That's how the game is played. First, you make ludicrous demands, then when you later change your demands to be merely ridiculous, your opponents think they've scored a win.
That's right - I remember when the DMCA got passed and there was just as much opposition. Now the DMCA is the new "sanity". Something tells me we're losing the war.
I find myself accepting that some of the things I would like to do are just going to have to be done underground.
The parts that are outrageous about the DMCA are still outrageous. Like that you can get in jail for "circumventing" DRM mechanisms. There just happens to be one part about it that works out great for websites with user generated content.
With the DMCA, the pro-copyright people have to play a game of whack a mole. It allows entire site like online manga readers to exist in the first place.
The only reason manga readers exist at all is because a reasonable alternative does not exist.
If you could download, legally, that sort of thing for a token fee, not like the $0.99 download that finally made online music scales work, the demand would drop quickly.
Why spend hours trying to torrent something when for a nominal fee you can get a legitimate copy in seconds?
A new idea fills the window of what the public regards as unthinkable, causing the desired idea to shift into the window of what the public views as sensible, without its proponents necessarily having explained any benefits of the desired idea.
So we will no longer break DNSSEC, but we'll still have guilty until proven innocent, massively increased legal costs, and government/corporate censorship without oversight?
Yeah, sorry, no thanks. Washington's offering us a pile of steaming turds. Taking one of the turds away does not make us more likely to accept the pile.
Smith has simply chosen to delay its implementation. It's still in there, it just won't come into effect until "after a study has been done on its effects."
"I feel we should remove DNS-blocking from the Stop
Online Piracy Act so that the [U.S. House Judiciary]
Committee can further examine the issues surrounding
this provision.
"We will continue to look for ways," Smith continued,
"to ensure that foreign Web sites cannot sell and
distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers."
While I don't doubt they may to try to introduce something similar in another bill, it looks like they are pulling it out. What have you seen/heard that says differently?
This still doesn't fix the problems with selective enforcement or give accused infringers the opportunity to face their accusers in court. These are much bigger problems than any of the DNS provisions.
this should not be treated as a victory, because the entire piece of "legislation," if we can even call it that, might as well read in lobby-dollars from the old media titans to the cogs of Washington's political machine
Calling this small concession a victory implies that we acknowledging some form of legitimacy in the bill.
(I do think some of the issues SOPA deals with are ones that need to be addressed, but SOPA, in its current form, does all but adequately address these problems)
It's never been the DNS part I've had a problem with. It's the process by which things are deemed illegal and the appeal process.
Love it or hate it, the DMCA has clearly defined rules that protect both the host and the copyright holder. SOPA dictates removal of entire sites -- not just content -- first and foremost, with an appeals process after the fact. Literally shooting first and asking questions later.
Frankly, after that, the DNS process by which they sought to remove content was a trivial concern. It's the process itself that has problems, not how they planned to do it.
The DMCA wasn't bad because of safe harbor. It is bad because of its onerous anti-circumvention provisions. I actually think DMCA safe harbor is reasonably well-balanced, and is the reason why SOPA is entirely unnecessary. DMCA safe harbor is adequate. SOPA is a petulant fit by the media industry, not good law.
This is no victory. Victory is when the bill gets thrown away, gets burned, and then we never have to hear about something like this again. Until that happens, we need to pressure on, and stay vigilant.
Just goes to point out the true weakness of the current internet. The DNS, one central authority, and a million rabid politicians worldwide. This so called victory is shortlived. The DNS will give in -- guaranteed.
