Always strive to learn something useful. --Sophocles

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

The act would have given the governmentMPAA/RIAA power to order American ISPs to block DNS resolution of sites that are infringing content, mainly torrent trackers and download sites. Currently the government has the power to order the Department of Homeland Security to seize the domain names of sites that offend the governmentMPAA/RIAA, which is a tremendously effective tactic as it only works against specific domain types that the US controls, and no one would think of re-registering their domain under a foreign country that is not the US. Not to mention the impossibility of using Firefox add-ins that automatically reroute DNS resolution to alternates.

Definitely a Homeland Security issue. Only terrorists download copyrighted content.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) placed a hold on the Protect IP Act that will keep it from landing on the Senate floor.

“The internet represents the shipping lane of the 21st century,” Wyden said in a statement. “It is increasingly in America’s economic interest to ensure that the internet is a viable means for American innovation, commerce, and the advancement of our ideals that empower people all around the world. By ceding control of the internet to corporations through a private right of action, and to government agencies that do not sufficiently understand and value the internet, PIPA represents a threat to our economic future and to our international objectives,” he said.

This is the whole problem that the MPAA/RIAA have: they're making very little effort to adjust to the internet and new technology. They want to maintain an absolute lockdown on their old business models.

Well, as Dylan said, the times they are a' changin'. If I lived in Oregon, Wyden would definitely get my vote.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/05/blacklisting-law-advances/