SOPA - SlashGear

‘SOPA’ Stories

“Bat-Signal for the Internet” teased by “Internet Defense League”

Chris Burns, May 25th 2012 Discuss [0]

This week you'll find that no greater defense against those that would have their evil way with the web can be found than the "Bat-Signal for the Interet" as teased by Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian. This fellow is one of several internet activists working together to protest web-containing bills such as SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA, three of the more famous bits of legislation to have popped up in Washington and abroad this past several months. To defend said internet, Ohanian and friends will be working in what they call the "Internet Defense League" with which they intend to be taken entirely seriously. Read The Full Story

Obama administration ‘opposes Cispa’ assures White House

Chris Burns, Apr 27th 2012 Discuss [0]

There's no way the bill currently going through Washington by the name of CISPA, just passed by the House of Representatives, will be allowed to be passed into law if the Obama administration's claim today holds true. CISPA can be metaphorically represented by a bar of soap created by government agencies claiming to open lines of communication between large internet companies with clean intent, but as you'll find if you read any of our past posts on CISPA you'll know - the main ingredient here is acid for privacy. The bill uses broad terms like Internet Security and the safety of children to push the abilities of the government to capture any information on web-browsing citizens they like, essentially whenever they like - and the White House this week is voicing opposition. Read The Full Story

“Worse than SOPA” CISPA bill passes

Ben Kersey, Apr 27th 2012 Discuss [0]

Luckily for denizens of the internet, SOPA was struck down not too long ago, but there’s another bill which was passed by the House of Representatives that proves just as menacing. It’s called CISPA, and was voted for 248 to 168. The bill would require private companies to hand over information they pertaining to you if requested by any government agency. That includes websites like Google, YouTube, and Facebook. Read The Full Story

CISPA brings Reddit’s SOPA warriors in force

Chris Burns, Apr 13th 2012 Discuss [0]

In a relatively new bill being called “worse that SOPA,” sponsored by congress member Mike Rogers, 28 corporate sponsors are bringing back the circumvention of basic Internet privacy laws in force. This bill can be found in PDF form here: [H.R. 3523] and includes a whole lot more sponsors than SOPA or its close relative PIPA had in the end before total destruction. This bill contains extremely vague wording which allows “extreme measures” to be inflicted upon sites from The Pirate Bay all the way up to the New York Times – if Homeland Security wants to shut a site like these down or asks for data regarding you or yours as you work with these sites, this bill says you must comply.

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ISPs tool up for son-of-SOPA anti-piracy cull

Ben Kersey, Mar 23rd 2012 Discuss [0]

While the SOPA bill has been shelved, supporters are turning to internet providers to take measures against piracy instead. CNN reports that various North American ISPs like Comcast, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable, are set to introduce their own anti-piracy policies sooner rather than later. Read The Full Story

Facebook loses massive lobbying support

Mark Raby, Feb 25th 2012 Discuss [0]

Of the four major lobbying groups that Facebook has hired to lobby in Washington on its behalf, three have severed their ties with the social networking site. Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock; the Glover Park Group; and TeleMedia Policy Group have all walked away from the money Facebook was throwing their way to give the site a voice in Congress, citing "conflict" concerns, according to a recent Politico report. Read The Full Story

SOPA, PIPA spur open letter to Congress from 75-group coalition

Rue Liu, Feb 6th 2012 Discuss [1]

The recent controversy over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act (PIPA) legislation efforts have prompted an open letter beseeching Congress to halt its intellectual property lawmaking. The letter is signed by a coalition of 75 groups that includes not only internet companies such as Reddit and Mozilla but also human rights groups, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and other communities. Read The Full Story

ACTA signee Slovenia ambassador now calls for mass protest

Chris Burns, Feb 3rd 2012 Discuss [5]

One of the most recent leaders to sign the secretive and wide-spread internet censorship-minded Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has now apologized and called for mass demonstrations to protest what she's done. It's Slovenia's ambassador to Japan, miss Helena Drnovsek Zorko, who signed the ACTA and was immediately drown in emails and calls from Slovenians criticizing her for doing so. This bill was then read in full by the ambassador, she then deciding that the agrees fully with the critics who've mailed her, apologizing to her children and her country before calling for what's effectively a revolt against the agreement on the whole. Read The Full Story

White House says “no comment” on calls to investigate MPAA for alleged bribery

Shane McGlaun, Feb 2nd 2012 Discuss [4]

In the past, the White House has encouraged Americans to start petitions on the White House website. The White House has even promised to respond to any petition placed on its website that gets 25,000 signatures within a month's time. Recently a petition was added to the website calling for the White House to investigate MPAA Chairman and CEO Chris Dodd on allegations of bribery. The call for an investigation was made after Dodd seemed to be threatening lawmakers that were voicing opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. Read The Full Story

Google+ Hangout with Obama spurs SOPA discussion

Mark Raby, Jan 30th 2012 Discuss [4]

President Obama appeared before the world tonight in a virtual town hall that took place on Google+. As could easily be expected, there were some controversial issues to discuss, one of which was the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Obama responded to a question about the piece of legislation by saying there could be other workarounds, though he did not firmly voice opposition to the measure. Read The Full Story