A Wonderful Feeling of Accomplishment
- January 19th, 2012
- Posted in The Stony Life
- By stony
- Write comment
Arkansas Senator John Boozman has pulled his support of SOPA and PIPA… which is saying a lot since he was a cosponsor of PIPA.
Boozman with Bono, who knew he was that hip?
From his Facebook page -
“Over the past few weeks, the chorus of concerns over Congressional efforts to address online piracy has intensified. 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.
I will have my name removed as a co-sponsor of the bill and plan to vote against it if Majority Leader Reid brings it to the floor in its current form.
The PROTECT IP Act seeks to address an issue that is of vital importance to the future of intellectual property rights in the modern era. However, the concerns regarding the unintended consequences of this particular bill are legitimate. Therefore, we should not rush to pass this bill, rather we should be working to find another solution so that the epidemic of online piracy is addressed in a manner that ensures innovation and free speech is protected. I have confidence that we can do this, but not as the PROTECT IP Act stands today.
Online piracy hinders creativity and steals jobs. Much of this criminal behavior comes from rogue websites operating in countries like Russia and China. Their ability to operate threatens American ingenuity by distributing copyrighted material free of charge. We must work to ensure that copyright holders are protected if we want to defend American ingenuity, ideas and artwork.
The goals of the Protect IP Act are commendable, but the potential for damaging unintended consequences is its major flaw. Moving forward, I will work with my colleagues, the stakeholders and the American people to find a workable solution that protects intellectual property rights while promoting an open and vibrant Internet.
I want to thank you for raising your concerns about this bill. Your voice has been heard.”
I also received a very nice personal email from the Senator – being as how I sent him a flaming email I did not expect a response. So I have to say that for a republican – Boozman might be OK.
edited on 02/18/12
Evidently Boozman did not want his ubber conservative constituents to know how hip he was… he took down the pic of him and Bono.
Point taken on the censorship issue. Regulating leilgal content such as kiddie porn or pirated materials is not a slippery slope in the same way as regulating hate speech or other rubber terms that can be modified to fit whatever the government wants it to fit.However I don’t get this: we will have trouble having an industry that dumps out $100m blockbusters. While you and I both know that would be a good thing, trying to get to it through piracy is not going to work. Why not? If it didn’t work, I doubt Hollywood and the dominating pop culture magnates would spend so much money and lose so much good will among young people trying to prevent piracy. In that sense, perhaps it would be very good if the half-assed, left-wing ramblings from people who really don’t understand the concept of intellectual copyright may be a good thing. Qualitative thought and culture already makes virtually no money, so I doubt much would be lost with the collapse of the entertainment media. We did fine without it a couple of hundred years ago, and can probably do even better without it now (what with the internet and all the consumer gadgetry making it perfectly possible to live almost exactly as retarded a life as we did with the Hollywood Blockbusters or maybe even a sound, reflected life).