[TomOfTTB]

Disclaimer: I heard the Editorial via my Audible subscription this morning and sometimes those editions are abridged. Though normally not in the Editorial section.

I thought the article was pretty fair to be honest. It called out the DNS issues as being egregious and they highlighted the constitutional basis of copyright which most people forget. They also highlighted the difference between individual piracy and piracy for business as an important point (the exact sentence is "This isn't college kids swapping MP3s as in the 1990s. Rather rogue websites set up shop overseas and sell US consumers bootleg [media]"

My main criticism is they made SOPA seem a little more benign than it is. They say...

"The notion that the SOPA dragnet would catch a stray Twitter Link or Facebook post is false"

Well, I don't see how that is false. My main issue with SOPA (now that the DNS part has be taken out) is it could be used to allow media companies to shut down legitimate indie products because they resemble commercial offerings. Because the bar is set so low as far as initial proof is concerned.

Anyway, the bottom line is the article is worth reading and it isn't just "Murdoch Henchmen Towing the Line". I wish they'd let it out of the paywall so you could see that.

[mrgordon]

We are so far beyond the constitutional basis of copyright. That clause only gives Congress the right to grant copyrights for a "limited time" to encourage creativity. Congress realized at some point that they could just keep extending the copyrights when they are about to expire to create effectively unlimited copyrights. Lawrence Lessig has a lot of great things to say about this in regards to our 'creative commons'

[TomOfTTB]

I agree with you in many ways but it's important to remember copyright is in the constitution in the first place. If you surveyed most people I doubt they'd even know that.

[count]

Isn't selling bootleg stuff ALREADY illegal though? I mean, ICE can shut you down for importing ripoff stuff if they find it already - why do we need SOPA/PIPA to make things even more difficult for regular people?

[marquis]

As far as I understand it, if you have a website with a non U.S. domain name and not using a U.S. or U.S.-treaty-based payment system, there is no way to block access to rip-off items (material or digital) to be purchased in the U.S. For material goods, customs have the ability to confiscate these at the borders. There are international treaties in progress, where the U.S. partners with other countries, but the internet is a big, wide-open place and it's easy to move elsewhere or get safe harbour.

(For the record, I believe that only innovation will solve these problems, not suppression).

[seabee]

ICE has no jurisdiction outside the US. As I understand it, they can seize US domains (.com) but not other countries' domains, nor can they force an ISP to block access to a domain. So what legal recourse is there?

[scott_s]

I was unable to find a source which explained what is the current state of SOPA. Do you have one? The Wikipedia page (yes, it's still up) didn't explicitly say what was still in it, and the NY Times articles I read were equally unclear. This is the best I have, from the Wikipedia page that should be easy to get to today:

After the first day of the hearing, more than 20 amendments had been rejected, including one by Issa which would have stripped provisions targeting search engines and Internet providers. PC World reported that the 22–12 vote on the amendment could foreshadow strong support for the bill by the committee.

The Committee adjourned on the second day agreeing to continue debate early in 2012.[11][151] Smith announced a plan to remove the provision that requires Internet service providers to block access to certain foreign websites.

Oh, and the full article is available if you access it through Google. I assume that's an above-board way of reading it.

[TomOfTTB]

I don't think there will be one until the bills are re-evaluated in February. To the best of my knowledge the only significant chance is the removal of the DNS restriction (Which the sponsor himself said was a change). Even if you do find a SOPA breakdown remember it would have to be reconciled with PIPA after being passed (if both were to be passed). So that would add wrinkles as well.

So basically no, i'm of absolutely no use to you on this.

[tcskeptic]

(The phrase is toeing the line, as in to put one's toe upon the line)

[rgraham]

You can avoid the wsj pay wall by typing or copying and pasting the article title into google.