[GPSCC-chat] Fw: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein responding to your message (About PIPA)

[Cameron L. Spitzer]

> These are websites that have "no significant use other than engaging in,
>enabling, or facilitating" copyright infringement, the sale of goods =
>with a counterfeit trademark, or the evasion of technological measures
>designed to protect against copying.  The bill does not violate Fir=
>st Amendment rights to free speech because copyright piracy is not speech.

I suspect the Senator knows her claim above is a lie.  Various courts
in the US and worldwide have ruled that computer programming is a
form of artistic expression and speech.

"evasion of technological measures designed to protect against copying"
includes such activities as writing software to operate the standard
DVD drive that comes with any laptop or desktop computer.  As I understand
it, SOPA practically outlaws the creation and distribution of free and open
source operating systems for the most widely used computer hardware.
If Hollywood has its way, you will have to pay Microsoft or Apple for
the privilege of playing your own DVDs on your own computer,
and nobody will be allowed to offer you a truly free alternative.


-Cameron in Santa Clara