11.18.11
Gemini version available ♊︎Apple- and Microsoft-backed Front Group Lobbies for Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
Business Software Alliance thinks of the children (who are “pirates”)!!!
Summary: SOPA threatens the internet as we know it and the BSA is among those pushing for it (at the behest of the usual suspects)
A DEAR reader and occasional contributor told us that the Business Software Alliance (BSA) is doing its work again, acting as a front for Microsoft et al.
Brian Proffitt wrote something related to this when he said that “[a]s the U.S. House Judiciary Committee prepares for its hearing the morning on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), hundreds of web sites and activists are trying to bring attention to the bill with American Censorship Day.
“Protestors of SOPA have a long uphill battle, if the testimony in today’s committee meeting is any indication. The witness list for the hearing on SOPA, scheduled for this morning at 10 a.m. EST, seems decidedly comprised of witnesses in favor of the new bill. Of the witnesses, only Katherine Oyama, Policy Counsel from Google seems likely to testify against the bill.”
With that in mind, our reader and contributor notes that she found connection between Microsoft, BSA & SOPA. She explained this as follows: “I’m often late in reading news/information that everyone else in the world has already seen, but I just found this article about Microsoft’s support for SOPA, and Apple’s support. Thought I’d send it to you.”
Here’s the link that she sent and here’s a short excerpt: “…So we have Microsoft supporting the intellectual ancestor of SOPA, but that’s certainly not enough to say that the company supports SOPA outright.
“We can, however, show that it does. And somewhat disingenuously, if I may. You see, Microsoft is a major player in the Business Software Alliance, along with Apple and 27 other companies. And the BSA supports SOPA. This is from a recent BSA bulletin: ‘The Business Software Alliance today commended House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) for introducing the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (H.R. 3261) to curb the growing rash of software piracy and other forms of intellectual property theft that are being perpetrated by illicit websites.’”
“In short,” explains our reader and contributor, “Microsoft is using a front group to throw its support behind SOPA, while publicly saying and doing nothing, thus avoiding our rancor and displeasure. Well, no, that won’t do at all.”
It is worth throwing in this other bit of news:
House Judiciary Committee SOPA Hearings Stacked 5 To 1 In Favor Of Censoring The Internet
[...]
Apparently the folks behind SOPA are really scared to hear from the opposition. We all expected that the Judiciary Committee hearings wouldn’t be a fair fight. In Congress, they rarely are fair fights. But most people expected the typical “three in favor, one against” weighted hearings. That’s already childish, but it seems that the Judiciary Committee has decided to take the ridiculousness to new heights. We’d already mentioned last week that the Committee had rejected the request of NetCoalition to take part in the hearings. At the time, we’d heard that the hearings were going to be stacked four-to-one in favor of SOPA. However, the latest report coming out of the Committee is that they’re so afraid to actually hear about the real opposition that they’ve lined up five pro-SOPA speakers and only one “against.”
Since it has made the news quite a lot recently (especially the latest links roundup), it is worth noting which corporations (aka campaign funders) are behind it. █
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Michael said,
November 18, 2011 at 12:37 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
Neither MS nor Apple are even mentioned.
You make it look like it is from them.
But no bias on your part, right?
jocaferro Reply:
November 20th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Sorry for feeding the troll.
Why not the official site page?
http://judiciary.house.gov/issues/issues_RogueWebsites.html
BSA!?
So, let’s see wikipedia for BSA – “BSA is a front for Microsoft”.
Let’s take a look at the BSA site – “The Business Software Alliance is the voice of the world’s commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace.”
Wait – “is the VOICE”!?
ooopppsss, and between other members there you can find the two mentioned in the post!
But, no bias on your part, right?
Michael Reply:
November 20th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
The “connection” MS and Apple have with this is they are two members of the BSA, a group with 28 members – and that group is one of at least 10 groups that showed support for this bill.
The focus on MS and Apple here is insane. You can just as easily tie Intuit or TechSmith to it (also members of the BSA) or Campbell Soup or Hershey or Volvo or Xerox (all members of the National Association of Manufacturers – another supporter of the bill). Oh my! The National Association of Manufactures has just been proved to be a “front” for Campbell Soup!
Funny how none of these companies are even mentioned, no less accused of using these groups as their “front”… even though their “ties” to this bill are, based on the provided evidence, just as close.
XFaCE Reply:
November 22nd, 2011 at 2:20 pm
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/11/17/which-tech-companies-back-sopa-microsoft-apple-and-27-others/
Oops?
Michael Reply:
November 22nd, 2011 at 2:25 pm
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/even-the-business-software-alliance-now-backpedaling-on-sopa-support.ars
Well, the BSA is just a front for MS – and the BSA no longer is supporting SOPA. Thus MS no longer is… and is no longer to be seen as evil.
But watch Roy ignore this.