Congress wants to destroy the Internet

[K. A. Pital]

Concerned Women for America (CWFA) is a conservative Christian public policy group active in the United States best known for its stance against abortion. Okay... tell me what the bloody fuck are they doing in the SOPA support list? "Stop abortion, stop... piracy!"

And United States Tennis Association, well... that just makes me laugh.

[bilateralrope]

Concerned Women for America (CWFA) is a conservative Christian public policy group active in the United States best known for its stance against abortion. Okay... tell me what the bloody fuck are they doing in the SOPA support list? "Stop abortion, stop... piracy!"

Probably because they see how useful SOPA could be in silencing pro-abortion websites.

[Lost Soal]

The list has been put together by the US Chamber of Commerce and contains companies who have not been told their on the list but have been put on because they support a general concept similar to this, such as Gibson Guitars which supports legislation against counterfeit products. There is probably a significant portion on the companies on that list which are in the same boat.

[SpaceMarine93]

And the worse thing is, according to information in Wikipedia, in all likelihood this thing is going to pass without any amendments and there's absolutely nothing anyone could do about it.

After the first day of the hearing, more than 20 amendments had been rejected, including one by Darrell Issa which would have stripped provisions targeting search engines and Internet providers. PC World reported that the 22–12 vote on the amendment could foreshadow strong support for the bill by the committee.

Does anyone know who the Americans could turn to if they want to overturn this thing in the Supreme Court?

By the way, here is the list of major supporters for the bill, from Wikipedia:

Politicians:
- Lamar S. Smith (R-TX): Bill introducer
- 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)
- Adam Schiff (D-CA)
- Lee Terry (R-NE).

As of December 17, 2011, there were 31 sponsors.

Companies and Organizations:

- 60 Plus Association
- ABC
- Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP)
- American Bankers Association (ABA)
- American Federation of Musicians (AFM)
- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
- American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
- Americans for Tax Reform
- Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States
- Association of American Publishers (AAP)
- Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies
- Association of Talent Agents (ATA)
- Beachbody, LLC
- BMI
- BMG Chrysalis
- Building and Construction Trades Department
- Capitol Records Nashville
- CBS
- Cengage Learning
- Christian Music Trade Association
- Church Music Publishers’ Association
- Coalition Against Online Video Piracy (CAOVP)
- Comcast/NBC Universal
- Concerned Women for America (CWA)
- Congressional Fire Services Institute
- Copyhype
- Copyright Alliance
- Coty, Inc.
- Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB)
- Council of State Governments
- Country Music Association
- Country Music Television
- Creative America
- Deluxe Digital Studios
- Directors Guild of America (DGA)
- Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc.
- EA
- Elsevier
- EMI Christian Music Group
- EMI Music Publishing
- Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
- ESPN
- Estée Lauder Companies
- Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)
- Gospel Music Association
- Graphic Artists Guild
- Hachette Book Group
- HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, Inc.
- Hyperion Books
- Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA)
- International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE)
- International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC)
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
- International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
- International Trademark Association (INTA)
- International Union of Police Associations
- L’Oreal
- Lost Highway Records
- Macmillan
- Major County Sheriffs
- Major League Baseball
- Majority City Chiefs
- Marvel Entertainment, LLC
- MasterCard Worldwide
- MCA Records
- McGraw-Hill Education
- Mercury Nashville
- Minor League Baseball (MiLB)
- Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC)
- Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
- Moving Picture Technicians
- MPA – The Association of Magazine Media
- National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
- National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators
- National Association of State Chief Information Officers
- National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA)
- National Center for Victims of Crime
- National Criminal Justice Association
- National District Attorneys Association
- National Domestic Preparedness Coalition
- National Football League
- National Governors Association, Economic Development and Commerce Committee
- National League of Cities
- National Narcotics Officers’ Associations’ Coalition
- National Sheriffs' Association (NSA)
- National Songwriters Association
- National Troopers Coalition
- News Corporation
- Pearson Education
- Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
- Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
- Pfizer, Inc.
- Provident Music Group
- Random House
- Raulet Property Partners
- Republic Nashville
- Revlon
- Scholastic, Inc.
- Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
- Showdog Universal Music
- Sony/ATV Music Publishing
- Sony Music Entertainment
- Sony Music Nashville
- State International Development Organization (SIDO)
- The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO)
- Perseus Books Group
- United States Conference of Mayors
- Tiffany & Co.
- Time Warner
- True Religion Brand Jeans
- Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
- UMG Publishing Group Nashville
- United States Chamber of Commerce
- United States Olympic Committee
- United States Tennis Association
- Universal Music
- Universal Music Publishing Group
- Viacom
- Visa Inc.
- W.W. Norton & Company
- Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, L.P.
- Warner Music Group
- Warner Music Nashville
- Wolters Kluwer Health
- Word Entertainment
- Zuffa

On Sept 22, 2011, a letter signed by over 350 businesses and organizations supports this legislation, companies including:
- NBCUniversal
- Pfizer
- Ford Motor Company
- Revlon
- NBA
- Macmillan

Domain register:
- Go Daddy (Jimmy Wales plans to transfer all Wikipedia domains from Go Daddy)

Looks like those who want to keep the Internet as it is are outnumbered

[Terralthra]

Dude, there's a list of supporters linked up-thread. You don't need to copy/paste.

[Alyeska]

And GoDaddy rescinded their support. A boycott was started with GoDaddy because of their support and in just 24 hours GoDaddy swapped sides after a mass of registrations were revoked from GoDaddy.

[Terralthra]

And GoDaddy rescinded their support. A boycott was started with GoDaddy because of their support and in just 24 hours GoDaddy swapped sides after a mass of registrations were revoked from GoDaddy.

Until they do so on the Congressional Record, it's just pablum PR.

[Alkaloid]

It's funny, I was reading the other day that boycotting in general is unlikely to be effective, but specific boycotting is likely to work. GoDaddy was the example used, but the idea was that instead of saying 'we will boycott any company that supports SOPA' you say 'we are boycotting GoDaddy, and only GoDaddy, because it supports SOPA,' then actually do it. GoDaddy removes their support for SOPA (hey, it's already happened) and then it boycott say, Hyperion Books or any other individual group or company from the list, essentially chosen by throwing a dart at the list. It's much scarier for the individual companies involved because they know they can be the next target picked, and it means that you don't have to but heads with the huge companies that can soak up short term losses with a lot of industry support, you can just hit the individually smaller and weaker companies so that eventually they don't have that industry support and are in a position where they can actually expect to loose or at least take serious damage in winning. It's a nice plan in theory, but I was wondering if it would actually work. Apparently it might.

[SpaceMarine93]

How come no one is doing it then, after GoDaddy? Why is no one organizing anymore boycotts?

[Alkaloid]

Until they do so on the Congressional Record, it's just pablum PR.

They fold properly and stop supporting SOPA, or they boycott continues. Plus, it was an idea mentioned as to what could be done if 'the internet' could be mobilised and convinced to do it, not what was actually happening.

[CaptainChewbacca]

More jumping off the SOPA bandwagon- Nintendo, EA Games, and Sony have all pulled their support from the bill.

It feels like a tide of public sentiment is being heard.

[Temjin]

More jumping off the SOPA bandwagon- Nintendo, EA Games, and Sony have all pulled their support from the bill.

It feels like a tide of public sentiment is being heard.

Smart move on EA and Nintendo's parts. They pull their public support of the bill for good publicity, while they still support it through the Entertainment Software Association, of which they are both members.