Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon is vowing to do whatever is possible to block Patrick Leahy’s Protect IP act I covered last week. This is a bill slammed as an absolute disaster by civil rights advocates, as well as those concerned with the safety and security of the internet. It is a disaster of a bill that is little more than an inexplicable (and poorly thought through) gift to Hollywood and the recording industry at the expense of virtually everyone else.
Thankfully, Wyden is taking it seriously – even threatening a filibuster if his hold is not honored. Leahy, however, is not taking Wyden very seriously. From Politico:
The bill is championed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). Leahy said this week that he isn’t worried by the threat of a hold. He predicts that the bill will score a victory in the Senate. He noted that his patent reform bill, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which passed and was signed into law earlier this year, had to overcome a hold before getting to the floor.
“We’re ready to go, and we’ve got a huge number of bipartisan supporters on it,” Leahy said. “It will certainly pass the Senate once we get it up.”
Obviously, this bill is an attack on everything GMD is, and the very internet which allows sites like ours to flourish, so it’s hard not to get pretty livid about this. If you feel the same, Wyden is working with advocates and has set up stopcensorship.org/ to fight the bill. Signers of the petition to prevent passage will have their names read aloud into the congressional record during any filibuster on the issue.
I’m not optimistic about this, but it’s all we can do, as far as I can see. Check out Wyden’s video below, and use the “Raise Your Voice” link at the bottom to contact legislators – particularly Sanders, as I think Leahy is not only drinking the kool-aid on this one, he’s making it and serving it to colleagues.
reduce copyright infringement which goes on mostly beyond the reach of the U.S. government.
Once again, we will be sacrificing our own civil liberties without impacting the real perpetrators of harm.
I am too apoplectic with rage to be able to form a cogent statement to out ‘liberal’ Senior Senator about his draconian and over-reaching law.
Senator Leahy no one in Vermont wants this bill. It stinks of corporate money. Its tie for a new senior senator you have gone over to the dark side.
Above comment should read its time for a new senior Senator.
But will do a whole lot to bring innovation and small business startups to a screeching halt.
If you think the phenomenon of patent trolling has hurt our ability to compete on innovation, just wait to see what happens if the “enhance big companies’ ability to squash little ones with false intellectual property claims” act passes.
Look at the lawsuit against “Eat More Kale” by “Chik-fil-a” for an idea of what the future would look like under the so-called “protect” IP act.
It may protect the paychecks of large corporate attorneys, but it will destroy the last functional fragments of our economy.