Big government and some of their old media pals want to slash Internet freedom. On Tuesday, January 24th, the senate will start voting on the Protect IP Act (PIPA), a bill that, in the name of intellectual property rights for Hollywood media mogul types, will censor the web and increase regulations on Internet businesses.
We asked Senator John Barrasso and Senator Mike Enzi how they plan to vote. (We also asked Representative Cynthia Lummis how she plans to vote on the House version). So far, Senator Barrasso’s office provided a carefully qualified response:
Senator Barrasso fully supports efforts to protect U.S. intellectual property rights, but he believes we must do so in a way that doesn’t limit constitutionally protected free speech or threaten technological innovation.
While he believes this legislation is well intentioned, Senator Barrasso has serious reservations about supporting PIPA in its current form.
We think this means he will vote against the bill, but can we be sure? If you can’t tell from this response, you might want to ask him yourself. And be sure to check back soon to find out what Senator Enzi and Representative Lummis have to say.
Given their NDAA performance, it would be wise not to expect too much from them. But that’s OK. It’s necessary for this country to hit bottom before we will be able to restore freedom. This SOPA/PIPA thing is just one more step in that direction. “…a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism…”
Probably the best comment on the whole thing is from Cory Doctorow. http://boingboing.net/2012/01/14/boing-boing-will-go-dark-on-ja.html
And, no, I didn’t look to see if boingboing.net has any links that Chris Dodd doesn’t like.