SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live • Hacker News Board

Re: SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live

#31

Post by granitepail » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 5:01 PM UTC

boredguy8 wrote: post #22

Zoe Lofgren's statements were really good, and her criticisms of the way the hearing was structured (5 for, 1 against, no engineers) were compelling. Her question of, "How many sites would you want to see taken down?" and the dodging is telling, too. And Darrell Issa did a phenomenal job calling into question the need for the legislation because of the function of the ITC & usefulness of administrative law solutions…

I completely agree. Mr. Watts was embarrassing to watch -- his slanted opinion and childish domination of the dialogue was less than coy. I grew sick to my stomach listening to him constantly derail Oyama's statements. He kept demanding terse answers to questions that hardly had any relevance to the matter at hand and only served to make her seem clueluess.

Lofgren came on like a breath of fresh air. Not only did she actually seem INFORMED on the matter, but she did well to reveal that the opposition to this bill is not comprised of greedy tech companies who fear they would lose business, but all walks of Americans who are afraid that this would negatively impact our lives and our economy.

*edits for clarity

Re: SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live

#32

Post by click170 » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 5:03 PM UTC

Is there a chat room we can go to discuss the stream live so we aren't increasing the signal to noise ratio here?

Re: SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live

#33

Post by feralchimp » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 5:05 PM UTC

click170 wrote: post #30

How unfortunate. Ms. Jackson-Lee seems to have fallen for the fallacious argument that every file that was downloaded would have otherwise been bought if piracy wasn't a viable option. This does not bode well for the future...

"stealing our nation's genius"

FAIL. Genius, like digital bits, are not zero sum. This isn't digital Highlander; a kid pirating a film does not magically soak up (and away) the genius of the auteur.

Re: SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live

#34

Post by veyron » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 5:05 PM UTC

Is there anyone liveblogging the proceedings?

Re: SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live

#35

Post by feralchimp » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 5:06 PM UTC

Mr. Ross's "I think simply" folksy routine makes me want to slap a bitch.

Re: SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live

#36

Post by JoshTriplett » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 5:07 PM UTC

tomkinstinch wrote: post #29

davidhansen wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the madness of the legislative process. You'll witness the madness play out when the legislators, having given the plebes their "voice", ignore every single one of them and proceed with graduating the bill to a full vote. Which will likely pass.

If it does pass, there is still a chance (however small and expensive) that it will be ruled against in the courts. The judiciary seems like the branch least impacted by the influence of big-media.

That requires someone to bring a relevant legal case to an appropriately positioned judicial body, which requires a great deal of money, and two sides willing to take it that far.

Re: SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live

#37

Post by feralchimp » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 5:07 PM UTC

veyron wrote: post #34

Is there anyone liveblogging the proceedings?

Anyone object to me using this comments thread to do that?

Re: SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live

#38

Post by loungin » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 5:08 PM UTC

ukgent wrote: post #14

to the UK works via media player, but at work can not test sound. This is not looking good brothers on the otherside of the sea. What i read today is a 5to1 debate :/ and i got a horriable feeling the nervous looking girl might be the 1 against :/

Got any room on your side of the pond?

Re: SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live

#39

Post by chops » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 5:08 PM UTC

click170 wrote: post #32

Is there a chat room we can go to discuss the stream live so we aren't increasing the signal to noise ratio here?

Freenode: #startups ?

Or could always make a #sopa on freenode.

Re: SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live

#40

Post by JoshTriplett » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 5:09 PM UTC

feralchimp wrote: post #18

Vivtek wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Content is, too, I imagine.

Disagree with both of you. Video and audio are both smooth and free of dropouts, and the testimony of this attorney (who is she, btw?) is clear and informative. Compared to some other hearings, the reps asking questions seem legitimately interested in making the bill suck a lot less. Time will tell, I suppose, and it sucks that this bill made it this far, but I'd highly recommend watching the feed if you care about t…

> the reps asking questions seem legitimately interested in making the bill suck a lot less

That seems like a large part of the problem; they treat it as a foregone conclusion that the bill will pass, perhaps with a bit of tweaking. This bill needs to die. All bills should have the presumption of failure, with a very high bar to get them to pass, not the other way around.