Comments on: The case against SOPA/”Protect IP”

By: SOPA fight heats up

SOPA fight heats up — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:55:50 +0000

[…] On SOPA Supporters List Say They Never Supported The Bill” [Mike Masnick, TechDirt] Earlier here and […]

By: “SOPA: An Architecture for Censorship”

“SOPA: An Architecture for Censorship” — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:51:23 +0000

[…] of illegal drugs or profiting from depictions of animal cruelty? [Julian Sanchez, Cato, more; earlier] More: Stephen DeMaura and David Segal, Roll Call (potential use against political candidates), […]

By: Hugo S. Cunningham

Hugo S. Cunningham — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:12:22 +0000

Some favors to copyright enforcers may have merit (especially for works created in the last 14 years), but any new bill should include quid pro quos in the public interest (“the progress of science and useful arts”), eg. specifying that
(1) a bona-fide search database (like Google’s) is not an infringement.
(2) reprinting brief excerpts as part of documentaries is not an infringement.
(3) “Orphaned works” can be reprinted without serious liability. If a bona-fide copyright holder should later turn up, his claims will be settled on a modest and realistic “quantum meruit” basis, rather than a ruinous “punish infringement” basis.

By: J.T. Wenting

J.T. Wenting — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 05:33:36 +0000

“would give far too much power to authorities to close down websites without due process,”

which is the very reason congress likes it so much…