EdCone.com

When speaking last week to the GDS seniors about social media and such I began with the Wikipedia blackout and asked them what was up with that.

"SOPA," responded the crowd.

Now, they had just discussed SOPA and the blackout in a class they're all required to take, but both the bill and the revolt against it had their attention. And when I told them that Hollywood was afraid of them, they got that, too.

Which should give pause to any dead-enders in Congress who think Chris Dodd matters more to their future than a bunch of voting-age web adepts.

I'm not convinced that Kay Hagan really gets this yet, so please tell her politely when you have the chance.

Here's a bit of a script:

And if you want to persuade Internet users to help you innovate solutions for your industry’s many problems, you’ll need to come without your handlers and spin doctors, and without any expectation that your credentials or past accomplishments will carry weight in a serious debate about the costs and benefits of changing the architecture of the Internet to reduce copyright infringement. Come armed with facts, not rhetoric. Bring an open mind. And some engineers.

Oh, and if you’re serious about making real progress, stop calling us nerds.

“What do you think the likelihood of that is?” asked Rep. Mel Watt.

Really? That's the standard we're going to use -- a supporter of the bill says bad outcomes that are possible given the actual wording of the legislation probably won't happen?

Hagan, meanwhile, tells Binker: “Now that a lot of these industries have said, ‘Whoa, we don’t like this bill,’ we certainly need to look at that and address those issues.”

I'm happy to see her say that, especially since Leahy is not giving up on PIPA.

"Candidly, those who count on quote 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake," Dodd told Fox News. "Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake."

As a former Senator, the guy knows how the system works.

Elon Law prof David Levine says in a more serious way what that Daily Show clip of lawmakers playing dumb was saying:

If nothing else, yesterday’s protests may have brought home to many elected officials that it is no longer acceptable to profess ignorance of the technology underlying the Internet and the impact of regulation on it...

...Members of Congress do not need to become nerds, but to meet the challenge of regulation they do need to become respectful of them and familiar with what they know.

PIPA and SOPA on hold.

Good job, internet.

I got the usual run of emails from Kay Hagan's office yesterday -- Senator Hagan tours flag factory, Senator Hagan changes tire for senior citizen, whatever -- but not the one I wanted to see: Senator Hagan announces that she's reconsidering her support for PIPA.

There are butt-covering ways of doing this. See, for example, the careful hedging of Hagan's Democratic colleagues Udall and Cardin. And of course you get to show that you listen to the technology experts and the grassroots.

Being a pro-business Democrat is a good thing; being a corporate-owned Democrat, less so. Working with leadership to better serve North Carolina is a good thing; responding "how high?" when party bosses and well-paid alums tell you to jump, less so.

C'mon, Kay.

Also close to home: Jon Stewart calls out Mel Watt for having "no f'in idea what this thing's about."

Jaron Lanier's lament on web culture and economics includes a critique of netopianism, a plea on behalf of digital sharecroppers, and a clear view of the business landscape and Facebook's play thereon ("The obvious strategy in the fight for a piece of the advertising pie is to close off substantial parts of the Internet so Google doesn’t see it all anymore.")

The peg to the SOPA blackout doesn't quite work, though -- fighting one threat doesn't mean we have to ignore all other threats -- but it was a great way of getting this article some prime real estate in the Times.

"PIPA and SOPA are not oddities, they're not anomalies, they're not events...more is coming...until we convince Congress that the way to deal with copyright violation is [...] to have a trial with all the presentation of evidence and the hashing out of facts and the assessment of remedies that goes on in democratic societies..."

Kay Hagan: "We have about $58 billion a year of intellectual property stolen."

Really? "What does invalidate the 'research' is the inappropriate use of 'multiplier' effects to double—and triple—count loss estimates that were dubious to begin with."

On a day when other sponsors are abandoning PIPA and SOPA, Roch says, "Hagan is parroting lobbyists' talking points. I wonder if that's because she hasn't explored other sources of information. It's hard to imagine how anybody could have a comprehensive understanding of the consequences of these bills' provisions and continue to support them."

Back in 2002, the equation already had been worked out:

Hollywood money + Congressional cluelessness = flawed legislation

...One of the major players then was Howard Coble, the popular Representative from North Carolina's 6th district, in which, depending on the gerrymandering du jour, I sometimes live. One of the co-sponsors of the present Senate bill is Kay Hagan, who also comes from Greensboro. Something in the water, maybe.

A stroll down memory lane, and some thoughts on how things have changed, over at the DJB.

If you've got a question that needs answering during the big Stop SOPA blackout, feel free to leave a comment here and I will make up a credible-sounding response.

Meanwhile, contact Hagan and Watt and tell them you'd like your internet back.

Better yet, ask them to address specific points from this article -- and do it today, while they can't get to Wikipedia (unless they know the simple workaround that lets anyone reach the site, which I bet they don't).

"Major media companies that own TV channels and movie studios ^ and much of Congress have been among the legislation's supporters."

There, fixed that for you.

UPDATE: Still not over, but stalled. /update

Small pieces, loosely joined:

It is unclear that companies like Facebook and Google, left to themselves, could have swayed members of Congress or the White House without using the Internet to marshal opposition from technologists, entrepreneurs and computer-adept consumers. Opposition came from a vast spectrum, including computer security specialists who worried about a provision to tinker with Internet addresses and venture capitalists who feared the legislation would thwart the innovation of technology start-ups.

It's not over yet, so don't forget to contact Hagan, Watt, and the rest of the NC delegation.

White House making some strong anti-SOPA noises.

Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget, Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff stress that the important task of protecting intellectual property online must not threaten an open and innovative internet.

UPDATE: Some substantive critiques of one of the article's major claims, in the comments below this post. /update

How not to argue against SOPA.

"There are so many reasons to dislike these acts that we don’t need to make up more."

Kay Hagan's canned response on PIPA:

I am a cosponsor of this bill and support the goals of this legislation. I am concerned about unscrupulous individuals engaging in the online theft of intellectual property, and believe that this bill represents a step in the right direction to combat this issue. I will keep your thoughts on this legislation in mind as it is further considered in the United States Senate.

She can't keep your thoughts in mind unless you share them with her, so this might be a good time to politely express yourselves to the Senator. There's plenty of common ground when it comes to opposing unscrupulous people stealing stuff, it's the how of this bill that needs some fixing.

Deja vu from 2002:

"The worst thing about the bill is that it entitles copyright owners to ignore any law, so long as they stay within the (murky) bounds of the statute. ... Copyright owners are saying that, unlike the rest of us, they should be above the law. This is a power that we as a society don't give to anyone, even to the FBI."

Why do Kay Hagan and Mel Watt support legislation that would harm the open internet?

The rest of NC's honorables are as yet undeclared; more here on finding out who backs SOPA and PIPA.

More here.

Stopping SOPA: "The internet is one of the few sources of job creation in the U.S. economy right now. We don’t need laws that will stifle it."

Please keep your government out of my internet.