Posted on 12/14/2011 5:34:55 PM PST by apoliticalone
November 7, 2011 | By Trevor Timm The Stop Online Piracy Act: A Blacklist by Any Other Name Is Still a Blacklist
During the past week, momentum against the House’s draconian copyright bill has gained steam, as venture capitalists, Internet giants and major artists have denounced it for handing corporations unprecedented power to censor countless websites and stifle free speech. In response, the bill’s big-pocketed supporters have gone on the offensive, attempting to mislead the public about the bill’s true reach. In a particularly egregious example, the Chamber of Commerce posted an attack on its website insisting that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is not a “blacklist bill."
(Excerpt) Read more at eff.org ...
My take is if Congress never passed another law or regulation we'd be better off, but here we have Rep Lamar Smith (R) from Texas trying to muzzle us for the benefit of Hollywood.
Hollywood offers only propaganda yet they are protected by our government and all of the enforcement actions are paid by taxpayers. The favoritism and bias is an outrage when you consider that every US citizen can have their identity stolen and no one in law enforcement or Justice Department gives a hoot. It's only thievery of worthless Hollywood trash that they worry about because Hollywood owns them. The lawmakers such as Rep Lamar Smith are obviously owned and not by us citizens.
As a side line my medical records were recently carelessly discarded from a non-business related physician's office and I'm told in a letter it is now my problem. Business should be held accountable for their actions with our personal information. Instead Congress makes we the people accountable to Hollywood.
If they even have access to medical records they are bound by HIPAA.
Get a lawyer, sue the hell out of them.
OTOH, non-existent medical records means that less about your health is known to the government.
Years ago, during a routine appointment, my doc came out of his office with this thin little file (I have been a patient for 38 years and he _knows_ my hx), saying “what happened?” There were no records in there except another routine appointment about a year earlier.
I tend to avoid the docs, if at all possible and since the advent of zer0care, I keep wondering if that might not be the best approach. Do they need to know about a surgery I had in 1981? The cracked metatarsal in 1997? The gastric ulcer that was treated and never recurred? My childbirth records are in another city somewhere, under a different married name. The OB is long retired, if he is even still alive. My childhood pediatrician is long dead and all that was under my maiden name in another state, pre-computers. I have no serious or chronic problems, so far. IMO, my privacy is more assured and if I need to see a new MD, I can tell them any pertinent medical history. In fact, that was just how it used to be, way back in the day.
Thanks for the reply. My secondary point was that when we individuals have our information stolen or lost by another, it is up to us to file a suit or pay for credit watch services, but when the Hollywood elite fail to control their frivolous entertainment data (and imo that’s all it is) it is made into a criminal act and the prosecution is done on taxpayer dime.
But the really important issue is the inevitable censorship against internet sites such as FR by competing corporate interests. The big news media wants to control the message and they will do what is necessary to shutdown user sites and opinions and it will be up to those that are censored to defend themselves. They’ve already regularly abuse their take down rights on YouTube.
Aside from the fact that this SOPA or Leahy’s Protect IP (Senate Version) bill is about giving Eric Holder the ability to attack any individual or group at the beck and call of Hollywood, I agree totally with you on less is better.
Even my own physician says that the mechanization of health records is about corporate and government control over our lives. Every American will eventually have a database that covers every aspect of our existence from political opinions, are we political activist, to our health, and our wealth.
Technology as had positives but the data base aspect has not been good for liberty and freedom. Bills such as SOPA serve as more notches against us to the benefit of those who can put the dogs on us at whim.
(affiliation corrected --Ed)
Why do supposed Republicans go out of their way to punish their friends and reward their enemies? Why does the party leadership tolerate it?
The Beltway insiders (and the Republican Party is no less guilty than the Democratic Party) fear the voice of the people. Hence their efforts to hobble the Internet on whatever convenient pretext presents itself.
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