Free Republic

In a move the technology sector will surely see as a victory, a controversial antipiracy bill being debated in Congress will no longer include a provision that would require ISPs to block access to overseas Web sites accused of piracy. Rep. Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), one of the biggest backers of the Stop Online Piracy Act, today said he plans to remove the Domain Name System or DNS-blocking provision. "After consultation with industry groups across the country," Smith said in a statement released by his office, "I feel we should remove DNS-blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that...

Those on Capitol Hill still call their branch of government "The Congress," but they refuse to operate the branch as directed by the Constitution. In reality, those on Capitol Hill often act more like they are a combination state legislature and city council. For instance, last week the Senate was arguing about yet another hate crime bill (S. 625). Senate Republicans blocked action on the hate crime bill and Democrats were crying like little kids about it. That bill would make it a federal crime to violently attack someone because of their sexual orientation or other physical disability. The problem...