Intellectual Property and the Internet/SOPA

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261 is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Presented to the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the PROTECT IP Act. The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators, such as PayPal, from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is not dedicated to infringement. Proponents of the bill allege that it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws, especially against foreign websites. They cite examples such as Google's $500 million settlement with the Department of Justice for its role in a scheme to target U.S. consumers with ads to buy illegal prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies. Opponents say that it violates the First Amendment,Tribe Laurence H. THE “STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT” (SOPA) VIOLATES THE FIRST AMENDMENT http://www.scribd.com/doc/75153093/Tribe-Legis-Memo-on-SOPA-12-6-11-1 December 6, 2011 Scribd January 10, 2012 is Internet censorship, will cripple the Internet, and will threaten whistle-blowing and other free speech actions. Opponents have initiated a number of protest actions, including petition drives, boycotts of companies that support the legislation, and planned service blackouts by major Internet companies scheduled to coincide with the next Congressional hearing on the matter, such as the 2012 Wikipedia blackout on January 18, 2012. The House Judiciary Committee held hearings on November 16 and December 15, 2011. The Committee was scheduled to continue debate in January 2012. Contents The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites outside U.S. jurisdiction accused of infringing on copyrights, or of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. After delivering a court order, the U.S. Attorney General could require US-directed Internet service providers, ad networks, and payment processors to suspend doing business with sites found to infringe on federal criminal intellectual property laws. The Attorney General could also bar search engines from displaying links to the sites.http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR03261:@@@D&summ2=m& Bill Summary by Congressional Research Service Thomas – Library of Congress October 26, 2011 http://www.webcitation.org/643NehNoc December 19, 2011 November 21, 2011 The bill also establishes a two-step process for intellectual property rights holders to seek relief if they have been harmed by a site dedicated to infringement. The rights holder must first notify, in writing, related payment facilitators and ad networks of the identity of the website, who, in turn, must then forward that notification and suspend services to that identified website, unless that site provides a counter notification explaining how it is not in violation. The rights holder can then sue for limited injunctive relief against the site operator, if such a counter notification is provided, or if the payment or advertising services fail to suspend service in the absence of a counter notification. The bill provides immunity from liability to the ad and payment networks that comply with this Act or that take voluntary action to cut ties to such sites. Any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement would be liable for damages. The second section increases the penalties for streaming video and for selling counterfeit drugs, military materials or consumer goods. The bill would increase the penalties for unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content and other intellectual property offenses. At the end of October co-sponsor Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's Intellectual Property sub-panel, told The Hill that SOPA is a rewrite of the Senate's bill that addresses some tech industry concerns, noting that under the House version of the legislation copyright holders won't be able to directly sue intermediaries like search engines to block infringing websites and would instead need a court's approval before taking action against third parties. Goals Protecting intellectual property of content creators According to Rep. Goodlatte, "Intellectual property is one of America's chief job creators and competitive advantages in the global marketplace, yet American inventors, authors, and entrepreneurs have been forced to stand by and watch as their works are stolen by foreign infringers beyond the reach of current U.S. laws. This legislation will update the laws to ensure that the economic incentives our Framers enshrined in the Constitution over 220 years ago—to encourage new writings, research, products and services— remain effective in the 21st century's global marketplace, which will create more American jobs." Rights-holders see intermediaries—the companies who host, link to, and provide e-commerce around the content—as the only accessible defendants.http://www.economist.com/node/21540234 Rights and Wronged The Economist November 26, 2011 December 19, 2011 Sponsor Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) said, "Millions of American jobs hang in the balance, and our efforts to protect America's intellectual property are critical to our economy's long-term success." Smith added, "The Stop Online Piracy Act helps stop the flow of revenue to rogue websites and ensures that the profits from American innovations go to American innovators." The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) representative who testified before the committee said that the motion picture and film industry supported two million jobs and 95,000 small businesses. Protection against counterfeit drugs Pfizer spokesman John Clark testified that patients could not always detect cleverly forged websites selling drugs that were either mis-branded or simply counterfeit.Testimony of John P. Clark; House Judiciary Committee Hearing; November 16, 2011; Pg. 3 RxRights, a consumer advocacy group, issued a statement saying that Clark failed "to acknowledge that there are Canadian and other international pharmacies that do disclose where they are located, require a valid doctor's prescription and sell safe, brand-name medications produced by the same leading manufacturers as prescription medications sold in the U.S." They had earlier said that SOPA "fails to distinguish between counterfeit and genuine pharmacies" and would prevent American patients from ordering their medications from Canadian pharmacies online. Bill sponsor Smith accused Google of obstructing the bill, citing its $500 million settlement with the DOJ on charges that it allowed ads from Canadian pharmacies, leading to illegal prescription drug imports. Shipment of prescription drugs from foreign pharmacies to customers in the US typically violates the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the Controlled Substances Act. Impact on online freedom of speech On TIME's Techland blog, Jerry Brito wrote, "Imagine if the U.K. created a blacklist of American newspapers that its courts found violated celebrities' privacy? Or what if France blocked American sites it believed contained hate speech?"http://techland.time.com/2011/11/07/congresss-piracy-blacklist-plan-a-cure-worse-than-the-disease/#ixzz1eG1bPxLM Congress's Piracy Blacklist Plan: A Cure Worse than the Disease? Jerry Brito Time November 7, 2011 December 28, 2011 Similarly, the Center for Democracy and Technology warned, "If SOPA and PIPA are enacted, the US government must be prepared for other governments to follow suit, in service to whatever social policies they believe are important—whether restricting hate speech, insults to public officials, or political dissent." Laurence H. Tribe, a Harvard University professor of constitutional law, released an open letter on the web stating that SOPA would “undermine the openness and free exchange of information at the heart of the Internet. And it would violate the First Amendment.”Carr David The Danger of an Attack on Piracy Online http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/business/media/the-danger-of-an-attack-on-piracy-online.html January 1, 2012 New York Times January 10, 2012 The AFL-CIO's Paul Almeida, arguing in favor of SOPA, has stated that free speech was not a relevant consideration, because "Freedom of speech is not the same as lawlessness on the Internet. There is no inconsistency between protecting an open Internet and safeguarding intellectual property. Protecting intellectual property is not the same as censorship; the First Amendment does not protect stealing goods off trucks."Statement of Paul E. Almeida, President, DEPARTMENT FOR PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO; Before the Committee on the Judiciary, November 16, 2011 In autocratic countries According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, proxy servers, such as those used during the Arab Spring, can also be used to thwart copyright enforcement and therefore may be outlawed by the act. John Palfrey, co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, expressed disagreement with the use of his research findings to support SOPA. He wrote that "SOPA would make many [DNS] circumvention tools illegal", which could put "dissident communities" in autocratic countries "at much greater risk than they already are". He added, "The single biggest funder of circumvention tools has been and remains the U.S. government, precisely because of the role the tools play in online activism. It would be highly counter-productive for the U.S. government to both fund and outlaw the same set of tools.http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2011/12/22/sopa-and-our-2010-circumvention-study Marvin Ammori has stated the bill would make The Tor Project illegal. Funded by the State Department the Tor Project, facilitates pro-free speech encryption technology to be used by dissidents in repressive regimes (that consequently outlaw it). Ammori points out that the US Supreme Court case of Lamont v. Postmaster General 381 U.S. 301 (1965) makes it clear that Americans have the First Amendment right to read and listen to such foreign dissident free speech, even if those foreigners themselves lack an equivalent free speech right (for example under their constitution or through Optional Protocols under the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).http://ammori.org/2011/12/14/first-amendment-stop-online-piracy-acts-managers-amendment-some-thoughts/ Impact on websites Impact on websites that host user content Opponents have warned that SOPA would have a negative impact on online communities. Journalist Rebecca MacKinnon argued in an op-ed that making companies liable for users' actions could have a chilling effect on user-generated sites such as YouTube. "The intention is not the same as China’s Great Firewall, a nationwide system of Web censorship, but the practical effect could be similar", she says. The Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) warned that websites Etsy, Flickr and Vimeo all seemed likely to shut down if the bill becomes law.https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/11/whats-blacklist-three-sites-sopa-could-put-risk What's On the Blacklist? Three Sites That SOPA Could Put at Risk Parker Higgins Deeplinks blog Electronic Frontier Foundation November 15, 2011 December 19, 2011 Policy analysts for New America Foundation say this legislation would enable law enforcement to take down an entire domain due to something posted on a single blog, arguing, "an entire largely innocent online community could be punished for the actions of a tiny minority."http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technocracy/2011/12/stop_online_piracy_act_and_protect_ip_act_a_pair_of_bills_that_threaten_internet_freedom_.html The Internet’s Intolerable Acts James Losey & Sascha Meinrath Slate Magazine December 8, 2011 December 11, 2011 Additional concerns include the impact on common Internet functions such as linking or access data from the cloud. EFF claimed the bill would ban linking to sites deemed offending, even in search results and on services such as Twitter. Christian Dawson, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Virginia-based hosting company ServInt, predicted that the legislation would lead to many cloud computing and Web hosting services moving out of the US to avoid lawsuits. The Electronic Frontier Foundation have stated that the requirement that any site must self-police user generated content would impose significant liability costs and explains "why venture capitalists have said en masse they won’t invest in online startups if PIPA and SOPA pass."Trevor Timm 'How PIPA & SOPA Violate White House Provisions Supporting Free Speech and Innovation' Electronic Frontier Foundation. January 16, 2012 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/how-pipa-and-sopa-violate-white-house-principles-supporting-free-speech accessed January 15, 2012 Proponents of the bill countered these claims, arguing that filtering is already common. Michael O'Leary of the MPAA testified on November 16 that the act's effect on business would be more minimal, noting that at least 16 countries already block websites, and that the Internet still functions in those countries. MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd noted that Google figured out how to block sites when China requested it.http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118047080 Dodd slams Google over legislation Ted Johnson Variety Magazine December 8, 2011 December 11, 2011 Some ISPs in Denmark, Finland, Ireland and Italy blocked The Pirate Bay after courts ruled in favor of music and film industry litigation, and a coalition of film and record companies has threatened to sue British Telecom if it does not follow suit. Maria Pallante of the US Copyright Office said that Congress has updated the Copyright Act before and should again, or "the U.S. copyright system will ultimately fail." Asked for clarification, she said that the US currently lacks jurisdiction over websites in other countries. Weakening of "safe harbor" protections The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) includes the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, that provides a "safe harbor" for websites that host content. Under that provision, copyright owners who felt that a site was hosting infringing content are required to request the site to remove the infringing material within a certain amount of time.Matthew Lasar Google triumphant, beats back billion dollar Viacom lawsuit http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/06/google-beats-viacom-in-billion-dollar-lawsuit.ars November 7, 2011 Ars Technica June 23, 2010 Tech Industry Open Letter http://politechbot.com/docs/sopa.google.facebook.twitter.letter.111511.pdf November 17, 2011 SOPA would bypass this "safe harbor" provision by placing the responsibility for detecting and policing infringement onto the site itself, and allowing judges to block access to websites "dedicated to theft of U.S. property."Stop Online Piracy Act would stop online innovation http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-11-02/business/30353433_1_sopa-craigslist-internet-service-providers November 7, 2011 San Francisco Chronicle November 2, 2011 James Temple According to critics of the bill such as the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the bill's wording is vague enough that a single complaint about a site could be enough to block it, with the burden of proof resting on the site. A provision in the bill states that any site would be blocked that "is taking, or has taken deliberate actions to avoid confirming a high probability of the use of the U.S.-directed site to carry out acts that constitute a violation." Critics have read this to mean that a site must actively monitor its content and identify violations to avoid blocking, rather than relying on others to notify it of such violations.http://www.cdt.org/blogs/david-sohn/2710house-copyright-bill-casts-dangerously-broad-net House Copyright Bill Casts Dangerously Broad Net David Sohn Center for Democracy and Technology October 27, 2011 December 19, 2011 Law professor Jason Mazzone wrote, "Damages are also not available to the site owner unless a claimant 'knowingly materially' misrepresented that the law covers the targeted site, a difficult legal test to meet. The owner of the site can issue a counter-notice to restore payment processing and advertising but services need not comply with the counter-notice".http://torrentfreak.com/the-privatization-of-copyright-lawmaking-111112/ The Privatization of Copyright Lawmaking Jason Mazzone November 12, 2011 December 19, 2011 Goodlatte stated, "We're open to working with them on language to narrow [the bill's provisions], but I think it is unrealistic to think we're going to continue to rely on the DMCA notice-and-takedown provision. Anybody who is involved in providing services on the Internet would be expected to do some things. But we are very open to tweaking the language to ensure we don't impose extraordinary burdens on legitimate companies as long as they aren't the primary purveyors [of pirated content]". O'Leary submitted written testimony in favor of the bill that expressed guarded support of current DMCA provisions. "Where these sites are legitimate and make good faith efforts to respond to our requests, this model works with varying degrees of effectiveness," O'Leary wrote. "It does not, however, always work quickly, and it is not perfect, but it works." General impact on web-related businesses An analysis in the information technology magazine eWeek stated, "The language of SOPA is so broad, the rules so unconnected to the reality of Internet technology and the penalties so disconnected from the alleged crimes that this bill could effectively kill e-commerce or even normal Internet use. The bill also has grave implications for existing U.S., foreign and international laws and is sure to spend decades in court challenges." Art Bordsky of advocacy group Public Knowledge similarly stated, "The definitions written in the bill are so broad that any US consumer who uses a website overseas immediately gives the US jurisdiction the power to potentially take action against it." On October 28, 2011, the EFF called the bill a "massive piece of job-killing Internet regulation," and said, "This bill cannot be fixed; it must be killed." Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, spoke out strongly against the bill, stating, "The bill attempts a radical restructuring of the laws governing the Internet," and that "It would undo the legal safe harbors that have allowed a world-leading Internet industry to flourish over the last decade. It would expose legitimate American businesses and innovators to broad and open-ended liability. The result will be more lawsuits, decreased venture capital investment, and fewer new jobs." Lukas Biewald, founder of CrowdFlower, stated, "It'll have a stifling effect on venture capital... No one would invest because of the legal liability." Booz & Company on November 16 published a Google-funded study finding that almost all of the 200 venture capitalists and angel investors interviewed would stop funding digital media intermediaries if the bill became law. More than 80 percent said they would rather invest in a risky, weak economy with the current laws than a strong economy with the proposed law in effect. If legal ambiguities were removed and good faith provisions in place, investing would increase by nearly 115 percent. As reported by David Carr of The New York Times in an article critical of SOPA and PIPA, Google, Facebook, Twitter and other companies sent a joint letter to Congress, stating "We support the bills’ stated goals – providing additional enforcement tools to combat foreign ‘rogue’ Web sites that are dedicated to copyright infringement or counterfeiting. However, the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding U.S. Internet and technology companies to new uncertain liabilities, private rights of action and technology mandates that would require monitoring of Web sites.”AOL, eBay, FaceBook, Google, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo, Zynga We stand together to protect innovation http://boingboing.net/2011/11/16/internet-giants-place-full-pag.html November 16, 2011 NYTimes and BoingBoing January 10, 2012 Smith responded, saying, the article "unfairly criticizes the Stop Online Piracy Act", and, "does not point to any language in the bill to back up the claims. SOPA targets only foreign Web sites that are primarily dedicated to illegal and infringing activity. Domestic Web sites, like blogs, are not covered by this legislation." Smith also said that Carr incorrectly framed the debate as between the entertainment industry and high-tech companies, noting support by more than "120 groups and associations across diverse industries, including the United States Chamber of Commerce".Smith Lamar Fighting Online Piracy (Letter) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/opinion/fighting-online-piracy.html January 9, 2012 New York Times January 10, 2012 Impact on users uploading illegal content Lateef Mtima, director of the Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice at Howard University School of Law, expressed concern that users who upload copyrighted content to sites could potentially be held criminally liable themselves, saying, "Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the bill is that the conduct it would criminalize is so poorly defined. While on its face the bill seems to attempt to distinguish between commercial and non-commercial conduct, purportedly criminalizing the former and permitting the latter, in actuality the bill not only fails to accomplish this but, because of its lack of concrete definitions, it potentially criminalizes conduct that is currently permitted under the law."http://www.greeleygazette.com/press/?p=11974 Internet giants oppose bill that could make posting online videos a crime Jack Minor Greely Gazette November 18, 2011 An aide to Smith said, "This bill does not make it a felony for a person to post a video on YouTube of their children singing to a copyrighted song. The bill specifically targets websites dedicated to illegal or infringing activity. Sites that host user content—like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter—have nothing to be concerned about under this legislation". Internal networks A paper by the Center for Democracy and Technology claimed that the bill "targets an entire website even if only a small portion hosts or links to some infringing content." According to A. M. Reilly of Industry Leaders Magazine, under SOPA, culpability for distributing copyright material is extended to those who aid the initial poster of the material. For companies that use virtual private networks (VPN) to create a network that appears to be internal but is spread across various offices and employees' homes, any of these offsite locations that initiate sharing of copyright material could put the entire VPN and hosting company at risk of violation. Answering similar criticism in a CNET editorial, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) head Cary Sherman wrote, "Actually, it's quite the opposite. By focusing on specific sites rather than entire domains, action can be targeted against only the illegal subdomain or Internet protocol address rather than taking action against the entire domain."http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57320417-93/riaa-chief-copyright-bills-wont-kill-the-internet/ RIAA chief: Copyright bills won't kill the Internet Cary Sherman November 8, 2011 November 18, 2011 Impact on web-browsing software The Electronic Frontier Foundation expressed concern that free and open source software (FLOSS) projects found to be aiding online piracy could experience serious problems under SOPA.http://www.itworld.com/security/223845/piracy-bill-could-waylay-floss-projects Piracy bill could waylay FLOSS projects: If enacted, the SOPA bill in the U.S. House would target software vendors Brian Proffitt IT World November 14, 2011 December 19, 2011 Of special concern was the web browser Firefox, which has an optional extension, MAFIAAFire Redirector, that redirects users to a new location for domains that were seized by the U.S. government. In May 2011, Mozilla refused a request by the Department of Homeland Security to remove MAFIAAFire from its website, questioning whether the software had never been declared illegal. Potential effectiveness Edward J. Black, president and CEO of the Computer & Communication Industry Association, wrote in the Huffington Post that "Ironically, it would do little to stop actual pirate websites, which could simply reappear hours later under a different name, if their numeric web addresses aren't public even sooner. Anyone who knows or has that web address would still be able to reach the offending website."http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-j-black/stop-online-piracy-act-vote_b_1145949.html Internet Users, Free Speech Experts, Petition Against SOPA Edward J. Black Huffington Post December 13, 2011 December 19, 2011 An editorial in the San Jose Mercury-News stated, "Imagine the resources required to parse through the millions of Google and Facebook offerings every day looking for pirates who, if found, can just toss up another site in no time."http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_19369009 Mercury News editorial: Congress should kill online piracy bill November 19, 2011 San Jose Mercury-News December 19, 2011 John Palfrey of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society commented, "DNS filtering is by necessity either overbroad or underbroad; it either blocks too much or too little. Content on the Internet changes its place and nature rapidly, and DNS filtering is ineffective when it comes to keeping up with it." Technical issues Deep-packet inspection and privacy According to Markham Erickson, head of NetCoalition, which opposes SOPA, the section of the bill that would allow judges to order internet service providers to block access to infringing websites to customers located in the United States would also allow the checking of those customers' IP address, a method known as IP blocking. Erickson has expressed concerns that such an order might require those providers to engage in "deep packet inspection", which involves analyzing all of the content being transmitted to and from the user, raising new privacy concerns.http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57328045-281/sopas-latest-threat-ip-blocking-privacy-busting-packet-inspection/ SOPA's latest threat: IP blocking, privacy-busting packet inspection Declan McCullagh November 18, 2011 Privacy Inc CNET November 18, 2011 http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/11/dangerous-bill-would-threaten-legitimate-websites/248619/ Dangerous Bill Would Threaten Legitimate Websites David Sohn and Andrew McDiarmid November 17, 2011 The Atlantic November 18, 2011 Policy analysts for New America Foundation say this legislation would "instigate a data obfuscation arms race" whereby by increasingly invasive practices would be required to monitor users' web traffic resulting in a "counterproductive cat-and-mouse game of censorship and circumvention would drive savvy scofflaws to darknets while increasing surveillance of less technically proficient Internet users."http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technocracy/2011/12/stop_online_piracy_act_and_protect_ip_act_a_pair_of_bills_that_threaten_internet_freedom_.html The Internet’s Intolerable Acts James Losey & Sascha Meinrath Slate Magazine December 8, 2011 December 11, 2011 Domain Name System (DNS) The Domain Name System (DNS) servers, most often equated with a telephone directory, translate browser requests for domain names into the IP address assigned to that computer or network. The original bill requires these servers to stop referring requests for infringing domains to their assigned IP addresses. DNS is robust by design against failure and requires that a lack of response is met by inquiries to other DNS servers.SOPA-rope-a-dopa http://www.skatingonstilts.com/skating-on-stilts/2011/12/the-sopa-rope-a-dope.html Stewart Baker January 14, 2012 December 14, 2011 Andrew Lee, CEO of ESET North America, objected that since the bill would require internet service providers to filter DNS queries for the sites, this would undermine the integrity of the Domain Name System. According to David Ulevitch, the San Francisco-based head of OpenDNS, the passage of SOPA could cause Americans to switch to DNS providers located in other countries who offer encrypted links, and may cause U.S. providers, such as OpenDNS itself, to move to other countries, such as the Cayman Islands.http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57327341-281/opendns-sopa-will-be-extremely-disruptive-to-the-internet/ OpenDNS: SOPA will be 'extremely disruptive' to the Internet Declan McCullagh Privacy Inc. CNET November 17, 2011 December 19, 2011 In November 2011, an anonymous top-level domain, .bit, was launched outside of ICANN control, as a response to the perceived threat from SOPA, although its effectiveness (as well as the effectiveness of other alternative DNS roots) remains unknown.http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/anonymous-bit-dimnet-tries-to-be-a-hedge-against-dns-censorship.ars Anonymous "dimnet" tries to create hedge against DNS censorship Sean Gallagher Ars Technica November 17, 2011 December 19, 2011 On January 12, 2012, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee overseeing PIPA,Gruenwald Juliana Leahy Offers Major Concession On Online Piracy Bill http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/leahy-offers-major-concession-on-online-piracy-bill-20120112/ January 12, 2012 National Journal January 13, 2012 Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy On Internet Service Providers And The PROTECT IP Act; Press Release – Leahy; January 12, 2012 and House sponsor Lamar Smith announcedKravets David Rep. Smith Waters Down SOPA, DNS RedirectsOut http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/01/dns-sopa-provision/ January 12, 2012 Wired (magazine) January 12, 2012 that provisions related to DNS redirection would be pulled from their respective bills.Smith Lamar Smith To Remove DNS Blocking from SOPA Congressman Lamar Smith January 13, 2012 http://lamarsmith.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=274902 Internet security A white paper by several internet security experts, including Steve Crocker and Dan Kaminsky, wrote, "From an operational standpoint, a resolution failure from a nameserver subject to a court order and from a hacked nameserver would be indistinguishable. Users running secure applications have a need to distinguish between policy-based failures and failures caused, for example, by the presence of an attack or a hostile network, or else downgrade attacks would likely be prolific." Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) Stewart Baker, former first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security and former General Counsel of the National Security Agency, stated that SOPA would do "great damage to Internet security" by undermining Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), a proposed security upgrade for DNS, since a browser must treat all redirects the same, and must continue to search until it finds a DNS server (possibly overseas) providing untampered results. On December 14, 2011 he wrote that SOPA was "badly in need of a knockout punch" due to its impact on security and DNS: from the [Attorney General]’s point of view, the browser’s efforts to find an authoritative DNS server will look like a deliberate effort to evade his blocking order. The latest version of SOPA will feed that view. It allows the AG to sue “any entity that knowingly and willfully provides ... a product ... designed by such entity or by another in concert with such entity for the circumvention or bypassing of” the AG’s blocking orders. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that this provision is aimed squarely at the browser companies. Browsers implementing DNSSEC will have to circumvent and bypass criminal blocking, and in the process, they will also circumvent and bypass SOPA orders. DNSSEC is a set of protocols developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for ensuring internet security. A white paper by the Brookings Institution noted, "The DNS system is based on trust," adding that DNSSEC was developed to prevent malicious redirection of DNS traffic, and that "other forms of redirection will break the assurances from this security tool."http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2011/1115_cybersecurity_friedman.aspx Cybersecurity in the Balance:Weighing the Risks of the PROTECT IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act Allan A. Friedman November 15, 2011 December 28, 2011 Brookings Institution On November 17, Sandia National Laboratories, a research agency of the U.S. Department of Energy, released a technical assessment of the DNS filtering provisions in the House and Senate bills, in response to Representative Zoe Lofgren's (D-CA) request. The assessment stated that the proposed DNS filtering would be unlikely to be effective, would negatively impact internet security, and would delay full implementation of DNSSEC.http://lofgren.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=670&Itemid=130 Lofgren Releases Sandia Labs Letter on SOPA US House of Representatives November 17, 2011 December 28, 2011 Leonard M. Napolitano, Jr., Sandia Nat'l Labs Letter, November 16, 2011 On November 18, House Cybersecurity Subcommittee chair Dan Lungren stated that he had "very serious concerns" about SOPA's impact on DNSSEC, adding, "we don't have enough information, and if this is a serious problem as was suggested by some of the technical experts that got in touch with me, we have to address it."http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57326228-281/new-flap-over-sopa-copyright-bill-anti- Lungren Wants Hearing On SOPA'S Cyber Impact Tony Romm Politico November 18, 2011 Transparency in enforcement Brooklyn Law School professor Jason Mazzone warned, "Much of what will happen under SOPA will occur out of the public eye and without the possibility of holding anyone accountable. For when copyright law is made and enforced privately, it is hard for the public to know the shape that the law takes and harder still to complain about its operation." Supporters Legislators thumb|upright|Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) The Stop Online Piracy Act was introduced by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and was initially co-sponsored by Howard Berman (D-CA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Steve Chabot (R-OH), John Conyers (D-MI), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Elton Gallegly (R-CA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Timothy Griffin (R-AR), Dennis A. Ross (R-FL), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Lee Terry (R-NE). As of January 16, 2012, there were 31 sponsors. Companies and organizations The legislation has broad support from organizations that rely on copyright, including the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, Macmillan US, Viacom, and various other companies and unions in the cable, movie, and music industries. Supporters also include trademark-dependent companies such as Nike, L'Oréal, and Acushnet Company. Both the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce support H.R. 3261, and many industries have also publicly praised the legislation. In June 2011, former Bill Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry and former George W. Bush advisor Mark McKinnon, business partners in Public Strategies, Inc., started a campaign which echoed McCurry's earlier work in the network neutrality legislative fight. McCurry represented SOPA/PIPA in Politico as a way to combat theft on-line,Mike McCurry, "Congress must combat online theft", Politico opinion piece, June 14, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2011. drawing a favorable comment from the MPAA.Howard Gantman, "Mike McCurry, in Politico, on Need for Congressional Action Against Online Theft", blog.mpaa.org, June 15, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2011. On the 15th, McCurry and Arts + Labs co-chair McKinnon sponsored the "CREATE – A Forum on Creativity, Commerce, Copyright, Counterfeiting and Policy" conference with members of Congress, artists and information-business executives. On September 22, 2011, a letter signed by over 350 businesses and organizations—including NBCUniversal, Pfizer, Ford Motor Company, Revlon, NBA, and Macmillan US—was sent to Congress encouraging the passage of the legislation. Fightonlinetheft.com, a website of The Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (a project of the United States Chamber of Commerce Global Intellectual Property Center,http://www.thecacp.com/ Global Intellectual Property Center ) cites a long list of supporters including these and the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Governors Association, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Attorneys General, the Better Business Bureau, and the National Consumers League.http://fightonlinetheft.com/voices-of-support/labor Voices of support fightonlinetheft.com December 28, 2011 http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottcleland/2011/12/14/sopa-fixes-isolate-opponents-especially-google/ SOPA Fixes Isolate Opponents, especially Google Scott Cleland Forbes December 14, 2011 December 28, 2011 On November 22 the CEO of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said, "valid and important questions have been raised about the bill". He said that definitions and remedies needed to be tightened and narrowed, but "BSA stands ready to work with Chairman Smith and his colleagues on the Judiciary Committee to resolve these issues."SOPA Needs Work to Address Innovation Considerations; Business Software Alliance; November 21, 2011 On December 22, Go Daddy, the world's largest domain name registrar, stated that it supported SOPA.http://support.godaddy.com/godaddy/go-daddys-position-on-sopa/?isc=smtwsup Go Daddy’s Position on SOPA December 22, 2011 Go Daddy then rescinded its support, its CEO saying, "Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation—but we can clearly do better. It's very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it."http://www.godaddy.com/newscenter/release-view.aspx?news_item_id=378&isc=smtwsup Go Daddy No Longer Supports SOPA December 23, 2011 In January 2012, the Entertainment Software Association announced support for SOPA.Video game industry still supports anti-piracy bill – Raw Story, December 31, 2012 Some association members expressed opposition to SOPA.Curtis Tom Game industry unrest swells as SOPA hearing approaches http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/39628/Game_industry_unrest_swells_as_SOPA_hearing_approaches.php January 14, 2012 Gamasutra January 13, 2012 Opposition Legislators House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed opposition to the bill, as well as Representatives Darrell Issa (R-CA) and presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX), who joined nine Democrats to sign a letter to other House members warning that the bill would cause "an explosion of innovation-killing lawsuits and litigation." "Issa said the legislation is beyond repair and must be rewritten from scratch," reported The Hill. Issa and Lofgren announced plans for legislation offering "a copyright enforcement process modeled after the U.S. International Trade Commission's (ITC) patent infringement investigations." Politico referred to support as an "election liability" for legislators.Martinez Jennifer SOPA becoming election liability for backers http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71284.html January 13, 2012 Politico Pro January 10, 2012 Subsequently proponents began hinting that key provisions might be deferred with opponents stating this was inadequate.Cheredar Tom Not even a shift to full SOPA opposition can stop Go Daddy from hemorrhaging customers http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/29/not-even-a-shift-to-full-sopa-opposition-can-stop-go-daddy-from-hemorrhaging-customers/ January 13, 2012 Venturebeat December 29, 2011 On January 14, 2012, the Obama administration responded to a petition against the bill, stating that it would not support legislation with provisions that could lead to Internet censorship, squelching of innovation, or reduced Internet security, but encouraged "all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders while staying true to the principles outlined above in this response."Espinel Victoria Chopra Aneesh Schmidt Howard Combating Online Piracy While Protecting an Open and Innovative Internet https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/response/combating-online-piracy-while-protecting-open-and-innovative-internet January 14, 2012 White House January 14, 2012 Phillips Mark Obama Administration Responds to We the People Petitions on SOPA and Online Piracy http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/14/obama-administration-responds-we-people-petitions-sopa-and-online-piracy January 14, 2012 White House Blog January 14, 2012 Wyatt Edward White House Says It Opposes Parts of Two Antipiracy Bills http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/us/white-house-says-it-opposes-parts-of-2-antipiracy-bills.html January 14, 2012 NYTimes January 15, 2012 Thomas Ken White House concerned over online piracy bills http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120114/D9S8SL501.html January 14, 2012 Associated Press January 14, 2012 Companies and organizations thumb|right|250px|EFF home page with American Censorship Day banner Opponents include Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, AOL, LinkedIn, eBay, Mozilla Corporation, Roblox, Reddit, the Wikimedia Foundation,Geoff Brigham How SOPA will hurt the free web and Wikipedia http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/12/13/how-sopa-will-hurt-the-free-web-and-wikipedia/ Wikimedia Foundation Blog December 13, 2011 December 16, 2011 and human rights organizations such as Reporters Without Borders, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the ACLU, and Human Rights Watch. On December 13, 2011, Julian Sanchez of the Libertarian think tank Cato Institute came out in strong opposition to the bill saying that while the amended version "trims or softens a few of the most egregious provisions of the original proposal... the fundamental problem with SOPA has never been these details; it’s the core idea. The core idea is still to create an Internet blacklist..."http://www.cato.org/people/julian-sanchez The Library Copyright Alliance (including the American Library Association) objected to the broadened definition of "willful infringement" and the introduction of felony penalties for noncommercial streaming infringement, stating that these changes could encourage criminal prosecution of libraries. On November 22 Mike Masnick of Techdirt called SOPA "toxic"Masnick Mike As SOPA/PIPA Becomes Toxic, Frantic Congress Test Runs Dropping DNS Blocking Provisions http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120111/09293817377/as-sopapipa-becomes-toxic-frantic-congress-test-runs-dropping-dns-blocking-provisions.shtml January 13, 2012 TechDirt January 11, 2012 and published a detailed criticismhttp://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111122/04254316872/definitive-post-why-sopa-protect-ip-are-bad-bad-ideas.shtml The Definitive Post On Why SOPA And Protect IP Are Bad, Bad Ideas Mike Masnick Techdirt November 22, 2011 December 28, 2011 of the ideas underlying the bill, writing that "one could argue that the entire Internet enables or facilitates infringement", and saying that a list of sites compiled by the entertainment industry included the personal site of one of their own artists, 50 Cent, and legitimate internet companies. The article questioned the effect of the bill on $2 trillion in GDP and 3.1 million jobs, with a host of consequential problems on investment, liability, and innovation.http://www.infoworld.com/d/networking/controversial-anti-piracy-bill-nears-house-approval-why-you-should-care-181965?page=0,1 Controversial anti-piracy bill nears House approval: Why you should care December 16, 2011 Sarah Jacobsson Infoworld December 19, 2011 Paul Graham, the founder of venture capital company Y Combinator opposed the bill, and banned all SOPA-supporting companies from their "demo day" events. "If these companies are so clueless about technology that they think SOPA is a good idea," he asks, "how could they be good investors?"http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/22/paul-graham-sopa-supporters-are-no-longer-welcome-at-y-combinator-events/ Paul Graham: SOPA supporters are no longer welcome at Y Combinator events December 22, 2011 The Center for Democracy and Technology maintains a list of SOPA and PIPA opponents consisting of the editorial boards of The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, 34 other organizations and hundreds of prominent individuals.http://www.cdt.org/report/list-organizations-and-individuals-opposing-sopa List of Those Expressing Concern With SOPA and PIPA Center for Democracy and Technology December 19, 2011 Zynga Game Network, creator of Facebook games Texas HoldEm Poker and FarmVille, wrote to the sponsors of both bills highlighting concerns over the effect on "the DMCA's safe harbor provisions ... [which] ... have been a cornerstone of the U.S. Technology and industry's growth and success", and opposing the bill due to its impact on "innovation and dynamism".McCullagh Declan Google, Facebook, Zynga oppose new SOPA copyright bill http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57325134-281/google-facebook-zynga-oppose-new-sopa-copyright-bill/ CNet News January 14, 2012 November 15, 2011 (direct link to letter) Other Computer scientist Vint Cerf, one of the founders of the Internet, now Google vice president, wrote to Smith, saying "Requiring search engines to delete a domain name begins a worldwide arms race of unprecedented 'censorship' of the Web," in a letter published on CNet. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/16/founder-internet-fears-unprecedented-web-censorship-from-sopa/ Founder of Internet Fears 'Unprecedented' Web Censorship From SOPA Fox News December 16, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57344028-281/vint-cerf-sopa-means-unprecedented-censorship-of-the-web/ Vint Cerf: SOPA means 'unprecedented censorship' of the Web Declan McCullagh CNet December 15, 2011 December 19, 2011 (includes original text of letter by Vint Cerf) On November 18, 2011, the European Union Parliament adopted by a large majority a resolution that "stresses the need to protect the integrity of the global Internet and freedom of communication by refraining from unilateral measures to revoke IP addresses or domain names." http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/244247/european_parliament_joins_criticism_of_sopa.html European Parliament resolution on the EU-US Summit of November 28, 2011 European Parliament November 15, 2011 December 19, 2011http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=P7-RC-2011-0577&language=EN European Parliament Joins Criticism of SOPA Jennifer Baker PC World November 18, 2011 December 19, 2011 On December 15, 2011 a second hearing was scheduled to amend and vote on SOPA. Many opponents remained firm even after Smith proposed a 71-page amendment to the bill to address concerns. NetCoalition, which works with Google, Twitter, eBay, and Facebook, appreciated that Smith was listening, but says it nonetheless could not support the amendment. Issa stated that Smith’s amendment, "retains the fundamental flaws of its predecessor by blocking Americans' ability to access websites, imposing costly regulation on Web companies and giving Attorney General Eric Holder's Department of Justice broad new powers to police the Internet". In December 2011, film and comics writer Steve Niles spoke out against SOPA, commenting, "SOPA does more than go after so-called 'piracy' websites...SOPA takes away all due process, shuts down any site it deems to be against the law without trial, without notification, without due process...Nobody seems to give a shit, or either they’re scared. Either way, very disappointing. I guess when it affects them they’ll get mad... I know folks are scared to speak out because a lot of us work for these companies, but we have to fight. Too much is at stake."Armitage Hugh Steve Niles speaks out against Stop Online Piracy Act Digital Spy December 31, 2011 http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a357876/steve-niles-speaks-out-against-stop-online-piracy-act.htmlGold Mike MIKE GOLD: Steve Niles’ Courageous Act ComicMix January 4, 2012 http://l.wbx.me/l/?p=1&instId=31475212-8b66-4de5-93cd-d30be501a8e2&token=0ae08c16b51fe61e41911f3c02c7db2517dc47e900000134a0351ab9&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicmix.com Protest actions thumb|right|Mozilla's SOPA protest, displayed in Firefox on November 16, 2011 On November 16, 2011, Tumblr, Mozilla, Techdirt, the Center for Democracy and Technology were among many Internet companies that protested by participating in American Censorship Day. They displayed black banners over their site logos with the words "STOP CENSORSHIP". In December 2011, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales initiated discussion with editors regarding a potential knowledge blackout, a protest inspired by a successful campaign by the Italian-language Wikipedia to block the Italian DDL intercettazioni bill, terms of which could have infringed the encyclopedia's editorial independence. Editors and othersCharlie Osborne, "Would a Wikipedia blackout be such a bad thing?", iGeneration on ZDNet, December 13, 2011, 11:04 am PST. Retrieved January 5, 2012. mulled interrupting service for one or more days as in the Italian protest, or alternatively presenting site visitors with a blanked page directing them to further information before permitting them to complete searches. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/jimmy-wales/8953273/Wikipedia-co-founder-threatens-blackout-over-anti-piracy-law.html Wikipedia co-founder threatens blackout over anti-piracy law The Telegraph December 13, 2011 Christopher Williams December 28, 2011http://www.itnews.com.au/News/284285,wikipedia-mulls-blackout-to-protest-sopa.aspx Wikipedia mulls blackout to protest SOPA itnews December 13, 2011 December 13, 2011 Brett Winterford Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has threatened a knowledge “blackout” of the online encyclopedia to protest a US anti-piracy bill that could have serious ramifications for online service providers. As a result, the English-language Wikipedia will be blacked out for 24 hours on January 18. Wikipedia to go dark in piracy protest January 17, 2012 Australian Broadcasting Corporation http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-17/wiki-to-go-dark-in-piracy-protest/3778452 January 17, 2012 Markham Erickson, executive director of NetCoalition, told Fox News that “a number of companies have had discussions about [blacking out services]” last weekAlec, Liu, "Will Google, Amazon, and Facebook Black Out the Net?", FoxNews.com, December 30, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2012. and discussion of the option spread to other media outlets.McMillan Graeme SOPA: What if Google, Facebook and Twitter Went Offline in Protest? Time January 5, 2012 http://techland.time.com/2012/01/05/sopa-what-if-google-facebook-and-twitter-went-offline-in-protest/ January 5, 2012 In January 2012, Reddit announced plans to black out its site for twelve hours on January 18, as company co-founder Alexis Ohanian announced he was going to testify to Congress. "He’s of the firm position that SOPA could potentially 'obliterate' the entire tech industry", Paul Tassi wrote in Forbes. Tassi also opined that Google and Facebook would have to join the blackout to reach a sufficiently broad audience.Tassi Paul Reddit's SOPA Blackout Admirable, But Google and Facebook Must Follow Forbes January 11, 2012 http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/01/11/reddits-sopa-blackout-admirable-but-google-and-facebook-must-follow/ January 11, 2012 Other prominent sites that are reported to be participating in the January 18 blackout are Cheezburger Sites,https://twitter.com/#%21/benhuh/status/157538541155516416 Mojang,http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/4447/article/notch-joins-january-18-anti-sopa-protest/ Notch Joins January 18 Anti-SOPA Protest Gameranx.com January 14, 2012 Major League Gaming,John Gaudiosi http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2012/01/13/major-league-gaming-joins-sopa-blackout-pulls-100-godaddy-com-domain-names/ Major League Gaming Joins SOPA Blackout, Pulls 100 GoDaddy.com Domain Names Forbes January 13, 2012 January 14, 2012 and Boing Boing.Doctorow Cory http://boingboing.net/2012/01/14/boing-boing-will-go-dark-on-ja.html Boing Boing will go dark on Jan 18 to fight SOPA Boing Boing September 30, 2010 January 15, 2012 Wider protests have been considered and in some cases committed to by major internet sites, with high profile bodies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Amazon, AOL, Reddit, Mozilla, LinkedIn, IAC, eBay, PayPal, Wordpress and Wikimedia being widely named as "considering" or committed to an "unprecedented"Rachel Bennett and J. Sebe Dale IV Internet giants consider blackout to protest SOPA http://www.wtol.com/story/16464577/internet-giants-consider-blackout-in-opposition-of-anti-piracy-bills January 13, 2012 WTOL.com January 9, 2012 internet blackout on January 18, 2012.Burgess Rick Reddit prepares for anti-SOPA blackout, others may follow http://www.techspot.com/news/47013-reddit-prepares-for-anti-sopa-blackout-others-may-follow.html January 13, 2012 TechSpot January 11, 2012Hornshaw Phil Gaming community joins SOPA protests with Jan. 18 blackouts http://www.gamefront.com/gaming-community-joins-sopa-protests-with-jan-18-blackouts/ January 13, 2012 GameFront.com January 13, 2012E. Kain WordPress Comes Out Against SOPA http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/11/wordpress-comes-out-against-sopa/ January 13, 2012 Forbes January 11, 2012 Legislative history November 16 House Judiciary Committee hearing At the House Judiciary Committee hearing, there was concern among some observers that the set of speakers who testified lacked technical expertise. Technology news site CNET reported "One by one, each witness—including a lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America—said they weren't qualified to discuss... DNSSEC." Adam Thierer, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, similarly said, "The techno-ignorance of Congress was on full display. Member after member admitted that they really didn't have any idea what impact SOPA's regulatory provisions would have on the DNS, online security, or much of anything else." Lofgren stated, “We have no technical expertise on this panel today.” She also criticized the tone of the hearing, saying, “It hasn’t generally been the policy of this committee to dismiss the views of those we are going to regulate. Impugning the motives of the critics instead of the substance is a mistake.”http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/house-holds-one-sided-hearing-piracy-bill-136575 House Holds One-Sided Hearing on Piracy Bill Katy Bachman November 16, 2011 Adweek December 19, 2011 Lungren told Politico's Morning Tech that he had "very serious concerns" about SOPA's impact on DNSSEC, adding "we don't have enough information, and if this is a serious problem as was suggested by some of the technical experts that got in touch with me, we have to address it. I can't afford to let that go by without dealing with it." Lungren Wants Hearing On SOPA'S Cyber Impact Declan McCullagh CNET November 16, 2011 Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, who had wanted to testify but was not invited, stated, "The significant potential harms of this bill are reflected by the extraordinary coalition arrayed against it. Concerns about SOPA have been raised by Tea Partie, progressives, computer scientists, human rights advocates, venture capitalists, law professors, independent musicians, and many more. Unfortunately, these voices were not heard at today's hearing." An editorial in Fortune wrote, "This is just another case of Congress doing the bidding of powerful lobbyists—in this case, Hollywood and the music industry, among others. It would be downright mundane if the legislation weren't so draconian and the rhetoric surrounding it weren't so transparently pandering." December 15 markup of the bill Since its introduction, a number of opponents to the bill have expressed concerns. The bill was presented for markup by the House Judiciary Committee on December 15. An aide to Smith stated that "He is open to changes but only legitimate changes. Some site[s] are totally capable of filtering illegal content, but they won’t and are instead profiting from the traffic of illegal content.” Markup outcome After the first day of the hearing, more than 20 amendments had been rejected, including one by Issa which would have stripped provisions targeting search engines and Internet providers. PC World reported that the 22–12 vote on the amendment could foreshadow strong support for the bill by the committee.http://www.pcworld.com/article/246354/house_committee_appears_headed_toward_approving_sopa.html House Committee Appears Headed Toward Approving SOPA Grant Gross PCWorld December 16, 2011 December 19, 2011 The Committee adjourned on the second day agreeing to continue debate early in 2012.Hayley Tsukayama SOPA online piracy bill markup postponed http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-tech/post/sopa-online-piracy-bill-markup-postponed/2011/12/20/gIQA6s7a7O_blog.html The Washington Post December 20, 2011 Corbett B. Daly SOPA, bill to stop online piracy, hits minor snag in House http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57344536-503544/sopa-bill-to-stop-online-piracy-hits-minor-snag-in-house/ CBS December 17, 2011 Smith announced a plan to remove the provision that requires Internet service providers to block access to certain foreign websites. On January 15, 2011, Issa said he has received assurances from Rep. Eric Cantor that the bill would not come up for a vote until a consensus could be reached.Wortham Jenna Sengupta Somini Bills to Stop Web Piracy Invite a Protracted Battle http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/technology/web-piracy-bills-invite-a-protracted-battle.html January 15, 2012 NYTimes January 16, 2012 January 24, related PROTECT IP Act to be voted on in Senate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to bring the Senate's version of the legislation (the Protect IP A or PIPA) to a vote on January 24. Reid rejected a request by six Senators for a postponement, saying "this is an issue that is too important to delay." References 30em Timothy B. Lee, (January 13, 2012) "Under voter pressure, members of Congress backpedal (hard) on SOPA" Ars Technica http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-57325783-261/hollywoods-sopa-testimony-links-job-loss-to-piracy/ Hollywood's SOPA testimony links job loss to piracy Greg Sandoval November 16, 2011 CNET December 19, 2011 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/british-isp-told-to-block-pirate-bay-torrent-site-or-face-court/571 British ISP told to block Pirate Bay torrent site, or face court Zack Whittacker November 4, 2011 ZDNet December 19, 2011 http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/at-web-censorship-hearing-congress-guns-for-pro-pirate-google.ars At Web censorship hearing, Congress guns for "pro-pirate" Google Nate Anderson Ars Technica November 16, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/the-stop-online-piracy-act-what-industry-leaders-can-do-about-it/ The Stop Online Piracy Act: What Industry Leaders Can Do About It A. M. Reilly Industry Leaders Magazine November 16, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.circleid.com/pdf/PROTECT-IP-Technical-Whitepaper-Final.pdf Security and Other Technical Concerns Raised by the DNS Filtering Requirements in the PROTECT IP Bill Steve Crocker Danny McPherson Dan Kaminsky David Dagon Paul Vixie May 2011 CircleID December 19, 2011 Dan Kaminsky Paul Vixie http://blog.artsandlabs.com/2011/06/artslabs-presents-create----protecting-creativity-from-the-ground-up.html"Arts+Labs Presents: CREATE – Protecting Creativity from the Ground Up" Arts+Labs blog June 1, 2011 November 30, 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/16/sopa-condemned-internet-blacklist-bill Sopa condemned by web giants as 'internet blacklist bill': Google, Twitter and eBay say controversial Stop Online Piracy Act would give US authorities too much power over websites Dominic Rushe The Guardian UK November 16, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/111511-lawmakers-seek-alternative-to-stop-253139.html Lawmakers seek alternative to Stop Online Piracy Act: Opponents of the legislation also complain that sponsors are railroading it through Congress Grant Gross November 15, 2011 Network World December 19, 2011 http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/194635-gops-issa-effort-to-grease-the-skids-for-online-piracy-bill-has-failed GOP's Issa: Effort to 'grease the skids' for online piracy bill has failed Gautham Nagesh The Hill November 18, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/05/firefox-add-on-redirect Feds Demand Firefox Remove Add-On That Redirects Seized Domains David Kravaets Wired May 5, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/11/17/sopa/ Why the House is stacking the deck on Internet piracy November 17, 2011 CNN December 19, 2011 http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/House-SOPA-Hearings-Reveal-AntiInternet-Bias-on-Committee-Witness-List-222080/ House SOPA Hearings Reveal Anti-internet Bias on Committee, Witness List Cloud Computing News Wayne Rash eWeek November 16, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/16/mozilla_sopa/ Mozilla stirs netizens against US anti-piracy law: Dancing cats take-down threat Gavin Clarke The Register November 16, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-tech/post/tech-coalition-backs-off-sopa-support/2011/11/22/gIQAAp95kN_blog.html Tech coalition backs off SOPA support Hayley Tsukayama Washington Post November 22, 2011 December 19, 2011 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/11/proposed-copyright-bill-threatens-whistleblowing-and-human-rights Proposed Copyright Bill Threatens Whistleblowing and Human Rights Trevor Timm Electronic Frontier Foundation November 2, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.scribd.com/doc/54218316/Questions-to-Department-of-Homeland-Security-April-19-2011 Questions to Department of Homeland Security April 19, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/sopa-stop-online-piracy-act-debate-why-are-google-and-facebook-against-it/2011/11/17/gIQAvLubVN_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) debate: Why are Google and Facebook against it? Beth Marlowe Washington Post November 17, 2011 November 17, 2011 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/24/google_five_hundred_million_doj_settlement_over_illegal_pharmecies/ Google settles illegal drug ad probe for $500 million Cade Metz August 24, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/strange-bedfellows-nancy-pelosi-ron-paul-join-sopa-opposition.ars Strange bedfellows: Nancy Pelosi, Ron Paul join SOPA opposition Timothy B. Lee Ars Technica November 17, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://cdt.org/blogs/cynthia-wong/1811us-piracy-law-could-threaten-human-rights US Piracy Law Could Threaten Human Rights Cynthia Wong Center for Democracy and Technology November 18, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.inc.com/articles/201111/why-start-ups-are-scared-of-the-stop-internet-piracy-act.html Why Start-ups Are Scared of SOPA Tim Donnelly Inc. November 17, 2011 November 18, 2011 Chloe Albanesius http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396518,00.asp?obref=obinsite SOPA: Is Congress Pushing Web Censorship? | News & Opinion PCMag.com November 16, 2011 November 18, 2011 http://cdt.org/files/pdfs/NC-Analysis_of_HR3261_FINAL.pdf H.R. 3261, "Stop Online Piracy Act" ("SOPA"): Explanation of Bill and Summary of Concerns Markham C. Erickson NetCoalition November 1, 2011 December 19, 2011 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/11/hollywood-new-war-on-software-freedom-and-internet-innovation Hollywood's New War on Software Freedom and Internet Innovation Peter Eckersley Deep Links Electronic Frontier Foundation November 11, 2011 December 19, 2011 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/disastrous-ip-legislation-back-%E2%80%93-and-it%E2%80%99s-worse-ever Disastrous IP Legislation Is Back – And It's Worse than Ever Corynne McSherry Electronic Frontier Foundation October 26, 2011 December 19, 2011 H.R.3261 – Stop Online Piracy Act; House Judiciary Committee; October 26, 2011 The US Stop Online Piracy Act: A Primer; PC World – Business Center; November 16, 2011 http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/190781-tech-groups-say-online-piracy-bill-would-create-nightmare-for-web-and-social-media-firms Tech groups say online piracy bill would create 'nightmare' for Web and social media firms Gautham Nagesh The Hill October 31, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-22/house-judiciary-chairman-says-google-obstructs-piracy-bill.html House Judiciary Chairman Says Google Obstructs Piracy Bill Eric Engleman Bloomberg BusinessWeek December 19, 2011 House Introduces Internet Piracy Bill; Washington Post; October 26, 2011 'American Censorship Day' Makes an Online Statement: The Ticker http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-16/-american-censorship-day-makes-an-online-statement-the-ticker.html 'American Censorship Day' Makes an Online Statement: The Ticker Bloomberg November 17, 2011 Greg Sandoval (January 14, 2012), Momentum shift: SOPA, PIPA opponents now in driver's seat CNET News Domestic Reality Does Not Match Bold Words on Internet Freedom of Expression http://en.rsf.org/etats-unis-domestic-reality-does-not-match-02-11-2011,41324.html November 2, 2011 December 19, 2011 Larry Downes SOPA: Hollywood's latest effort to turn back time http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20128239-38/sopa-hollywoods-latest-effort-to-turn-back-time/ November 9, 2011 CNET News November 1, 2011 ESET Open Letter http://blog.eset.com/2011/11/15/sopa-and-pipa-and-dns-an-open-letter-to-congress November 17, 2011 Press Resources; Commitee on the Judiciary; October 26, 2011 http://www.librarycopyrightalliance.org/bm~doc/lca-sopa-8nov11.pdf Re: Stop Online Piracy Act, H.R. 3261 Brandon Butler November 8, 2011 PDF Library Copyright Alliance November 10, 2011 SOPA: Hollywood Finally Gets A Chance to Break the Internet https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/sopa-hollywood-finally-gets-chance-break-internet Corynne McSherry October 28, 2011 December 19, 2011 SOPA: Opponents http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57325134-281/google-facebook-zynga-oppose-new-sopa-copyright-bill/ Declan McCullagh November 15, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395653,00.asp#fbid=6r9KNM2HX7x Will Online Piracy Bill Combat 'Rogue' Web Sites or Cripple the Internet? Chloe Albanesius November 1, 2011 December 19, 2011 Bill H.R.3261; GovTrack.us; November 4, 2011 Nagesh Gautham Tech groups say online piracy bill would create 'nightmare' for Web and social media firms http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/190781-tech-groups-say-online-piracy-bill-would-create-nightmare-for-web-and-social-media-firms/ November 9, 2011 The Hill October 31, 2011 December 19, 2011 H.R. 3261, STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT; House Judiciary Committee; October 26, 2011 Chamber Presses Gas Pedal on IP Push ; Politico – Morning Tech; September 22, 2011 http://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/me5e9/american_censorship_day_stand_up_for/ American Censorship Day – Stand up for ████ ███████ : announcements Reddit.com November 16, 2011 January 15, 2012 Letter to Congress in Support of Legislation; Chamber of Commerce Global IP Center; September 22, 2011 http://www.booz.com/global/home/press/article/49953717 Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists Say They Will Stop Funding Some Internet Start-Up Business Models if Tough New Rules Are Enacted, Finds Booz & Company Study November 16, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://infojustice.org/archives/6182 Notes from the House Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act Mike Palmetto November 18, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://cdt.org/files/pdfs/NC-Analysis_of_HR3261_FINAL.pdf H.R. 3261, "Stop Online Piracy Act" ("SOPA") Explanation of Bill and Summary of Concerns Markham C. Erickson November 1, 2011 Center for Democracy and Technology December 19, 2011 http://techliberation.com/2011/11/16/sopa-selective-memory-about-a-technologically-incompetent-congress/ SOPA & Selective Memory about a Technologically Incompetent Congress Adam Thierer Technology Liberation Front November 16, 2011 http://www.rxrights.org/your-thoughts/2011/11/16/rxrights-statement-in-response-to-house-judiciary-committee-hearing-on-stop-online-piracy-act-sopa RxRights statement in response to House Judiciary Committee hearing on Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) November 16, 2011 RxRights.org December 19, 2011 http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stop-Online-Piracy-Act-SOPA-bw-1492775023.html?x=0 Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) Fails to Distinguish "Rogue" from "Real" International Online Pharmacies Yahoo Finance November 2, 2011 http://web.archive.org/web/20120108124757/finance.yahoo.com/news/Stop-Online-Piracy-Act-SOPA-bw-1492775023.html?x=0 January 8, 2012 http://infojustice.org/archives/6248 SOPA Markup Scheduled for Dec. 15 As Opposition to the Bill Grows Mike Palmedo November 28, 2011 December 19, 2011 http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/246146/groups_still_oppose_sopa_after_proposed_amendment.html Groups Still Oppose SOPA After Proposed Amendment PCWorld December 13, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/firewall-law-could-infringe-on-free-speech.html Stop the Great Firewall of America Rebecca MacKinnon New York Times November 15, 2011 November 18, 2011 External links H.R. 3261 on Thomas – Library of Congress (archive) H.R. 3261 on GovTrack Individual congressmen and senators' positions on SOPA Brookings Institution white paper What DNS Is Not