The Cheat Sheet

4:30 PM, March 7th, 2012

Congressman Darrell Issa is Doing a Reddit AMA

An excerpt, in which Issa praises January 18th’s Stop SOPA day of protest:

Redditor trotsky1947:

…[I]n your mind, what keeps your peers in Congress so ignorant about the internet/technology? Shouldn’t they have to keep up if they are going to pass laws regarding tech? What do you think is the best way to educate them?

Issa:

Why are many of my colleagues tech illiterate? First, they don’t do I Am A’s. But seriously, few people in Congress have private-sector tech experience like my friends Blake Farenthold & Jared Polis. They never got their hands dirty innovating and even really personally using technology. But there are, in fact, members who didn’t work in tech pre-Congress (Jason Chaffetz and Zoe Lofgren come to mind) who do get it, championing policies that support tech/innovation…particularly protecting the Internet.

As far as educating Congress, what you all dropped on Congress on January 18 was incredibly edifying for them, forcing them to take a hard look at what they know, think they know and don’t know about tech. Keeping up the heat, and getting involved in open government projects like we’re doing crowdsourcing legislation at KeepTheWebOPEN.com, is your best bet.

Read the whole interview. (h/t Slate)

1:25 PM, January 20th, 2012

Many in the industry say the legislation began to stir suspicion as early as September, with respected venture capitalists like Fred Wilson and Paul Graham calling attention to it in e-mails and on the Web. But the cause gained visibility on Nov. 16 when Tumblr added a feature that “censored” the dashboard users see when they log into the site, and pointed them to information about the bills. The idea for the feature came out of a three-hour meeting the weekend before, organized by people who opposed the legislation, including members of Fight for the Future; Brad Burnham, a partner at Union Square Ventures; and David Segal, executive director for Demand Progress, a non-profit group. John Maloney, the president of Tumblr, said the company volunteered its offices in Manhattan for the meeting, which included roughly 40 people in the room and another 40 or so on speakerphone. Employees of well-known sites like Kickstarter and Reddit were there. “They told us why it was flawed and asked us to think about it as an industry and a group,” said Mr. Maloney, who added that David Karp, Tumblr’s founder, “was very quick to raise his hand and say ‘We’re in.’

Nice piece from Jenna here:

Public Outcry Over Antipiracy Bills Began as Grass-Roots Grumbling - NYTimes.com

(via markcoatney)

Reblogged from Still Not Going To Do This Every Day

10:25 AM, January 20th, 2012

In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Friday that the vote on PIPA (a controversial—and highly unpopular—online piracy bill) had been postponed. Talking Points Memo is reporting that SOPA, the House’s version of the bill, has likewise been postponed. (“Recent events.” LOL.)

2:10 PM, January 19th, 2012

Zoom

urlesque:

rachelfershleiser:

newsweek:

Behold! What the Stop SOPA blackout managed to accomplish in 24 hours.

High five, internet.

Beautiful.

Reblogged from

8:03 PM, January 18th, 2012

thedailywhat:

This Is Important, You Should Watch It of the Day: Salman Khan offers the most succinct and straightforward rundown of how the language in SOPA’s current iteration leaves wide open the possibility that, despite its ostensible intention to block foreign sites trafficking in pirated content, completely legal websites operating inside the United States could easily be labeled “enablers” of “U.S. property theft” and subjected to crippling sanctions that would effectively shut them down.

(Worried? Do something.)

[khanacademy.]

We don’t usually reblog The Daily What because we figure you’ve seen it, but this is a really solid presentation on SOPA/PIPA and why the bills are important.

Reblogged from The Daily What

6:12 PM, January 18th, 2012

More Politicians Withdraw Support of PIPA and SOPA

More politicians have retracted their support of either or both the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) since Rep. Ben Quayle (R-AZ) and Rep. Lee Terry (R-NB NE), two co-sponsors of SOPA, did so yesterday and this morning.

Also one of our intrepid Tumblrers went down to the offices of New York Senators Schumer and Gillibrand to report on the “emergency meet” of New York tech scene. They are both cosponsors of PIPA.

Talking Points Memo reports that Senator John Boozman (R-AK AR), an original cosponsor of the bill, has also withdrawn support for PIPA, posting a note to his Facebook page this afternoon, writing:

I can say, with all honesty, that the feedback I received from Arkansans has been overwhelmingly in opposition to the Senate bill (S.968, the PROTECT IP Act) in its current form. That is why I am announcing today that I intend to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act.

Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Mark Rubio (R-FL), and Jerry Moran (R-KS), also cosponsors of PIPA, posted their withdrawals to either Facebook or Twitter today as well. Additionally Senators Jeff Markey (D-OR) and Allen West (R-FL) condemned the bill on Twitter. Not to be outdone, Representatives Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Mike Honda (D-CA) blacked out their websites in support.

[via TPM]

UPDATE: List of PIPA’s 40 cosponsors (guess where I found it)

3:23 PM, January 18th, 2012

Zoom

#FactsWithoutWikipedia

1:25 PM, January 18th, 2012

After Wikipedia blackrout, somewhere, a student today is doing original research and getting his/her facts straight. Perish the thought.

Jonathan Lamy, RIAA’s Senior Vice President of Communications, regarding Wikipedia’s blackout in protest of SOPA and PIPA. He later deleted the tweet. (via officialssay)

Reblogged from Officials Say the Darndest Things

11:35 AM, January 18th, 2012

What we’re looking for is a diversity of responses. We need some people to shut down. We need some people to freak somebody out.

That’s Ben Huh, overseer of “popular Seattle-based network of cat-heavy comedy blogs known as Cheezburger,” on today’s protests of two anti-piracy bills. We’ve got more over on the Newsweek Tumblr.

9:57 AM, January 18th, 2012

Zoom

Frontpage: Jan 18th

Websites Go Dark to Protest Piracy Bills: Wikipedia and several other websites have gone dark in protest of two Internet piracy bills—the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act. The tech industry argues that the laws will effectively censor the Internet by making companies liable for displaying links to sites that host illegal copies of a film.
Shipwreck Search Put on Hold Again: Search and rescue has been suspended again at the Costa Condordia site. 24 are still missing.
Rivals Attack Romney on Tax Rate: Mitt Romney may wait till April to release his tax returns, but his comment that his tax rate is “probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything” is enough for critics to start with.
Obama Campaigners Want Super PAC: Some aides worry that Obama’s super PC, Priorities USA Action, hasn’t raised enough money. Obamas’ raised $5 mil to Romney’s $12 in the first half of last year. Dick Harpootlian, a member of the Obama campaign’s national finance committee, notes, “He’s flat-out opposed to it.” But, pointing to Romney’s organization, he says that opposition is “dangerous.” “We can’t unilaterally disarm.”
Report: FBI to Arrest 2 for Insider Trading: Sources told Reuters Wednesday that the FBI will make several more arrests as part of a crackdown on insider trading.

Photo: The web sites on Wednesday of, clockwise from top left, Google, Mozilla, Wired and Wikipedia. (via NYTimes)

The Cheat Sheet

More Politicians Withdraw Support of PIPA and SOPA

Newsweek

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