The Stop Online Piracy Act: the SOPA story so far
The Stop Online Piracy Act is a controversial bill that would allow the Justice Department to pull foreign sites "dedicated" to copyright infringement out of the DNS system and search engine results — effectively altering the way the internet works. It's a hugely controversial bill that takes a scorched-earth approach to solving the thorny problem of copyright infringement on the web, and it's attracting a lot of attention from around the web. We're tracking the bill's progress and reaction from the industry right here.
Inside Hollywood's failed SOPA efforts — and a glimmer of hope
The Hollywood Reporter offers up fresh details about the level of panic and frustration that built up as public sentiment turned against the MPAA and other entities involved in creating the far-reaching SOPA / PIPA efforts. THR details a phone call between MPAA president Chris Dodd and DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg in which the two discussed their concerns the White House would oppose SOPA. Dodd came away with the impression that nothing major was in the works, only to have the...
SOPA tabled by Rep. Lamar Smith, for now
It looks like Wednesday's SOPA Blackout Day should be considered a success: Reuters is reporting that the Stop Online Piracy Act has been withdrawn by its chief sponsor, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith. This comes only hours after Senator Harry Reid announced that next Tuesday's scheduled vote on the Protect IP Act (PIPA) was going to be postponed. While the SOPA bill is off the table for now, there's no indication that it's being completely abandoned — Smith told Reuters...
Senator Reid delays PIPA vote as backlash mounts
Senator Harry Reid has announced that next Tuesday's vote on the Protect-IP Act has been canceled, but the bill is still far from dead. While Reid's statement vaguely cites "recent events" (i.e. massive voter disapproval) he insists that "counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year" — the same heavy caveat of economic doom that other SOPA / PIPA supporters in Congress have provided since the controversy began. Reid says he's...
Policy & Law
MPAA chairman Chris Dodd expresses regret over pro-SOPA strategy, calls for compromise
Former Senator and current MPAA chairman Chris Dodd has acknowledged that SOPA and its Senate counterpart PIPA have an image problem. Dodd says that the bills were largely considered a "slam dunk" before the protests that culminated in a massive site blackout on Wednesday. After the protests had built momentum, however, "this was a whole new different game all of a sudden," he said. While SOPA author Lamar Smith said last week that he was confident the bill would pass, Dodd now seems more...
Policy & Law
Neelie Kroes, VP of the European Commission, speaks out against SOPA
Wednesday's SOPA Blackout Day appears to have had its intended effect — a flood of attention was focused on the issue all week, and the Senate's website had trouble handling the influx of traffic from concerned citizens. A number of politicians have started withdrawing support for SOPA and PIPA, and the bills are now even being criticized by politicians from abroad. Neelie Kroes, VP of the European Commission, tweeted today that she was "glad [the] tide is turning on #SOPA; don't need bad...
US Senate websites hit with technical difficulties following SOPA blackout
It looks like the SOPA blackout day has encouraged many citizens to get out and email their senators to voice their disapproval. If you head over to the US Senate's home page and reach this list of senators, many (if not all) of the "contact" links are currently returning a "technical difficulties" message. There's no evidence of foul play here (Anonymous is even currently under a blackout), and while it could be unrelated to SOPA, there's definitely a lot of major web properties driving...
Policy & Law
Former senator and MPAA CEO Chris Dodd speaks out against SOPA blackouts
The MPAA has taken notice of the many websites blacking out their content today in protest of SOPA, and thinks these companies would be better off supporting efforts to combat piracy rather than protesting. Chris Dodd, former senator and current MPAA CEO, starts his statement under the guise of concern, saying sites participating in blackout day (such as Reddit and Wikipedia) are "irresponsible" and "resorting to stunts that punish their users." He goes on to say that these blackouts are a...
Policy & Law
Why The Verge and Vox Media are opposed to SOPA
It's a day of protest across the internet today, as Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, and others have all gone black to voice opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. We think the greater responsibility of The Verge as a news outlet is to serve our readers, so we're still up and running, but I wanted to take this opportunity to publish Vox Media's official SOPA position statement. As many of you know, Vox Media and The Verge are officially opposed to SOPA, and I worked closely with our...
Web & Social
The SOPA blackout: Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, Google, and many others protest proposed law
Two new laws proposed by US legislators, the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act, have been attracting a very negative reaction from the web community over the past couple of months, which is today culminating in a day of protests. Aiming to curtail copyright infringement on the web by giving the US government unprecedented new powers, both SOPA and PIPA have been rejected as overreaching and unhelpful laws that cannot coexist with a free and open internet.
The most outspoken protester...
Policy & Law
Microsoft says it opposes SOPA
Microsoft took the chance to oppose SOPA on Tuesday, just hours before a Wikipedia blackout. The controversial bill has attracted a lot of attention this week as Google and Wikipedia both pledged to ensure web users stay fully informed of the sweeping changes that SOPA could bring. Microsoft says it opposes SOPA "as currently drafted," but doesn't reveal if the company plans to take any protest action. The software maker issued the following statement:
"We oppose the passage of the SOPA bill...
Web & Social
Wikipedia plans 24-hour blackout this Wednesday to protest SOPA / PIPA
While Reddit's merry band of Boromir memes, adorable pet pictures, and assorted animated GIFs are taking just a 12-hour hiatus, Wikipedia will be shutting down all its English-language sites for a full 24 hours in protest of both SOPA and PIPA legislation. The blackout starts Wednesday at midnight — "DC time," emphasized Wiki founder and staring contest master Jimmy Wales over Twitter. The pages will reportedly be replaced with a call to action for people to write and call Congress - Wales...
Policy & Law
Rupert Murdoch takes on Obama, SOPA, Google, and high popcorn prices on Twitter
Rupert Murdoch, the aging, embattled, conservative media tycoon has been no stranger to controversy lately, and not the least of it has centered around his new Twitter account. The Fox and Wall Street Journal head has been surprisingly vocal since he joined the microblogging service just a few weeks ago — but none of his outbursts ring as clearly and loudly as recent tweets on the SOPA debate. Much of his vitriol seems aimed at Google, which Murdoch calls a "piracy leader."
The News...
Policy & Law
White House raises concern over DNS-blocking bills; House tables SOPA vote until 'consensus' is reached
Today the Obama Administration issued a statement on the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect-IP Act, in response to two online petitions opposing the bills — the White House says that while it still supports anti-piracy efforts, it "will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet." The White House also says that it cannot endorse policy that "drives users to dangerous, unreliable DNS...
Policy & Law
Rep. Lamar Smith plans to remove DNS blocking from SOPA
House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Lamar Smith says he plans to remove the controversial DNS blocking provision from the Stop Online Piracy Act, according to a statement released on his website today. Smith says that he feels "we should remove Domain Name System blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision," and that "we will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute...
Policy & Law
SOPA author Lamar Smith defends bill, questions critics' credibility
US Representative Lamar Smith, author of the Stop Online Piracy Act, has doubled down on his support of the bill, and accused its critics of having ulterior motives for their opposition. In an interview with Reuters, Smith speculated that opponents were making money by "directing customers to these foreign websites." In particular, he accused Google of profiting by selling ads on sites that would be blocked under SOPA, saying that "I don't think they have any real credibility to complain even...
Policy & Law
Under pressure, PIPA author to propose 'further study' on DNS blocking
The Protect-IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) have been under fire in recent months over their potential to disrupt the internet as we know it — private citizens, politicians, and major companies like Google and Wikipedia have come out against the bills, and others, like Reddit, have even scheduled service blackouts to protest the measures. Now, under mounting pressure, PIPA's author — Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont — says that "further study" is needed to identify...
Riot Games anti-SOPA forum thread sparks support from Congressman Jared Polis
Hitting back against the support by the Entertainment Software Association, Riot Games co-founder and CEO Brandon Beck took to the company's own forums to take an official stance against the SOPA and PIPA bills. The "generally apolitical" League of Legends developer has made the decision to speak out as it feels that the bills will kill streaming, threaten independent content creation, damage communities, threaten free speech, and even damage the foundation of the internet.
The thread's drawn...
Policy & Law
Comcast kills DNS rerouting to protect DNSSEC, while it continues to push for SOPA's DNS blocking
While Comcast's lawyers and lobbyists work on pushing the DNS-blocking Stop Online Piracy Act through Congress, the company's technical experts say that DNS rerouting (blocking) is now incompatible with its secure DNS system. In separate blog posts today, Comcast announced that it has fully implemented Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), and that it will be killing its own DNS rerouting service because it is incompatible with DNSSEC — Chris Griffiths, Comcast DNS Engineering...
Reddit plans January 18 blackout to oppose SOPA
Some opponents of the Stop Online Piracy Act have wondered if any of the larger websites will conduct service blackouts, and now one major player is set to shutter its doors. Reddit says that it will be blacking out the popular content sharing website on January 18th for twelve hours from 8AM to 8PM EST. "Instead of the normal glorious, user-curated chaos of Reddit," the admins write, "we will be displaying a simple message about how the PIPA / SOPA legislation would shut down site like...
RIAA calls online piracy a threat to national security
Music industry group the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has rejected OPEN (the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act), the bill proposed by Representative Darrell Issa and Senator Ron Wyden as an alternative to the controversy-laden SOPA. A chief difference between SOPA and OPEN is the governmental division responsible for enforcing infringements — while SOPA would be policed by the Department of Justice, OPEN would belong to the International Trade...
Quick read
Ron Paul blasts SOPA on the 2012 presidential campaign trail
It looks like SOPA has finally made it to the big time. Ron Paul — one of the many Republican contenders in the 2012 presidential election — blasted the proposed legislation during a talk on the campaign trail. It's not clear if he fully understands the details of the bill based on his comments that it will "take over the internet" and "monitor everything we do," but it's more than clear that he opposes restrictive online legislation, and that's a good thing. Check out the video below to...
Web & Social
GoDaddy accused of dragging feet on domain transfers, says there's nothing unusual going on
Users of domain registrar Namecheap who've been trying to transfer domains in from GoDaddy in the wake of its SOPA revolt in the past couple days have been running into a bit of a speed bump: Namecheap alleges in customer service emails that GoDaddy is blocking its WHOIS requests, which means it needs to "manually insert WHOIS details into the form." In a follow-up blog post today, Namecheap also says that GoDaddy "appears to be returning incomplete WHOIS information" in violation of ICANN...
SOPA: the public debate
If you've been on the web in the past couple of weeks, you may know that the debate around the Stop Online Piracy Act has reached a fever pitch: petitions have been offered, scathing editorials written, boycotts proposed, and members of Congress have spent more than a dozen hours arguing and hurling insults at one another while teasing the public with shifting dates for the bill's debate. (If you don't know what SOPA is or what it does, be sure to check out our analysis.)
Of course, SOPA is...
Policy & Law
GoDaddy withdraws SOPA support in face of massive protests
Internet domain registrar GoDaddy just announced it will no longer support the controversial SOPA legislation after being threatened with a massive boycott from users who oppose the bill. GoDaddy had been an outspoken supporter of SOPA until just now, even saying that it had worked with lawmakers to draft its provisions, but that support ultimately made the company an easy target for SOPA's furious opposition. A boycott movement started with Reddit users planning a December 29th "Leave...
Culture
What is SOPA and how does it work? The Stop Online Piracy Act explained
I walk by a pretty good bootleg DVD stand a few times a month — the proprietor sets up at irregular intervals in Union Square just a few blocks away from The Verge offices in New York. Instead of just offering up ripped DVDs with handwritten titles in paper sleeves, he sells meticulous copies of the entire package from sleeve to disc label, and there are a few legitimate used DVDs thrown in for flavor. If not for the suspiciously low prices and the occasional printing error, you might not...
SOPA vote delayed until January
Tomorrow's scheduled committee vote on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act has been postponed, with no apparent new date on the books so far. That's the second postponement in committee for SOPA, which would require ISPs and search engines to alter DNS records and search results to keep foreign sites "dedicated" to copyright infringement away from US citizens; the bill was the subject of two marathon hearings last week that ended abruptly after opponents voiced passionate opposition to...
Policy & Law
Twitter's attorney says SOPA could punish every user of a service for the alleged infringement of one
Twitter general counsel and former Google attorney Alex MacGillivray shared his views on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) last week, and he's not a fan. He believes that under SOPA, if a single portion of a site was found to be guilty of copyright infringement, the whole service could be shut down at the domain level, with no regard to the legitimate users of such a service, and no way for those users to recover the precious data they entrust to the cloud. Read about one such theoretical...
Policy & Law
If you think Congress should learn more about the internet, then you should learn more about Congress
We're planning our own in-depth look at the Stop Online Piracy Act, but in the meantime there's a heated discussion taking place about the consequences of the bill, and also about how Congress is handling it — on Friday, Joshua Kopstein penned a scathing editorial for Motherboard in which he claims that key representatives still don't know (and don't care to know) how the internet works. He mentions Rep. Mel Watt of North Carolina who grinned to the committee and admitted he's "not a...
Stop Online Piracy Act committee vote delayed as controversy mounts (updated)
The controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (or SOPA) was derailed somewhat today as the House Judiciary Committee adjourned its second day of hearings on the bill without a vote to pass the bill out of committee, or a revised schedule for such a vote to take place. The stall in proceedings take place after a marathon committee session yesterday that ran for nearly 12 hours, and during which the bill's sponsors were repeatedly exposed for knowing virtually nothing about the actual workings of...
Policy & Law
Twitter, Facebook, Google and others take out full-page NYT ad to protest copyright law changes
A group of nine internet and technology companies including Google, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, and Zynga ran a full-page ad in the New York Times yesterday, voicing their opposition to the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261) and PROTECT IP Act (S. 968). They're not happy that the the two proposed bills will modify the "safe harbor" provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which protects companies hosting content from copyright violations so long as they make good faith...
