Lines Drawn on Antipiracy Bills; New York Times, 12/14/11

Edward Wyatt, New York Times; Lines Drawn on Antipiracy Bills:

"A House committee plans to take up one of the bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act, on Thursday...

“Our mistake was allowing this romantic word — piracy — to take hold,” Tom Rothman, the co-chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment, said in an interview last week in Washington.

“It’s really robbery — it’s theft — and that theft is being combined with consumer fraud,” he said."

SOPA on the ropes? Bipartisan alternative to 'Net censorship emerges; ArsTechnica.com, 12/2/11

Nate Anderson, ArsTechnica.com; SOPA on the ropes? Bipartisan alternative to 'Net censorship emerges:

"But rightsholders do need some means of enforcing copyrights and trademarks, something tough to do when a site sets up overseas and willfully targets American consumers with fake goods and unauthorized content...

Fortunately, plenty can be done, and it can be done in a way that doesn't raise the same immediate concerns about due process and censorship. One promising alternative was unveiled today by a bipartisan group of 10 senators and representatives. It ditches the “law and order” approach to piracy and replaces it with a more limited, trade-based system.

And the legislators behind it have put out a draft of the idea for public comment before they even begin drawing up actual legislation."

Colbert Takes On SOPA; TechDirt.com, 12/2/11

Mike Masnick, TechDirt.com; Colbert Takes On SOPA:

"Want to see just how mainstream the issues of SOPA and PROTECT IP are becoming? Last night they made it on to The Colbert Report, where he had a bit of a debate about SOPA, between record label owner Danny Goldberg and Harvard professor Jonathan Zittrain. It kicked off with a short segment, where Colbert explained the issue."

[Podcast] Congress, Copyright and Monkeys; On the Media, 7/15/11

[Podcast] On the Media; Congress, Copyright and Monkeys:

"Techdirt's Michael Masnick talks about the PROTECT IP Act which is a bill making its way through Congress that would allow the DOJ to block sites it deems "infringing" on copyrighted material. Masnick isn't a fan of the legislation. His main critique is that the definition of "infringing" is way too broad. Plus, Masnick talks about standing his ground in a current copyright dispute involving Techdirt, a macaque monkey and a human photographer."

The "PROTECT IP" Act: COICA Redux; Electronic Frontier Foundation, 5/12/11

Abigail Phillips, Electronic Frontier Foundation; The "PROTECT IP" Act: COICA Redux:

"Last year’s rogue website legislation is back on the table, with a new name: the "Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011"—or (wink, wink) "PROTECT IP". The draft language is available here."