, would be considered illegal behavior according to this bill.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this bill would cost us $47 million tax dollars a year — that's for a fix that won't work, disrupts the internet, stifles innovation, shuts out diverse voices, and censors the internet. This bill is bad for creativity and does not protect your rights.
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December 16, 2011

A key House vote on controversial anti-piracy legislation has been delayed.

The House Judiciary Committee adjourned on Friday without deciding on whether or not to send the so-called Stop Online Piracy Act to the House floor.

The committee had been engaged in a marathon markup version of the bill, but the session came to an abrupt end, as Congress had to turn its attention to a floor vote on a nearly $1 trillion spending bill that would avert a government shutdown.

The discussion will resume when Congress is next in session -- which could be next week.

The law, along with its Senate sister, the Protect IP Act, are both championed by the recording and film industries. They both seek to combat online piracy by giving the Justice Department authority to block offshore "rogue" websites that engage in the illicit sale of everything from pirated films to bogus pharmaceuticals.

The act would give federal authorities new power to block service providers, search engines, payment processors, and advertising networks it considers to be facilitating illegal on-line activity, such as streaming pirated television programs, films or selling pharmaceuticals.

However, the legislation has been fiercely opposed by a coalition of high-tech companies such as Google, Yahoo, PayPal, Twitter and eBay, who have charged that the effort to crack down on illegal downloads are too far-reaching and akin to censorship.

In a feisty statement, Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) expressed optimism that the bill will pass once Congress is in session.

"The criticism of this bill is completely hypothetical; none of it is based in reality," Smith said. "Not one of the critics was able to point to any language in the bill that would in any way harm the Internet. Their accusations are simply not supported by any facts." (hmmm, says who, the multi-billion government owned entertainment industry?)

Friday's committee session adjourned after considering 25 amendments to the bill.

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