SOPA

Sandia Labs: SOPA will 'negatively impact' U.S. cybersecurity

Add the Sandia National Laboratories, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, to the list of opponents of a controversial Hollywood-backed copyright bill.

Leonard Napolitano, Sandia's director of computer sciences and information systems, warned in a letter that the legislation is "unlikely to be effective" and will "negatively impact U.S. and global cybersecurity and Internet functionality."

Napolitano sent a letter in response to a request for a critique of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, from Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who represents the heart of Silicon Valley. Lofgren is leading opposition … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1567: Galaxy Nexus hands-on, copyright freakout, and Computer Love (Podcast)

On this week's show, Jessica Dolcourt joins us for some hands-on time with the Galaxy Nexus--and that peek is all you get, since there's still no U.S. release date for that sucker. Ridiculous. Also, Google Music recapped and a tag-team SOPA rant, plus Stephen Beacham's awesome new segment: Into It or Not Into It. You will love it, and you will dance. All that and Computer Love, to boot! Settle in!

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Google Music plays up sharing, free storage

Web sites black out their pages to protest online censorship and SOPA, the Salvation Army is using Square, and Google Music arrives with free online storage, music sharing tools, and a few freebies.

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Anti-censorship protests irk some Web surfers

Web sites opposed to a federal anti-piracy bill were coming up with some innovative ways of protesting the proposed law, which they claim would allow for Internet censorship. But the protests were interfering with some Web surfers.

In honor of "American Censorship Day," some Web sites were symbolically blacking out their front pages today. The big pop-ups with a darkened background urge people to contact Congress and express opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The House of Representatives held its first hearing on the controversial bill today.

Hollywood studios, the recording industry, large content holders and … Read more

New flap over SOPA copyright bill: Anti-Web security?

Hollywood-backed legislation to knock suspected copyright-infringing Web sites offline could hinder efforts to secure Internet domain names, a key member of Congress said today.

Rep. Dan Lungren, who heads the Homeland Security subcommitteee on cybersecurity, said his panel has been working on ways to tighten the security of the Internet's domain names through a set of security improvements called DNSSEC.

An "unintended consequence" of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, would be to "undercut the real effort that would practically help us secure the Internet" through DNSSEC, Lungren said during a hearing this morning. &… Read more

The 404 948: Where we're in some deep dish (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 Podcast episode:

Congress is proposing a school lunchroom bill that would allow as little as two tablespoons of tomato paste on a frozen pizza to be classified as a proper weekly serving of vegetables for students. Fries and tater tots also count as vegetables. The U.S. Department of Justice wants to make it a crime to lie on social networks like Match.com, Facebook, and OKCupid--if the fib in question violates other laws outside of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This holiday season, the Salvation Army send its volunteers into the streets with a new way to accept donations using credit card-reading hardware provided by Sprint/Nextel and Square. The program will join Girl Scout troops and The U.S. Army in pushing the next generation of mobile payments. A digital experiment from the artists at Wemakecoolsh.it enables subway denizens on the L-Train to access Wi-Fi and communicate with one another secretly using their self-powered "NOTwork." The enclosed system will run the week of November 14th on L-Trains going in and out of the Brooklyn and Manhattan boroughs. AOL resurrects its Instant Messaging service AIM with new features that even the score with sites like Meebo and Adium, and Jabber that already let you log chat histories, sign into multiple social networking accounts, and view multimedia like video and Twitter messages directly in the message window. An attack on online copyright infringements is in in progress, spearheaded by an initiative called the Stop Online Privacy Act, or SOPA that aims to blacklist sites that allegedly violate existing copyright laws. As of last night, however, the opposition is gaining powerful allies across the Web, including big names like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Zynga. Bathroom break video 1: Star Wars Rogue Squadron - Cheers Bathroom break video 2: Turkish Ice Cream Follow Jeff, Wilson, Justin, and The 404 Twitter pages for a chance to win Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, and Uncharted 3. Check out this post for how to enter.

Click through to stream or download today's 404 podcast episode!… Read more

Draconian copyright bill hits the Internet buzz saw

The Stop Online Piracy Act, a controversial nutty, delusional and shortsighted bill created by people who could be construed as idiots, is hitting a buzzsaw of Internet opposition. Large companies are also starting to tabulate their potential compliance costs.

On the surface, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) sounds reasonable. All the legislation wants to do is stop online copyright infringement. The rub is that anyone can complain and have sites taken down and cut off from their revenue sources. Yes, you too can be a rogue site.

SOPA was introduced Oct. 26 and despite some initial outcry largely went … Read more

Sony to turn on Net-based TV service

Crude spam spreads on Facebook, the fight over an online piracy bill heats up, and Sony is working to distribute television channels through Net-connected TV sets as an alternative to cable.

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

SOPA bill won't make U.S. a 'repressive regime,' Democrat says

The first House of Representatives hearing devoted to a controversial online copyright bill began in an unusual way: with politicians defending themselves from charges that the proposal goes too far.

It's "beyond troubling to hear hyperbolic charges that this bill will open the floodgates to government censorship," Rep. Mel Watt, a North Carolina Democrat, said during a House Judiciary committee hearing this morning.

Claiming that the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, will transform the United States into "a repressive regime belittles the circumstances under which true victims of tyrannical governments actually live," said Watt, … Read more

Copyright Office will endorse SOPA anti-piracy bill

The head of the influential U.S. Copyright Office plans to offer an unqualified endorsement tomorrow of a controversial Hollywood-backed copyright bill.

Maria Pallante will tell a congressional committee that the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, is "essential" to thwarting online piracy.

A copy of Pallante's testimony obtained by CNET describes SOPA as "the next step in ensuring that our law keeps pace with infringers." (Part of her job is to provide advice to Congress on copyright law.)

"It is my view that if Congress does not continue to provide serious responses to … Read more