Stop the Online Piracy Act And Stop Rep. Lamar Smith

The Daily Grind Video

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Gia Trimble is a Los Angeles activist who has been pounding the pavement Occupy L.A. and countless other movements. Her latest challenge is to Stop the Online Piracy Act (SOPA) a bill introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. She reached out to GG to help amplify why this act must be stopped. Read her incredible blog below…

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This bill is an incredibly oppressive and crushing form of censorship that would greatly expand the IP rights of large corporations and limit the freedom of all media use on the Internet.

It could stop payment processors (Paypal, Wepay) to refuse your business. This is worded in a way that could extend to individual accounts. Providers (Google, Etsy, Flickr, Wikipedia, Twitter, Vimeo and more) will have to refuse service, Google rankings would cease to exist in exchange for liability for individually-owned content deemed inappropriate according to the bill (I dare not refer to it as a law).

It ranges from things like copyright laws, to unpatriotic content. 

The representative to propose the bill in question has been in office for 12 terms with no substantive opposition, and in order to promote a more horizontal government, all participants of an economy must get involved with regional decision-making. If politicians show a complete disregard for public opinion, they are no longer representatives, but elected masters. 

Sure you can just find a DNS server outside the US and redirect your traffic, but in a bill that further inches the Land of the Free into North Korean status, the ‘loose’ wording will find its way of surveying all of your online traffic.

The terminology becomes more intricate and complicated as it continues.

Bills should be single-purpose and this one is not. Far shorter than NDAA, this is an attempt at censorship, which the mainstream media refuses to acknowledge at length as apparently, journalism no longer includes research.

Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is a strong supporter of the bill, and upon research it becomes apparent that the representative to bring the bill to the floor has a long-standing relationship with Rupert Murdoch.

Having been part of one of the biggest hacking scandals of this decade, where it was alleged that his media outlets greatly violated the privacy of families with missing children, public representatives members, and celebrities alike, Murdoch is a vivid painting of the term ‘1 percent.’ With a $42 billion media empire that extends to publishing, television, and movies, his own Fox News reaches 96% of American homes.

Also worth noting is that Lamar Smith, the original presenter of SOPA, interrupted a hearing to defend Murdoch and Fox News.

The lack of coverage on Murdoch’s case isn’t unheard of with the Occupy movement, with other headlines creating a smoke screen thick enough to provide media coverage.

This is an attack from the News Corp group on free speech and our Constitutional rights.

Bills presented by a highly biased representative that are oppressive to the people should be highly investigated.

The need of separation between politics and economic influences has never been as apparent as when Murdoch indicated that the media should be involved in the push for comprehensive immigration reform. The media DOES NOT get to dictate laws and initiate influence. Citizens should.  

The bill goes back to the floor for voting December 21st, call your representative!

Supporters

Howard Berman (D-CA)

Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)

Mary Bono Mack (R-CA)

Steve Chabot (R-OH)

John Conyers (D-MI)

Ted Deutch (D-FL)

Elton Gallegly (R-CA)

Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)

Timothy Griffin (R-AR)

Dennis A. Ross (R-FL)