
Sen. Ron Wyden places a "hold" on the Protect IP Act - chanks
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/05/sen-ron-wyden-to-place-a-hold-on-the-protect-ip-act.ars
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CoffeeDregs
OK, I'm now a fan. I was up in Oregon for grad school during the Senate
campaign between Wyden and Smith. I lean libertarian/fiscal-conservative, so
was rooting for Smith against the awkward, liberal Wyden. Funny to think about
the consequences had my wishes come true: Wyden is taking a well-thought-out,
brave and effective position here and I'm reasonably sure that, had my wishes
come true, Smith would not have done the same. _Go Wyden!_

Separately and ironically, after bitching about "single-issue voters" and
"litmus tests" involving abortion, it seems I'm now exhibiting the same traits
with respect to the intarwebs.

~~~
SoftwareMaven
I find myself in a situation where my political-economic philosophies and my
individual/corporate rights philosophies have put me in a situation where I
feel like my candidate pool is an empty set.

If I favor the first, I'm more beholden to my corporate overlords.

If I favor the second, the country's spiral towards bankruptcy will speed up.

If I find an independent who feels as I do, my vote will be effectively
wasted.

Nothing quite like feeling completely disenfranchised.

~~~
muhfuhkuh
"If I favor the first, I'm more beholden to my corporate overlords.

If I favor the second, the country's spiral towards bankruptcy will speed up."

Didn't the "spiral towards bankruptcy" really put the pedal to the metal when
Reagan doubled-down on nukes, pushed lower top-line tax rates, and doubled the
national debt and deficit at once?

And, for the record, both parties are beholden to corporate overlords. Just a
matter of degree. I fall in the "commerce with regulations and _literally_
promote the general welfare" side of the fence, and so I fall in the
democratic camp.

~~~
SoftwareMaven
You are, of course, correct. When I ponder these things holistically, I do
tend to think about the parties in terms of what they say their goals are
(which, even if everything else about them turns my stomach, the Tea Party has
at least raised dichotomy to a level of real discussion).

When it actually comes time to vote, those holistic views are chucked in favor
of what the candidates are actually saying. In that context, there has rarely
been a group not in the second category.

It also explains why my voting for the last few elections has tended to lean
more towards Democrats, even though I have so many philosophical issues with
the party.

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mschwar99
I don't know if his views on this issue completely line up with the prevailing
sentiment here, but this is the second time in recent memory that Sen Wyden
has acted to bail out the internet as we know it in the US. If the issue is
important to you consider taking a minute to contact his office to express
your opinion or even donate something to his campaign.

Contact form: <http://wyden.senate.gov/contact/> Campaign:
<http://www.standtallforamerica.com/contribute/>

For all their flaws, politicians are much more likely to pay attention to
issues when they know an engaged audience is watching.

~~~
CoffeeDregs
Dude!, thanks for posting the links. Never would have thought to support him
beyond writing a comment (yay, faith in politics...) But I just wrote my first
note of thanks to a politician. Tried to donate $50, but they don't take
AmEx...

~~~
megamark16
I wrote him also, and I hope everyone who has a few minutes will take that
time to thank Senator Wyden for his efforts to protect our freedoms from
overreaching legislature.

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jarin
Hopefully if this gets blocked they'll do something about DHS arbitrarily
seizing domain names.

~~~
code_duck
The underlying issue there is 'civil forfeiture' in general. My view is that
this practice is unconstitutional for any sort of property, and it's causing a
lot of problems with the motivation of individuals in law enforcement.
Automobiles, cash, and real estate have been being seized with no due process,
no warrant and even no arrest for years. Domain names are just a new twist in
that story.

~~~
CWuestefeld
_The underlying issue there is 'civil forfeiture' in general. My view is that
this practice is unconstitutional for any sort of property,_

But property -- cars, domain names, cash, etc. -- is not human, and therefore
is not protected by our Bill of Rights. Your domain name does not have the
right to a trial, and so, when it is accused of being an accessory in a crime
(e.g., the domain name was a person who set up the meeting between the
customer and the purveyor of stolen IP), the government is within its
authority to detain it and keep it locked up for as long as is deemed
necessary.

(Not that I buy this bizarre logic, but that's the rationale for asset
forfeiture.)

~~~
code_duck
The 4th amendment regards "The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizure". That appears to cover seizure of property fairly well, though I
suppose the key word is 'unreasonable'. It's also unclear how this is applied
to civil matters vs. criminal. Though forfeiture is usually hand-in-hand with
criminal charges, they claim it's a civil matter.

The 5th amendment says citizens shall not be "deprived of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law." In the US, police can currently take
your car, money, or other possessions without even placing you under arrest.
This seems to me to violate the spirit of this amendment as well as the 4th.

~~~
CWuestefeld
Things are never easy, when you start to break things down to the atomic
level.

For example, if my wife were to commit a crime, they'd take her away from me
without giving _me_ any kind of hearing to protect my interests in her. And
believe me, my interest in her is much stronger than in any domain name, or a
car.

The only difference in this hypothetical is that she, being human, gets to
have her own hearing. But with inanimate objects (or intangibles), there's not
even an obligation to give the object a hearing.

Disclaimer once again: I disagree with my own logic here, I'm just trying to
play devil's advocate, illustrating the course that an argument _might_ take.

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shrikant
Previous HN love for Wyden: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1922405>

(the links posted by mschwar99 below displayed as 'visited' in my browser, so
I had to check it out on searchyc.com!)

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turoczy
Ron Wyden is one of the few politicians who understands the Web and one of the
few folks in Oregon who has understood the potential of Web startups for more
than a decade. I'm always proud to send this guy back to Washington. And I'll
keep doing it as long as he stands up to bills like this.

------
mrpollo
is it ok to ask where are they selling it ? lol

