SOPA - Tech News Articles: GigaOM GigaOM

SOPA

RSS
Why You Should Care

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a bill that was intended to help protect intellectual property on the web, but its far-reaching provisions for policing the internet quickly became highly controversial in the tech industry. Among the many issues the tech community has with the bill are the DNS-blocking provisions, the effect on the DMCA and the restrictions on free speech. On Jan. 18, 2012, many sites including Reddit, Wikipedia and others are going black to protest the bills.

Louis Vuitton asks for SOPA-like seizure of hundreds of websites

By May. 11, 2012, 7:17am PT 3 Comments

Brand owners are howling for new laws to help them crush “rogue” websites. But why? New powers don’t seem necessary when courts are already forcing internet companies to delete websites from the internet. Read More »

How Germany’s Pirate Party is hacking politics

By May. 1, 2012, 4:00am PT 5 Comments

Founded on an agenda of copyfighting and radical transparency, Pirate parties are making political ground across Europe. Now its possible that the German offshoot could become the third party in the nation’s politics. So what do the pirates really want? Read More »

Why is Silicon Valley silent on CISPA?

By Apr. 28, 2012, 11:06am PT 8 Comments

In January, America’s great tech companies joined everyday internet users to break the back of a reviled law called SOPA. Months later, Washington is brewing a new law that alarms many SOPA opponents — but this time the same companies have been quiet as church mice. Read More »

Should we be as worried about CISPA as we were about SOPA?

By Apr. 27, 2012, 2:56pm PT 9 Comments

Critics say that a bill called CISPA, which has been passed by the House of Representatives and is on its way to the Senate, is just as bad as SOPA — but others, including Facebook, support the legislation. Should you be concerned about it? Read More »

FAQ: What you need to know about CISPA (Update: bill passes House)

By Apr. 26, 2012, 11:40am PT No Comments

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a major cyber-security bill that would change how companies like Facebook can share personal information. Privacy advocates are in uproar and the Obama Administration is threatening a veto. What’s going on? Read More »

Facebook clarifies its CISPA stance. Will the web care?

By Apr. 13, 2012, 2:02pm PT 11 Comments

The latest tech policy debate, over CISPA has put Facebook, a supporter of the law, in the web’s crosshairs. Today it has responded with a PR-friendly argument that illustrates a level of cynicism about how our government works and who holds the power in … Read More »

They can’t all be SOPA: Are webizens ready to fight with nuance?

By Apr. 12, 2012, 2:03pm PT 3 Comments

It’s hard to be a web user, especially since the government has gotten so interested in what we’re doing online. It’s even worse when we can’t figure out who — if anyone — is actually on our side, and what terms we’re willing to live with. Read More »

More Must Reads
It’s imperfect, but CISPA isn’t the devil in disguise
By Apr. 11, 2012, 10:15am PT 9 Comments

The EFF and Anonymous might have overblown the ramifications of the proposed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 — calling it SOPA 2.0 — but that doesn’t mean the bill is well-written. However, strong support means it might be hard to stop. Read More »

Google launches the “power of the internet” campaign
By Apr. 10, 2012, 4:25am PT 9 Comments

Google announced a new project – Take Action – that asks you to tell your story about the Internet and share it with the social web. Its motive: build grassroots momentum and keep check on widely reviled legislations such as SOPA, PIPA and their new variants. Read More »

Lamar Smith: SOPA protesters were “misinformed.”
By Apr. 2, 2012, 6:48am PT 26 Comments

SOPA sponsor and defender Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) just can’t let the ideas that led him to sponsor the Stop Online Piracy Act die. In an interview in a community paper he pledged to deal with online piracy, and called SOPA supporters misinformed. Read More »

Why it’s wrong to call copyright infringement “theft”
By Mar. 30, 2012, 3:15pm PT 54 Comments

We’ve gotten used to the content industries arguing that what happens when people download or make copies is “theft.” But using that term muddies the waters when it comes to what copyright is supposed to be about, and lends support to irrational laws and court decisions. Read More »

It’s not about piracy, it’s about a failure to adapt
By Mar. 29, 2012, 2:48pm PT 10 Comments

Y Combinator founder Paul Graham is right when he says that the continued push for legislation like SOPA and PIPA is a result of a failure to adapt to the changing environment the internet has created when it comes to intellectual property and the content industries. Read More »

Why UK antipiracy laws won’t spark SOPA-like protests
By Mar. 7, 2012, 1:30am PT 2 Comments

After the Court of Appeal in London told Britain’s two biggest Internet providers they must abide the controversial antipiracy rules brought in by the Digital Economy Act, some experts suggest it could spark a SOPA-style protest. Is it likely? Read More »

CES 2012: a recap and analysis
By Derek Kerton Feb. 2, 2012, 11:40pm PT Comments Off

This year’s CES was the biggest in the show’s 44-year history. It boasted 15 miles of exhibit hall aisles, 3,100 booths and 153,000 attendees. It is easy to be jaded by the endlessly repetitive products, but the thousands of innovations point toward a future of connectivity.

How Marc Andreessen makes Silicon Valley magic
By Feb. 2, 2012, 6:01pm PT 8 Comments

At just 2.5 years old, Andreessen Horowitz, the VC firm founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, has become a tech industry institution with holdings in Facebook, Twitter, and more. GigaOM talked with Andreessen to get his thoughts on Silicon Valley and the larger tech landscape. Read More »

12 tech leaders’ resolutions for 2012
By GigaOM Pro Jan. 31, 2012, 5:14pm PT Comments Off

If you’re like many of us, you’re already thinking over some New Year’s resolutions that will make you a better “you” in 2012. But how are the tech industries’ thought leaders approaching the new year? We asked 12 of them for their resolutions.

ACTA 2.0 is like a backdoor way to enact SOPA
By Jan. 30, 2012, 4:35pm PT 1 Comment

The activists fighting for less-draconian copyright laws have seized the opportunity afforded to them by the defeat of the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act in the U.S. Congress to go after a bigger topic, the exportation of SOPA-style laws abroad. Read More »

Gaiman: SOPA and PIPA are on the wrong side of history
By Jan. 27, 2012, 3:00pm PT 14 Comments

Author Neil Gaiman said in an interview this week that the media industry is trying to “put genies back in bottles” with laws like SOPA and PIPA, and the Internet has fundamentally changed the landscape, just as Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press did. Read More »

If Congress wants jobs, it can’t want SOPA
By Jan. 22, 2012, 6:00am PT 16 Comments

SOPA and PIPA supporters still have faith in their shelved bills, citing the jobs they’ll save as making the bills worthy of salvage. However, the Internet economy is a potential job creator the likes of which Hollywood — already its own worst enemy — could ever … Read More »

Why I’m fighting SOPA: We need a solution, but a better solution
By Tom Gimbel, Austin City Limits Jan. 21, 2012, 9:06am PT 18 Comments

SOPA is too extreme to be a practical solution, according to Tom Gimbel of Austin City Limits, but he believes we need a policy that encourages online creativity and economic growth while also protecting intellectual property. It’s not as exciting to advocate for a compromise, but … Read More »

Nice work web! More than 13M of y’all fought SOPA
By Jan. 19, 2012, 3:06pm PT 4 Comments

On Wednesday the web went wild (or dark) and more than 13 million people protested the potential passage of SOPA and PIPA. Fight for the Future offered some stats today to show exactly how wild things got. Read on for the nitty gritty details. Read More »

Congress’s top 5 tech questions for 2012 (more than just SOPA)
By Jan. 19, 2012, 12:19pm PT 1 Comment

The impending SOPA and PIPA bills have the Internet in a tizzy, but Congress has a lot more to think about than just intellectual property. The issues at play in the SOPA debate have broad effects that span everything from the digital divide to international commerce. Read More »

SOPA website gallery: The day the Internet went dark
By Jan. 18, 2012, 4:41pm PT 3 Comments

Numerous sites went black Wednesday to protest the SOPA and PIPA bills. Participants included Wikipedia, Google, Craigslist, Greenpeace, Reddit, 4Chan and others, and many didn’t just stop at adding a black background. Check out our website gallery to take a look at some of the sites. Read More »

SOPA and PIPA for newbies
By Jan. 18, 2012, 3:23pm PT 8 Comments

If you’re just hearing about SOPA and PIPA, the complexity of these controversial bills can seem daunting. Here’s your quick guide to the proposed pieces of legislation and a one-stop shop of resources that can help you learn much, much more. Read More »

What does a kid’s birthday cake have to do with SOPA?
By Jan. 18, 2012, 3:14pm PT 4 Comments

In a presentation about SOPA and PIPA, author and media theorist Clay Shirky starts with an anecdote about a mom-and-pop bakery in his old neighborhood that made custom birthday cakes for children. What does that have to do with piracy? More than you might think. Read More »

Why Ron Conway is fighting SOPA
By Jan. 18, 2012, 2:05pm PT Comments Off

More than perhaps anyone else in Silicon Valley, SV Angel’s Ron Conway knows how important free expression on the Internet can be for fledgling technology companies to grow and prosper. So it’s probably not a surprise he’s against the proposed PIPA and SOPA bills. Read More »

New York protest takes PIPA/SOPA fight to senators
By Jan. 18, 2012, 12:43pm PT 4 Comments

Members of New York’s tech community, a couple thousand strong, braved the winter chill and gathered outside the offices of New York senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to protest the PIPA and SOPA legislation Wednesday, calling it a potentially crippling set of bills. Read More »

Brad Feld: Why SOPA and PIPA must be stopped
By Brad Feld, Foundry Group Jan. 18, 2012, 7:10am PT 14 Comments

SOPA and PIPA bills, both in their substance and, significantly, the process by which they have moved along, fail this test. As such, they reveal a disturbing picture about the policy process in Washington and threaten to create significant and unintended consequences. Read More »

Why I’m fighting SOPA: It’s hypocritical, onerous and dumb
By Jan. 18, 2012, 12:01am PT 8 Comments

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) may be shelved by the U.S. House of Representatives, but the Senate’s PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA) still looms and Joyent CTO Jason Hoffman just can’t believe the stupidity that got us all into this mess. Read More »

Taking SOPA/PIPA to the streets: Protests on for SF, NYC
By Jan. 17, 2012, 4:56pm PT 4 Comments

The anti-SOPA and PIPA demonstrations don’t stop with site-wide blackouts planned for Wednesday by a number of web giants. People also have plans to meet up in real life and take the protest to the streets in cities such as San Francisco, New York and Seattle. Read More »

What the web is saying about SOPA & PIPA
By Jan. 17, 2012, 12:56pm PT 3 Comments

In the wake of a weekend announcement that the White House wouldn’t support SOPA as written as well as the canceling of the DNS provisions in the bill, the web has shifted attention from the Stop Online Piracy Act to the Protect IP Act. Read More »

Tim O’Reilly: Why I’m fighting SOPA
By Jan. 13, 2012, 5:00am PT 215 Comments

The proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has drawn the ire of many tech industry leaders for its potential to squash innovation. GigaOM talked to O’Reilly Media founder Tim O’Reilly about why SOPA is wrong and what the tech industry can do to stop it. Read More »

A senator backtracks a bit and sites go dark in SOPA fight
By Jan. 12, 2012, 3:23pm PT 15 Comments

As the Cheezburger network joins Reddit and sites such as Wikipedia are considering a blackout on Jan. 18 in protest of Congress’ attempts to pass legislation to stop piracy, it’s becoming clear site owners believe an end to their chatter might matter. Read More »

Tech gets its day in Congress as SOPA fight continues
By Jan. 9, 2012, 1:10pm PT 16 Comments

Representative Darrell Issa has called a Jan. 18 hearing that will bring more voices from the technology industry to Washington D.C,. to discuss how legislation such as the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) would affect the Internet. Read More »

Louis C.K.’s lesson for marketers: Honesty is the best strategy
By Jessica Lee, The Search Agency Jan. 6, 2012, 6:00pm PT 17 Comments

Much has been made of the success of Louis C.K.’s self-released video special, but Jessica Lee examines it as a social media marketing campaign, chalking his success up to one ingredient that’s often missing in marketing: trust. Read More »

How Spain’s version of SOPA is setting the web on fire
By Jan. 4, 2012, 5:43am PT 4 Comments

After much deliberation, Spain’s Sinde Law — an antipiracy initiative similar to America’s proposed SOPA legislation — has passed. But it is not entering the statute books without controversy over its reach, remit and the threats made by the U.S. government to force it through. Read More »

SOPA, OPEN and the fight for the Internet
By Dec. 29, 2011, 6:26pm PT Comments Off

New antipiracy legislation recently proposed in Congress and known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) could force YouTube and other “user-generated content” sites to take content down, even if that content has not been proven to be infringing. Experts in freedom of speech and creators …

Could SOPA fly if big media put skin in the game?
By Dec. 28, 2011, 5:00pm PT 14 Comments

What if the answer to all the political theatre surrounding SOPA was an amendment forcing copyright holders to put their money where there mouths are? Some of SOPA’s terribly harsh penalties for infringement can stay, but making false allegations would cost accusers dearly. Read More »

Hate SOPA? 6 things you can do to stop it
By Dec. 23, 2011, 10:15am PT 17 Comments

Many of y’all are against the Stop Online Piracy Act, but it’s time for a bit of a reality check on working with Washington. While boycotting GoDaddy might feel good, here are six actions that will be more effective at changing politicians’ minds. Read More »

After Chinese hacks, how do we secure the Internet of Things?
By Dec. 21, 2011, 11:03am PT 3 Comments

Reading about hackers hitting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, I was struck by the hackers accessing a thermostat, and the tone of resignation around preventing such attacks. So how will we secure the Internet of things, and do we give up on perimeter-based security? Read More »

The Internet erases borders, SOPA puts them back
By Dec. 15, 2011, 11:25am PT 8 Comments

Just like the iPhone brought smartphones to the mainstream, widespread streaming, YouTube and online pharmacies have brought SOPA to Congress. But the fundamental issue isn’t about SOPA, it’s about protecting business models that rely on a fragmented world, as the web makes fragmentation less relevant. Read More »

Can OPEN help Congress make peace with the Internet?
By Dec. 12, 2011, 2:34pm PT 3 Comments

A bi-partisan group of senators and congressmen is proposing an alternative to the widely-criticized Stop Online Piracy Act. The new bill, known as OPEN, has already won some support from opponents of SOPA, who say OPEN’s approach to piracy is much less damaging to the web. Read More »

Tech firms fight SOPA by talking job creation
By Dec. 7, 2011, 3:37pm PT Comments Off

The latest attack on the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) shows that the tech industry is getting smarter about talking to Washington. Industry groups are now stressing how crucial the Internet is to job creation, a hot topic in the current political climate. Read More »

Hide DNS requests from friends, foes and the feds
By Dec. 6, 2011, 12:01am PT 5 Comments

The folks at OpenDNS, which provides a domain name server for individuals that aims to be faster and more secure than those provided by your ISP, on Tuesday launched DNSCrypt a new product aimed at making DNS look up more secure and private. Read More »

New Node.js blocked by Great Firewall of China
By Dec. 5, 2011, 1:50pm PT 2 Comments

The Great Firewall of China is preventing local programmers from downloading the latest Node.js programming framework. The problem is that the version number corresponds to the June 4, 1989 government crackdown on Tiananmen Square demonstrators. Read More »

12Next »
loading external resource
Click to log in with: Not you?
Comment as guest:
By continuing you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Submitting comment...
results