

Protect IP Author Senator Patrick Leahy Says 'Further Study' is Needed - hornokplease
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=721ddff6-3399-4d56-a966-bca3f848759b

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Joakal
If there was Internet Freedom bills proposed, there would be discussion on
Internet Freedom instead of these discussions of compromise and feasibility
for the anti-Internet activists. This appears to be a stalling tactic to more
anti-Internet measures, or promoting anti-Internet measures. They have
introduced similar bills after it failed before.

"Hey, a lot of people don't want more Internet controls. So lets get them
involved in the Internet control discussion by playing on their hopes of less
Internet control. Their supporters will lose momentum as people say
'discussions are ongoing'. We can then easily pass more anti-Internet stuff
when we can as we have done in the past. It's brilliant."

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squeee
So lets go ahead and pass the bill as is, with an amendment that requires us
to study the potential affects of the bill at a later time before enacting the
bill.

I'm sorry but no thank you. I don't trust you money grubbing ass hats to enact
the bill properly; I'm not going to trust you to study the already passed bill
properly.

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talos
Yup, this is BS. On the other hand, it looks like all this pressure is having
(at least a little) effect.

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phil
This rings true:

 _I worked closely with the ISPs in drafting this provision to ensure they
were comfortable with how it would work_

This sounds like BS:

 _I remain confident that the ISPs – including the cable industry, which is
the largest association of ISPs – would not support the legislation if its
enactment created the problems that opponents of this provision suggest._

At best, that second quote reflects a real misunderstanding of the big ISPs
and their interests.

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frankydp
Limiting the growth of a disruptive competitor isn't any motivation to support
this bill. i.e. the entire internet

on the internet means not bumping ratings

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phil
It is. The biggest ISPs in the US (like Time Warner Cable and Comcast) also
own media properties.

Raising transactional costs for new sites is good for them. It keeps the media
properties more valuable, and it raises the percentage of their traffic they
can monetize. Roughly the same payoff as in a non-net neutrality world.

~~~
frankydp
Comment was sarcastic.

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SoftwareMaven
Am I the only one more concerned about furthering the "guilty until proven
innocent" than I am about the DNS? Of course the DNS issue is huge, but not
nearly as large (IMO, bviously) as "prove you are innocent from behind bars".

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jarin
You'd think there'd be some "study" involved when authoring the bill, except I
have my doubts that he wrote even a single line of it.

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rhizome
Just reading the first few sentences it's apparent that the author is 70+
years old.

~~~
ori_b
The word "senator" is usually a strong hint. Incumbent politicians tend not to
be young.

~~~
phil
I read your comment and thought "surely that's changing over time and we're
trending towards younger legislators."

So I went looking and it turns out I'm completely wrong. Check it out -- the
WSJ did this interactive chart that shows Congress hit a low in the early '80s
and has been aging ever since:

[http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-
CONGRE...](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-
CONGRESS_AGES_1009.html)

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ascendant
I know I'm being bitter and jaded, but I assume they're just gonna put it on
the shelf for a few months, hope everyone forgets about it and then try to get
it through quietly attached to some other giant spending bill or something.

