November 18, 2011, 12:37 PM —
House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks to the media on Capitol Hill in Washington July 28, 2011.
REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker and traditional Democrat, joined Ron Paul, GOP presidential candidate and traditional Libertarian, in opposing SOPA.
Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) sponsor Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) has signed up some heavy hitters to get the ball rolling on a law that potentially will allow copyright holders to shut down websites they feel are infringing in their intellectual property. Now the opposition appears to be stiffening, as major tech companies are sending messages in opposition. And when you get nine Democrats and Ron Paul to sign the same letter of opposition, that makes news.
Of course, with politicians, signing a letter against a bill doesn't mean they won't vote for the bill later (happens all the time, so they can claim they support both sides of an issue). But since many politicians have been quiet on this issue, seeing two high profile members of Congress speak out against SOPA indicates the bill may be losing momentum. Politics is big on momentum, so shifts are important.
Can we be reasonable?
I don't think there was any doubt that Ron Paul would oppose SOPA. Nancy Pelosi's opposition, on the other hand, is somewhat surprising, but also quite promising.
LeafStorm on news.ycombinator.com
I expected Ron Paul to oppose it, too. He was also one of the very few who opposed the persecution of Wikileaks.
nextparadigms on news.ycombinator.com
At least this shows that common sense isn't partisan.
3.3volts on arstechnica.com
The legislation that stops counterfeiting will be the legislation that destroys counterfeiters' ability to make money, end of story.
Grae on techdirt.com
The TV/Movies/Music industry is the top campaign donor to Lamar Smith, the republican proponent of the bill,
jfgilbert on arstechnica.com
Now I like politics
I, for one, hope it is a fight they can win. Stop Overreaching Political Asshatery (best I could come up with on short notice).
simple_simon on arstechnica.com
Nancy Pelosi and Rand Paul are on the same page? Did Anthropomorphic Global Climate Change fail and hell freeze over?
Anonymous Coward on techdirt.com
I might not agree with a lot of his crazy ideas but Ron Paul is probably the one politician who's consistent in his policies. I wonder where the other Republicans -- who supposedly hate federal regulations so much -- are on this matter. In fact, where are the Tea Party people with their "don't tread on me" chants?
metafor on arstechnica.com
Not so fast
Republicans are the people who wrote the Patriot Act. The Democrats voted it in. Neither can be trusted.
3.3volts on arstechnica.com
New legislation on average tends to hurt more than help. Fortunately last couple of years US has government gridlock and that helps. A lot. I hope gridlock in government would help again and SOPA bill would fail.
dennisgorelik on news.ycombinator.com
What are the chances this entire SOPA news cycle is meant to distract us all from something sneakier being prepared by SOPA supporters?
