By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  February 7th at 02:00 AM  | 

Yes, we beat SOPA, but the problem of foreign infringers is still around. And we’re not just talking about online copyright infringement, either. Copies of clothing, purses, gadgets, you name it: foreign free riders are a problem. It’s an important tradeoff to find, so an open process for the Darrell Issa OPEN Act is a good one. A slow, consensus-based approach is also smart, so | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  February 2nd at 03:00 AM  | 

Sometimes, the anarchists lose. Even in leftist Sweden, The Pirate Bay’s founders lost their last appeal. It’s guys like these, who deliberately put up a system for infringing on US copyrights while playing word games to justify it, that motivated SOPA and that drive the desire for a treaty like ACTA. Google considers its privacy changes a public policy issue as the firm is getting | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  January 18th at 04:47 AM  | 

We celebrated Monday when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor effectively signaled the death of SOPA, the Stopping Online Piracy Act. Cantor said the Internet censorship bill would not see a vote until there was consensus on the matter. As long as Darrell Issa, Justin Amash, and Jason Chaffetz are on the case there will be no consensus on sweeping Internet censorship, so Cantor’s position basically | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  January 12th at 02:30 AM  | 

Have some more SOPA. We still need to kill the bill and primary the offenders, after all. The bill by Lamar Smith (with strong support from Chris Dodd) is a real problem. Forbes says it relies on ignorance and fiction not facts, understanding, and reality. WordPress developers have come out against it, too. Arguments continue over unlicensed spectrum. Look, I’m open to the argument that | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  January 10th at 01:30 AM  | 

Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is using his committee to further his bill, SOPA. SOPA is very bad. It threatens due process and prior restraint of speech as it censors the Internet, and risks putting Internet-based business out of business. Darrell Issa is leading House efforts to oppose SOPA. He’s on the Judiciary Committee, but he’s not in charge. However he does | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  January 5th at 01:00 AM  | 

I’m back. I ended up taking an extended Christmas break because well, I liked having a break, plus there wasn’t a whole lot going on anyway. But, back to work! Lamar Smith and Chris Dodd still want to censor the Internet, by pushing the SOPA bill that we need to defeat. Why is it bad? Victims get no due process, ISPs have the burden of | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  December 22nd at 03:30 AM  | 

It seems like forever ago that Marsha Blackburn challenged Free Press to transparency in the group’s funding. Why should it take eight months to respond if Free Press has nothing to hide? Keep the Web OPEN. It’s a simple statement, but it’s one I support. The difference between SOPA and OPEN has been made clear to many thanks to Darrell Issa’s leadership. It’s unclear with | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  December 15th at 03:30 AM  | 

Ordinarily I use Tech at Night to cover a variety of topics that come my way, and I have them in my queue for tonight. But with over 30 items to consider and integrate, most of them on SOPA, I’m shelving the rest for Friday, and discussing just one topic tonight: We must defeat SOPA in the House. It is entirely unacceptable, and I believe | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 24th at 03:30 AM  | 

Let’s be thankful the Internet isn’t yet censored by a bill like SOPA, as it is Thanksgiving on the east coast as I write this. How many unions must back this bill and its Senate counterpart, PROTECT IP, before Republicans wise up and kill it? Remember, once you give the government censorship power, uses will be found for it. For the children! It’s just another | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 21st at 11:00 PM  | 

Had enough SOPA yet? Too bad. Ignore my Piracy/Privacy typo and read my overview of the issue over at the Daily Caller. In theory I will be there weekly now, writing about tech issues. Don’t worry though; I’ve scheduled it with them so I write for them and for Tech at Night on different nights, so I won’t burn out or anything. And if yu | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 19th at 03:30 AM  | 

Some government mistakes slip by with only a few of us shouting about them. The Stop Online [Piracy] Act, or SOPA, is not one of those. People across the Internet are getting loud against the House bill and its Senate counterpart PROTECT IP, the one I’ve been yelling about for months, but many businesses are supporting. Yes, I’m going to be that guy, saying I | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 15th at 02:30 AM  | 

Censorship’s the big word right now. The FCC’s under pressure to ban pro sports blackouts, and the Supreme Court may end national profanity rules. However I consider those things small. Few people have access to television broadcasts. Most of us aren’t actually censored by these regulations. We all have access to the Internet though; that’s how a nobody like me is able to shape the | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 12th at 03:30 AM  | 

It turns out it’s not just a few of us on the right who know Tech at Night exists. Gigi Sohn says Tech at Night shapes the debate along with good old Less Government. Of course, Sohn also told a lie about me and claimed AT&T pays me, but… that’s the head of a Soros-funded group for you. Media Marxists and all that. Something I | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 5th at 03:00 AM  | 

There’s been a push lately to attack punitive, unfair taxes on wireless service, one that Erick Erickson signed onto, and was advertised at RedState. Ironically I only found out about it because I saw the ads while working on the code side of the site, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Anyway, that movement seems to have gotten a win, as the House passed the | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  October 27th at 01:00 AM  | 

Top story is easy to pick tonight. The legislation that’s been known in the Senate as PROTECT IP, the Internet censorship blacklist bill that promises to make a huge power grab online, Communist China-style, has come to the House. They’re calling it by two different names: E-PARASITES and Stopping Online Privacy Act, but by either name it’s just as bad. Even as the current laws | Read More »