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Comments on news posted 2012-01-13 12:35:06: Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) co-sponsors and entertainment industry vessels Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) have had a very busy few weeks both responding to and ignoring the immense criticism to the DNS filtering aspects of SOPA. ..

Chuck_IV
join:2003-11-18
Connecticut

Chuck_IV

Member

Did he really say that???

"but because they've secretly making money off of foreign pirate sites. Or something."

And He's NOT making any money off supporting SOPA through contributions from the offending supporters of SOPA?

The people of Texas and Vermont(and the rest of the states where their congressmen support SOPA) need to step up to the plate on this and VOTE THE IDIOTS OUT!

tubbynet
reminds me of the danse russe
MVM
join:2008-01-16
Gilbert, AZ

tubbynet

MVM

business as usual...

does anyone *really* expect anything different?
by passing this bill -- all of the sponsors can claim protection of american ip, protection of the media, putting evil 'pirates' through punishment, etc -- then reap the rewards on the campaign trail, and receive huge donations from big media.
from there -- the actual 'studies' can be ignored, written off as 'scare tactics', written off as 'people wanting to make money off piracy', or just given lip service to.

its really a good plan:

(*) write law to protect a group of people, regardless of the technical implementations and obvious flaws in actually performing what the law is intended to do
(*) pass law, claiming technical feasibility will be studied at a later date.
(*) ??????????????
(*) profit

q.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

SimbaSeven

Member

Smith is an idiot..

Wow.. So he wants to block every foreign e-Commerce site so we only can buy American-made (supposedly) products? What a huge crock of BS.
The truth is, we need to get jobs back in the U.S. The other problem is, can we develop well-built cheap products that are built here? Doubt it.

Looks like I'll be busy this weekend building redundancies into my router in case this crap actually passes.

That's what we get when Techies get ignored my non-Techies because the non-Techies hold all the cards while the Techies go insane because they know what will happen if they do what the non-Techies want.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: Smith is an idiot..

This all reminds me of a cartoon I saw on TV many years ago. It revolved around the design of an airplane. The engineer created a very nice design, which he then sent to his boss. His boss, who apparently knew nothing about airplanes, sent it back with some changes. The engineer then had no choice but to incorporate them into his new design, which he then sent to his boss, who made even more changes. This went back and forth several times, with the design getting more ridiculous and unworkable each time. Finally, the prototype was built, and it looked remarkably like the boss, with outstretched arms for wings. Naturally, it crashed on its maiden flight.

This is exactly like that, just without the humor. It's like some idiot bringing his perfectly-running car to a mechanic, telling the mechanic the car is not working correctly, but instead of taking the mechanic's advice, the moron then announces that he--even though he admits to knowing nothing about cars--is going to make some basic design changes, against the mechanic's advice, but he still expects it to work as it always has. But if it doesn't work, well, we'll worry about that later, if at all.

cdru
Go Colts
MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN

cdru

MVM

Re: Smith is an idiot..

said by ISurfTooMuch:

This all reminds me of a cartoon I saw on TV many years ago. It revolved around the design of an airplane. The engineer created a very nice design, which he then sent to his boss. His boss, who apparently knew nothing about airplanes, sent it back with some changes. The engineer then had no choice but to incorporate them into his new design, which he then sent to his boss, who made even more changes. This went back and forth several times, with the design getting more ridiculous and unworkable each time. Finally, the prototype was built, and it looked remarkably like the boss, with outstretched arms for wings. Naturally, it crashed on its maiden flight.

This is exactly like that, just without the humor. It's like some idiot bringing his perfectly-running car to a mechanic, telling the mechanic the car is not working correctly, but instead of taking the mechanic's advice, the moron then announces that he--even though he admits to knowing nothing about cars--is going to make some basic design changes, against the mechanic's advice, but he still expects it to work as it always has. But if it doesn't work, well, we'll worry about that later, if at all.

Find a copy of Pentagon Wars. I believe it's available via streaming on Netflix. It plays out exactly like your story, except for the artistically licensed real life development of the Bradly Fighting Vehicle. The movie's based on the more accurate book by the same name.
Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL

Mr Matt

Member

Technologically retarded lawmakers!

Lamar Smith and Patric Leahy appear to be technologically challenged. I would compare them to a technologically deficient legislator that attempted to pass a technologically inept law in Alabama in 1998.

From NMSR.org at this website:

»www.nmsr.org/alabama.htm

"HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- NASA engineers and mathematicians in this high-tech city are stunned and infuriated after the Alabama state legislature narrowly passed a law yesterday [March 30, 1998] redefining pi, a mathematical constant used in the aerospace industry. The bill to change the value of pi to exactly three was introduced without fanfare by Leonard Lee Lawson (R, Crossville), and rapidly gained support after a letter-writing campaign by members of the Solomon Society, a traditional values group. Governor Guy Hunt says he will sign it into law on Wednesday."

Those assuming that most lawmakers are capable of creating effective laws that require technical expertise are derranged. Lamar Smith and Patric Leahy are behaving like the ignoramus and member of the Alabama State Legislature that decided the value of Pi was to difficult to memorize. The obvious solution was to pass a law to change the value of Pi to 3.

I am sure that the parties interested in getting the legislation passed provided each of them with a bill and a check. Weird isn't it, normally you receive a bill and send a check.

elios
join:2005-11-15
Springfield, MO

elios

Member

Re: Technologically retarded lawmakers!

said by Mr Matt:

Lamar Smith and Patric Leahy appear to be technologically challenged. I would compare them to a technologically deficient legislator that attempted to pass a technologically inept law in Alabama in 1998.

From NMSR.org at this website:

»www.nmsr.org/alabama.htm

"HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- NASA engineers and mathematicians in this high-tech city are stunned and infuriated after the Alabama state legislature narrowly passed a law yesterday [March 30, 1998] redefining pi, a mathematical constant used in the aerospace industry. The bill to change the value of pi to exactly three was introduced without fanfare by Leonard Lee Lawson (R, Crossville), and rapidly gained support after a letter-writing campaign by members of the Solomon Society, a traditional values group. Governor Guy Hunt says he will sign it into law on Wednesday."

Those assuming that most lawmakers are capable of creating effective laws that require technical expertise are derranged. Lamar Smith and Patric Leahy are behaving like the ignoramus and member of the Alabama State Legislature that decided the value of Pi was to difficult to memorize. The obvious solution was to pass a law to change the value of Pi to 3.

I am sure that the parties interested in getting the legislation passed provided each of them with a bill and a check. Weird isn't it, normally you receive a bill and send a check.

"First Posted on Talk.Origins Newsgroup, April 1, 1998;"
hint hint i dont think they are THAT dumb

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour to Mr Matt

Member

to Mr Matt
said by Mr Matt:

Lamar Smith and Patric Leahy appear to be technologically challenged. I would compare them to a technologically deficient legislator that attempted to pass a technologically inept law in Alabama in 1998.

I read it on the intertubes, so it must be true?

Hardly: »www.snopes.com/religion/pi.asp

(You owe me a new irony meter. You just busted mine.)

mod_wastrel
anonome
join:2008-03-28

mod_wastrel

Member

Hey, Lamar...

If you "don't mind taking" on whatever or whoever for any stupid reason you choose and paying for it out of your own pocket instead of using our taxpayer dollars, then I don't mind either. (Not only are you a moron, you're an un-American moron.)
Rekrul
join:2007-04-21
Milford, CT

Rekrul

Member

Sure...

They'll study the effects later, just like they study the effects of the Patriot Act every time it's up for renewal...

Rogue Wolf
An Easy Draw of a Sad Few
join:2003-08-12
Troy, NY

Rogue Wolf

Member

Re: Sure...

"The effect of this bill being passed was a large increase in the amount of contributions I get from business interests. So therefore this bill obviously serves the interests of the American people."

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: Sure...

Wow.. So, according to that, Contributions from Business Interests = American People.

Talk about epic failure. Corporate Interests are *NOT* the same as Consumer Interests.

anon6
@comcast.net

anon6

Anon

Lets ignore DNS

If DNS is the foundation of the internet then why can't isp's come up with a way to get around this?
MyDogHsFleas
Premium Member
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX

MyDogHsFleas

Premium Member

Re: Lets ignore DNS

They could but they don't want to. This is the classic approach to killing something you are opposed to on principle but you realize your principles are very much a minority statement.

So instead of saying:

"I believe that copyright laws are ridiculously inappropriate for the Internet, and should not be applied or enforced. Everyone should be able to upload/download as they please."

which would not be a winning approach, because the vast majority of people would not agree. Nor do their elected representatives.

They say:

"This will break the Internet because (some sound bite on DNS, DNSSEC, and other technical stuff) !!!! You are stupid and you don't understand the technology!"

Essentially Rep. Smith is calling their bluff. He's saying, let's pass the bill but not implement it until we can do a technical study. The technical study would ASSUME that we WANT to block access to infringing overseas web sites, and DIRECT that a technically sound approach be put in place. That is, it would lay the requirement to implement the use case on the technical committee. If it breaks DNSSEC, or other things, well, fix that with a new technical proposal, is what he's saying.

I personally believe from a technical POV that it is possible to do this. I think the Internet community is resisting this on principle because they do not believe the use case is appropriate. But they are pretending that it can't be done.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. My opinion is that the Internet community, by being so rabidly opposed to SOPA, is missing a chance to mold and direct this into something useful and appropriate for the Internet. If all the Internet community does is rant and rave, SOPA or son of SOPA will be jammed down their throats eventually.

Why? Because of the economic and political imperatives surrounding it. NOT because the evil nasty content owners who bribe the politicians. That's ridiculous. You are laboring under the illusion that stopping piracy is unpopular. It's not.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

?

What would the world be like if it rained SOAPy water? Could we live our lives the same way?

There are core issues of censorship that will not stand... screwing with the first principle (speech) of every democracy is not taken lightly by WE THE PEOPLE no matter how many corrupt people you bribe. Even going after TPB so hard and so long led to blowback...
djcrazy
Premium Member
join:2009-08-05
Minneapolis, MN

djcrazy

Premium Member

LOL

These bought and paid for clownboxing politicians do not realize that this will do NOTHING to stop piracy. Most experienced torrenters already know the IP addresses of their favorite tracker sites. For those who don't I would suggest finding out NOW. Even still, if this passes I give it less than 24 hours where a list of all blocked sites and their IPs will be circulated everywhere.

Oh yeah, voters in these 2 states, you know what to do. Boot em out of office. Even if this bill doesn't affect you it demonstrates how they do not represent you but rather the special interests that pay them, even if its at the detriment of a majority of the constituents within the district.
russotto
join:2000-10-05
West Orange, NJ

russotto

Member

Pass half now

and the other half during the lame-duck session, right? Yeah, we know that game. Too bad it'll probably work.

anon6
@comcast.net

anon6

Anon

Lets ignore DNS

MyDogHsFleas...Its a bad bill, both of them are. It would only cause people to cancel their internet service, therefore making the internet more useless. The economy won't be fixed by getting rid of piracy, that's just some rich man's lie. What these bills will do however is make it so that the internet isn't nearly as useful anymore and will cause the economy to get worse because people won't be paying for the internet anymore.

hfytr
@verizon.net

hfytr

Anon

Prevent job loss? Right..

One scary scenario I foresee if this passes is if it gets bad enough that companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and others could potentially move their operations completely overseas taking all of their income, and jobs with them.