Tag Archives: Sopa


In a great TED talk – short, funny and sharp as a tack – comic author Rob Reid reveals the maths behind claims made by the copyright lobby – figures which are being used to justify SOPA, PIPA, ACTA and their stripe.

Ars Technica’s Ken Fisher sez of Reid’s philosophy:

The brilliance of Reid’s talk is that he thoroughly skewers the content industry’s dubious appeal to quantitative reasoning. We’ve all see the headlines proclaiming huge numbers of dollars, jobs, and patents lost to piracy. The appeal to quantitative measures is supposed to undermine counterarguments by doing two things: slyly stepping into a (pretend) world of objectivity, and raising the alarm with big, scary numbers. It’s hard to look at those kinds of headlines in the same way after Reid’s elegantly hilarious skewering.

Copyright Math: a quantitative reasoning master class by Rob Reid (Ars Technica)

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Diarmaid Keane writes:

As you are aware, there is heated debate at the moment about the SOPA and PIPA bills in the U.S. and the possible introduction of similar legislation in Ireland. U.S. Embassy Dublin along with the Bureau of International Information Programs has organized an online debate on the subject of internet freedom and online piracy. The two speakers, Corynne McSherry and Richard Bennet both have in depth knowledge and experience on this subject and will be willing to answer any questions asked during the webcast.

 

 

During a day of action last week, which saw websites including Wikipedia voluntarily going offline for the day, Sopa will not be passed in its current format in the US.
Mr Sherlock denied the legislation was equivalent to the proposal in the US.

“This is not Sopa legislation, it’s nowhere near it,” he said.

He described the online reaction to his proposals as “disproportionate” and said the Government would never act to limit freedom of expression.

Mr Sherlock wrote to TDs last night stating the implementation of the legislation was necessary following a 2010 High Court ruling in which music publisher EMI sought an injunction against internet provider UPC, ordering it to block access to websites that allowed illegal downloading.

While the court found EMI’s rights were breached, Mr Justice Peter Charleton pointed out he could not grant the injunction as the Copyright Act did not provide for this remedy.

Mr Sherlock told TDs the purpose of the proposed legislation is “simply to provide explicitly that injunctions may be sought”.

Ah. Well that’s alright then, isn’t it?

Internet Piracy Law Will Be balanced, Says Minister (Irish Times)

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=citzRjwk-sQ&feature=player_embedded

Nicolas writes:

I think you should bring ACTA to your readers attention as it is the European version of SOPA/PIPA (internet wise anyway) and that the European parliament is going to vote on it shortly. Here’s a typo kinetic about it. It does sum it up pretty nicely.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h2dF-IsH0I

Pat Timlin writes:

Have to say, have been a bit baffled about the content of these proposed Bills, and I’d say a lot of your readers are too, or at least don’t understand the consequences even for us Irish people. Found this TED talk (by Clay Shirky)
which encapsulates it pretty well:

Thanks also Shane McKenna