I'll never forget what John Carpenter taught me in They Live. "The golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules."
The frustrating part is that the internet and tech companies opposed to SOPA have plenty of gold. They're just not using it.
Would Obama Veto SOPA? Extremely Doubtful
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Re: Would Obama Veto SOPA? Extremely Doubtful
#22I'll never forget what John Carpenter taught me in They Live. "The golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules."
Alt. He who has the peso has the say so.
Re: Would Obama Veto SOPA? Extremely Doubtful
#23I'll never forget what John Carpenter taught me in They Live. "The golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules."
The frustrating part is that the internet and tech companies opposed to SOPA have plenty of gold . They're just not using it.
I agree. They are frustratingly quiet. Any ideas why?
Re: Would Obama Veto SOPA? Extremely Doubtful
#24There are some interesting points here, but the article misses one very, very important constituency (from the President's point of view, at least): the intelligence community. If the law remains as is and outlaws Tor, Obama will have the head of every intelligence agency in his office telling him to veto the bill or put the nation at risk. If the law is amended to allow Tor (as was attempted) and then passes, then h…
Tor just isn't that important.
It was a comparatively minor project from a minor agency where it is no longer developed.
Not only that, but Tor is too closely associated with the seedier sides of the internet for any elected politician to stand up for it specifically.
Thinking that the President will override a bill because of a minor thing like Tor is grasping at straws.
Re: Would Obama Veto SOPA? Extremely Doubtful
#25There are some interesting points here, but the article misses one very, very important constituency (from the President's point of view, at least): the intelligence community. If the law remains as is and outlaws Tor, Obama will have the head of every intelligence agency in his office telling him to veto the bill or put the nation at risk. If the law is amended to allow Tor (as was attempted) and then passes, then h…
I wish you were right but I really don't think Tor would stop the bill. I personally expect that SOPA will eventually pass and then portions of it will get struck down as unconstitutional.
Re: Would Obama Veto SOPA? Extremely Doubtful
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Obama's not running his last campaign. That's done and over with. It's as simple as that.
Who will vote for him then? I am honestly curious. My impression was that young voters (users of the internet) were the key to Obama's success last time. Are the other republican candidates so weak that Obama can just scoop up a bunch of their voters?
Considering the qualities of the republican candidates trying to meet him in the general elections, he could be the lesser of two evils. But frankly, I am so disillusioned with both parties, I don't even know how to feel anymore.
Re: Would Obama Veto SOPA? Extremely Doubtful
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Who will vote for him then? I am honestly curious. My impression was that young voters (users of the internet) were the key to Obama's success last time. Are the other republican candidates so weak that Obama can just scoop up a bunch of their voters?
Start asking around, and find out how many people (outside your circle of informed technical friends) even know that SOPA/PIPA are happening (just their existence/names, not to mention what they are about). (Hint: Not many, in my experience.)
It's just like privacy related issues. People seem to be totally apathetic about it.
Re: Would Obama Veto SOPA? Extremely Doubtful
#28leading into what may be a difficult election year, and dependent on money from Hollywood and unions (the big Democratic funders), this is an easy call. There is no way that Obama hasn't taken the temperature on SOPA by now. Obama's most vocal liberal base will transform into an internet hate machine to rival the likes of the tea party if SOPA is signed. There is also the Ron Paul crew capturing more and more Democra…
> I don't underestimate the influence of these interests in Washington, but SOPA is really unpopular right now and getting more so by the day.
I think it's really unpopular on HN and on websites with "tech" in the name, but is the general electorate even aware of the issue? I don't see much about SOPA in the MSM (admittedly the last several months have had a lot of news-worthy events).
Re: Would Obama Veto SOPA? Extremely Doubtful
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Obama's not running his last campaign. That's done and over with. It's as simple as that.
Yep second that. Last election he ran on transparency, change and hope. And as three years went by there was no transparency in billions of dollars (TARP) given to big corporations. Change? yeah sure, for worse. And he does not talk about hope any more, since millions of Americans does no have job and economy is not even getting better. In this campaign he is all about class warfare, soak the rich taxes. Do we even c…
Come on now, don't misuse facts. TARP was executed in 2008 and most of it was paid off by the end of 2009. Obama became president in jan 2009.
Re: Would Obama Veto SOPA? Extremely Doubtful
#30There are some interesting points here, but the article misses one very, very important constituency (from the President's point of view, at least): the intelligence community. If the law remains as is and outlaws Tor, Obama will have the head of every intelligence agency in his office telling him to veto the bill or put the nation at risk. If the law is amended to allow Tor (as was attempted) and then passes, then h…
Tor just isn't that important. It was a comparatively minor project from a minor agency where it is no longer developed. Not only that, but Tor is too closely associated with the seedier sides of the internet for any elected politician to stand up for it specifically. Thinking that the President will override a bill because of a minor thing like Tor is grasping at straws.
Well, he wouldn't ever publicly say he's vetoing it to protect Tor -- that would be political suicide, due to all of the CP thereon -- but he might still veto it for that reason, and claim another, cf. Iraq War.