ITP V.012 SOCIAL MEDIA: SOPA BILL DEAD?

It is reported through many verifiable media sources that the proposed SOPA BILL (STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT) is DEAD as the U.S. SENATE has "killed the bill" due to mass online protests and blackouts from various websites, civil liberties groups and user content sites as diverse as EFF, GOOGLE, WIKEPEDIA, WORDPRESS ect.

The Stop Online Piracy Act would criminalize websites featuring "pirated and copy written" material making the Internet fair use policy obsolete. SOPA opponents state that the SOPA bill is to broad as written and could censor the web infringing on first amendment rights, civil liberties and freedom of speech.

Today, the U.S. SENATE (and CONGRESS) announced that if the SOPA debate continues at all, the bill will be re written and re drafted.

ITP V.012: EDITORS NOTE:
VICTORY VS. SOPA: looks like the U.S. SENATE is cancelling the SOPA bill (bill killed) as the whole damn Internet, (1/18/2012) including many notable musicians, bloggers, WIKEPEDIA, WORDPRESS, GOOGLE and music websites ect protested. SOPA is DEAD, and buried. All of us in the music industry, "scene", and those of us whom have spoken out for first admendent rights and civil liberties would like to thank all for participating in the SOPA PROTEST last week, and thanks very much for bearing with us on ITP V.011 and ITP V.012, thanks for signing the petition. My estimate is ITP V.011 and ITP V.012 solicited 3, 000 or more signatures. As for now, the SOPA bill looks dead, all of us, including ITP V.012 will keep an eye out for any SOPA/PIPA rehashed proposals, as for now, ITP's author will REMOVE the ANTI SOPA block with the hope that I won't need to put it back on the blog. THANK YOU and FUCK SOPA.

Keep in mind, while ITP V.012 does NOT support piracy, the music and entertainment industry has to consolidate with digital media, with an equatible distribution between the industry and entertainers.

VIDEO BELOW: DICK DALE (SURF/ROCK GUITARIST) TELLS MUSICIANS NOT TO SIGN WITH LABELS and AVOID 360 DEGREE DEALS:




FROM EFF (ELECTRONIC FRONTIERS FOUNDATION):
Last week’s historic protests made clear just what the tech community and Internet users are capable of accomplishing when they act together – not only have the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and its House counterpart, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), been tabled for now, but in a welcome change, the public debate has increasingly considered the interests of Internet users and the opinions of those who actually understand how the technology works. Despite this, we keep hearing people ask: what’s next? And where do we go from here? Our answers: We don’t need legislation. And let’s keep moving innovation forward.

The answer to maintaining an open, thriving Internet does not lay in legislation, but rather in fostering innovative (and oftentimes disruptive) business models that allow content creators to get paid and consumers to have easy and efficient access to content. We’ve seen time and again that consumers are willing to pay at a price point that makes sense for them – this is Economics 101. When new business models emerge, artists and fans win. It’s only the traditional distributers and gatekeepers (we’re looking at you, MPAA and RIAA) who lose, so it’s no wonder that those parties desperately tried to ram through dangerous legislation to stop disruptive new business models, with no regard for the attendant serious potential collateral damage. Remember, these are the lobbies that have a history of attacking nascent technologies as far back as the player piano.

A modern day case in point: last week’s public takedown of MegaUpload. We’ve only heard one side of the story so far, so let’s set aside the many outstanding legal questions. But it’s clear that many artists were using the site to connect with their fans. Given the legacy media companies’ reluctance to innovate internally, it’s especially unfortunate that the dramatic takedown of MegaUpload could chill future innovators who would otherwise experiment with new business models.

To be sure, there are plenty of exciting new content services emerging. For example, take the Humble Indie Bundle, video game developers who have realized substantial success devising a pay-what-you-want scheme for distributing video games. Or artists like Jonathan Coulton, who has, with much success, produced and distributed his own music (and who recently provided this pithy advice to creators who reject new business models but complain about piracy: "Make good stuff, then make it easy for people to buy it. There’s your anti-piracy plan.").

Everyday, examples like Humble Indie Bundle, Jonathan Coulton, and others (such as Louis C.K. and Nina Paley, for example) are becoming the norm, not the exception. And, in doing so, they make the best case against those in D.C. who claim that we need dangerous and overbroad laws to save an antiquated business model. Instead, we need to protect the open Internet that is only beginning to realize its promise of revolutionizing not just the way we do business, but the ways we communicate, interact, and democratically govern ourselves.

For that reason, we will continue to monitor (and, where necessary, take on) the fights in D.C. and the courts that threaten an open and innovative Internet. Join us in that fight, won’t you?


FROM SOPA STRIKE:
January 18th, 2012 was the largest online protest in history to stop the internet censorship bills, SOPA & PIPA. On January 20th, Congress shelved the bills indefinitely. If they return, we must be ready.
January 18th was unreal. Tech companies and users teamed up. Geeks took to the streets. Tens of millions of people who make the internet what it is joined together to defend their freedoms. The network defended itself. Whatever you call it, we changed the politics of interfering with the internet forever--there's no going back.

FROM FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE:
Now that Congress has had time to process last week's internet blackout, a consensus has emerged: SOPA and PIPA are toxic for politicians, and going anywhere near them could cost them their re-election.

Freedom is winning.

Together, we've done something amazing-- never have so many people stood up to defend a free and open internet. Here's a San Francisco Chronicle article about how it all came together: The Largest Online Protest in History Started Here.

And here's Carl Franzen at Talking Points Memo:

"Behind the scenes, Hill staffers from both sides of the aisle confirmed to TPM that the entire piracy debate had become so 'toxic' that virtually no lawmakers were likely to be ready to re-engage it anytime soon."

Experienced Congress-watchers are telling us they've never seen anything like this.

Internet users, tech companies, and non-profits joined together to defend fundamental rights on the internet. To a lot of elites in Congress and the corporate world, the internet is just something that lazy teenagers use to spam people with pictures of photoshopped unicorns. The blackout showed that the peer-to-peer internet is about empowerment, and that when we work together we can defeat the corrupt politics of Washington D.C.

The New York Times and Talking Points Memo have both published good articles on how the web blackout was organized.

For months, four senators were the only force blocking passage of PIPA/SOPA. They even promised to filibuster the bill back when most politicians were against them. We need to make sure we support and vote for leaders like them who are willing to going to go out on a limb and oppose SOPA before it was popular to do so. It's great that we pressured all those other shlubs into opposing web censorship, but these guys deserve the real cred and our support: Click here to donate (scroll down).

What's next? The Fight is not over, already new threats to web freedom are starting to emerge (particularly in Europe) and we're getting ready. Stay tuned, and for more updates, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Thank you again for standing up for a free and open internet!

- Donny and Fight for the Future





Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-SAY NO TO SOPA-\m/ -l-