thewayne | More SOPA Fun

Senator Wyden (D/OR) is filing FOIA requests to get explanations from DHS/ICE on SOPA domain seizures. Specifically cited in the article is a domain, www.dajas1.com, which reviews hip hop music. The RIAA accused them of allowing downloads of pre-release music, when most of those pre-release tracks were provided by music industry executives. It's possible that some of the music was infringing, but it's definite that a lot of it was not. Wyden's issue is that the owner of a seized domain has the right to contest the seizure, but the court records were sealed and inaccessible to dajas1's owner and attorneys. It was finally returned to the owner last week, the Justice Department saying "the government concluded that the appropriate and just result was to decline to pursue judicial forfeiture."

Go Ron! I wish I lived in Oregon so I could vote for him.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/12/wyden-domain-seizure/

Two Congressional aides who worked on creating the SOPA legislation, have left Congress to work as lobbyists for the ??AA. "According to Politico, 'A pair of senior Hill aides at the center of a brewing battle between Hollywood and Silicon Valley are packing their bags for K Street, where they’ll work for two of the entertainment lobby shops trying to influence their former colleagues in Congress on the very same issue. Allison Halataei, former deputy chief of staff and parliamentarian to House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and Lauren Pastarnack, a Republican who has served as a senior aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee, worked on online piracy bills that would push Internet companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook to shut down websites that offer illegal copies of blockbuster films and chart-topping songs.' Techdirt adds, 'Pastarnack went to the MPAA where she'll be "director of government relations" and Halataei to the NMPA (music publishers and songwriters) where she'll be "chief liaison to Capitol Hill." The Politico article linked above notes that this kind of "revolving door" is all too common. It may not be directly corrupt, but to the public it sure feels corrupt.'""

Congressmen have a non-compete period of time before they can register as lobbyists, I guess the same is not true for aides.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/10/226238/two-sopa-writers-become-entertainment-lobbyists

Back to Wyden, "Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, and Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, have released a draft version of the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act and posted a copy at KeeptheWebOpen.com. The act is intended to be an alternative to the Stop Online Piracy Act."

http://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/08/2321227/draft-alternative-to-sopa-released