SOPA, PIPA: What you Need to Know (Courtesy of CBS News)

Having trouble using Wikipedia today? That’s because the popular crowd-sourced online encyclopedia is participating in an “Internet blackout” in protest of two controversial anti-piracy bills: The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate companion, the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

The bills are intended to strengthen protections against copyright infringement and intellectual property theft, but Internet advocates say they would stifle expression the World Wide Web. In essence, the legislation has pitted content providers — like the music and film industries — against Silicon Valley.

Here’s a basic look at the actions taking place today and the legislation causing all the fuss.

SOPA, PIPA (video)

What’s going on today?

The popular link-sharing site Reddit got the ball rolling for today’s 24-hour Internet blackout. In addition to Reddit and Wikipedia, other sites participating include BoingBoing, Mozilla, WordPress, TwitPic, MoveOn.org and the ICanHasCheezBurger network. Search giant Google is showing its solidarity with a protest doodle and message: “Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the web,” but the site planned no complete blackout.

Other sites — like Facebook and Twitter — oppose the legislation in question but aren’t participating in today’s blackout.

In addition to the Internet-based protests, some opponents are physically protesting on Wednesday outside of their congressional representatives’ offices. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian said in Tuesday’s press conference it will “probably be the geekiest, most rational protest ever.”

What does the legislation do?

There are already laws that protect copyrighted material, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). But while the DMCA focuses on removing specific, unauthorized content from the Internet, SOPA and PIPA instead target the platform — that is, the site hosting the unauthorized content.

The bills would give the Justice Department the power to go after foreign websites willfully committing or facilitating intellectual property theft — “rogue” sites like The Pirate Bay. The government would be able to force U.S.-based companies, like Internet service providers, credit card companies and online advertisers, to cut off ties with those sites.

Why content providers want SOPA and PIPA

Content groups like the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and business representatives like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argue that innovation and jobs in content-creating industries are threatened by growing Internet piracy. Overseas websites, they argue, are a safe haven for Internet pirates profiting off their content.

According to the Global Intellectual Property Center, which is part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, intellectual property-intensive sectors employ more than 19 million people in the U.S. and create $7.7 trillion in gross output. Foreign website operators currently outside the bounds of U.S. law; SOPA and PIPA would help quell illegitimate Internet activity.

Why Internet companies oppose SOPA and PIPA

Internet companies and their investors would readily say that they’re holding the “blackout” to protect their corporate interests — and the entire burgeoning Internet-based economy.

“The success of Reddit… is one of the smaller examples of the success that has happened in our industry — and will continue to unless bills like SOPA or PIPA become law,” Ohanian said Tuesday.

Under the rules SOPA or PIPA would impose, Ohanian and others argue, start ups wouldn’t be able to handle the costs that come with defending their sites against possible violations. Such sites would not be able to pay the large teams of lawyers that established sites like Google or Facebook can afford.

The legislation in question targets foreign companies whose primary purpose is to sell stolen or counterfeit goods — but opponents say domestic companies could still be held liable for linking to their content. While sites like Reddit wouldn’t have a legal duty to monitor their sites all the time, “you might have your pants sued off of you” if you don’t, said Jayme White, staff director for the Senate Finance Subcommittee on international trade.

The impacts could go beyond the economy, some argue. Rebecca MacKinnon, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan New America Foundation, argues that if blogging platforms are motivated to monitor their content, that could have “a tremendous chilling effect on people tyring to conduct political discourse and trying to use content in a fair use context.”

Where does the legislation stand?

Opponents of SOPA and PIPA celebrated when, earlier this month, authors of both bills decided to set aside the most controversial aspect of them – language that would have let the Justice Department force Internet Service Providers to block the domains of suspected foreign “rogue” sites. Also, over the weekend, the White House suggested it wants to see modifications to the legislation.

The Senate is scheduled to hold a procedural vote on PIPA on January 24.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who sponsored SOPA, said Tuesday he expects the committee to continue work on the House bill in February.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., meanwhile, is opposed to the legislation and will today officially introduce an alternative — the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act. Issa said Tuesday he expects his bill to have more co-sponsors than SOPA has in the House and that “once members of Congress see a viable alternative… I think we can get to a consensus.”

The OPEN Act would make the International Trade Commission, rather than the Justice Department, responsible for policing U.S. connections to foreign rogue sites. Placing that responsibility in the hands of one entity, rather than the whole court system, would make the process more transparent, Issa argues.

For the full story, follow this link. Found January 18, 2012 8:45 am.

Tell Congress. Sign the petition, click here.

@SGAjmu at the #WhiteHouse for #JobsNow

(Accompanied by: Legislative Action Committee Chair Shevy Chaganti and At-Large Senators Nikki Bologna & Kathleen Murphy, Executive Treasurer Abby Ware, Class Council Member Liz Ramirez & Spirits and Traditions Committee Chair Jessica Morris.)

On Thursday September 8^th, eight students from James Madison University’s Student Government Association traveled to D.C. to attend the White House Town Hall following President Obama’s speech on his proposed bill, The American Jobs Act. They gathered in the South Auditorium of the Eisenhower Office Building on the White House Campus with other college students to watch the speech on a large screen.  The Associate Director of Public Engagement at the White House, Ronnie Cho, introduced a crowd of college students to a panel of White House policy directors to answer questions after the speech.

The Town Hall meeting can be viewed here

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The following is an account from Class Council Members:

Matthew Klein (2013) and Alicia Pettis (2014)

Matthew Klein: Walking along 17th street from the metro station in the pouring rain, JMU SGA sought to make a difference in the nation’s capital.  We did not know what to expect when we arrived on the White House campus, but we were wide-eyed and eager to hear the President’s speech on his proposed jobs plan.  Members of the JMU student government represented our school from the front row and as the President approached the stand, the room was silent. The anticipated agenda: The American Jobs Act. 

Alicia Pettis: The trip began with flood warnings and intense rain, and led us to a Town Hall made up of college students with the intent of listening to some of the most influential people in our nation.  I was ready to learn more about the jobs plan I had heard so much about during my internship on Capitol Hill this past summer. We were all a little nervous about being part of such an important time in President Obama’s term and specifically how this bill will affect us after our expected graduation.  I had no idea what was waiting for us as we passed through intense security and finally were able to listen to the President’s address to a joint session of Congress. We watched the large screen as the cabinet members poured onto the floor, followed by the President.  Once at the Speaker’s desk, he began his address.

The idea behind the Jobs Act is to create jobs and in turn stimulate the struggling economy.  Every student was jotting down both intriguing and puzzling ideas from the speech to turn into questions for the panel to discuss at the conclusion of the speech.  The most exciting part of the American Jobs Act for me was to hear about the plans for innovation and modernization.  To me, it seems as though America’s cities are aging and structural improvements need to be made.  Along with infrastructure, our transportation systems also seems to reside decades in the past.  The bipartisan effort to make advances as a nation is the best approach to spur jobs and educate future generations.

In his clear, deep voice, the President articulated the purpose for this bill: “The people of this country work hard to meet their responsibilities.  The question tonight is whether we’ll meet ours.” He explained his reasoning for each point in his jobs plan with certainty. He ended many points with the repeated message: “You should pass this jobs plan right away,” helping to emphasize the urgency of passing the bill.  One of my favorite moments, and apparently a popular twitter trend was when he explained that this jobs bill was “simple math.”  His delivery was humorous where needed, yet to the point; we need jobs. 

The next question to ask was how this was going to affect the rest of James Madison University and myself as a student and future employee.  Job prospects for new graduates are not encouraging especially when looking in the their field of study.  The President announced that under the American Jobs Act long-term unemployed workers would have better opportunities to receive employment.  Although focusing on the long-term unemployed is understandable from a global perspective, I wondered what effect this would have on those first entering the job market.  As full-time students, we would not benefit from his proposal for promoting jobs.  Throughout the President’s speech, I was waiting to hear about initiatives that would apply to and help younger individuals who are seeking their first real job.

After hearing a lot of information and ideas thrown at us, we all tried to decipher how we felt.  The main question on our minds was, “How does this affect me as a college student?”  For me, education is the one opportunity that we have to overcome inequality in our nation, yet we as Americans, have fallen behind in our commitment to youth.  From this belief, I related mostly to President Obama’s reinvestment in education.  The plan:

• provides a $30 billion investment in modernizing at least 35,000 public schools and community colleges;
• gives $30 billion to prevent layoffs of teachers and other educators; and
• focuses on programs that support STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The unemployment rate for our age group is double the national percentage. The President set forth a plan that will encourage the economy to hire more employees. By stimulating our stagnate economy through  tax breaks for small businesses, young entrepreneurs receive assistance in starting their own businesses.  The careers we are looking forward to might just hinge upon passing this bill.

Throughout our experience at the White House, there seemed to be an emphasis on social media.  The panel pulled questions to answer from live feeds on Facebook, Twitter, and the White House webpage.  We were all encouraged to tweet (with appropriate hashtags of course) and post comments about the event before and after the speech.

Personally, I am a huge social media enthusiast, and this unexpected twist to the experience was a unique and intriguing one.  I appreciated the concentration on appealing to the crowd of young college students. 

The role of social media in our trip was heavy.  Not only were we encouraged to tweet during the town hall, which had questions coming in from twitter users, but we were given special hash tags to use, #AtTheWH and #JobsNow.  Here is some interesting info that I retweeted from Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House Administration.

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Overall the experience brought us insight into how the decisions made in Washington, D.C. could reflect upon our own college campus.  We realized that we have a voice, despite our age, and we are the ones who have to BE THE CHANGE.  Not only did we revel in our newly found importance, but we also felt inspired to make a change at JMU.  SGA united through the opportunity to witness an important moment that will have a lasting impact on our near future.

We hope you all take a look at the American Jobs Act put forth by our President and seriously consider the impact this bill will have on you.

The following is a copy of the bill

Here is the Video link

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Need more SGAjmu info? Follow us on Twitter @SGAjmu. Visit our website or check us out on Facebook.

National Suicide Prevention Week

Some sobering facts about suicide in the United States:

• Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States.
• One suicide occurs on average every 15.2 minutes.
• Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among 15 to 25 year olds.

International Association for Suicide Prevention sponsors World Suicide Prevention Day held on September 10th of every year.  Their goal is to raise awareness around the globe that suicide can be prevented based on this year’s theme to raise awareness of the fact that all countries in the world are multicultural since risk factors and warning signs vary on culture.

To show your support the IASP invites you to light a candle in the window at 8pm on September 10th to remember a lost loved one, or support someone who has survived suicide.

Need another way to support? Check out TrevorTalkToMe.org for some great tips and advice on how to change someone’s life.

 

The American Association of Suicidology is spreading the word about the 37th Annual National Suicide Prevention Week and JMU is helping out.  During the week of September 4th through the 10th various events will be held at all home athletic activities as well as posted information across campus.

Melissa Hopely, from the Active Mind’s Speaker’s Bureau, The Heard, will be speaking to the JMU and Harrisonburg community Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. in the Festival and Student Conference Center Ballroom.

Local News Coverage on a National Issue

In case you aren’t in Harrisonburg, the following story was run by local news station WHSV 3 on June 27, 2011 about Pat Watral‘s involvement in the #DoWeHaveADealYet campaign as well as the conference call he participated in with President Obama and White House leaders. There is also a video link of the story you can find here.

As the debt debate continues in Washington, concern is rising for folks across the country who are worried about the consequences of default. At James Madison University, Student Government President Pat Watral is concerned about his student loans.

“Honestly, I first thought of myself and my brother’s student loans that we’re taking out just to attend college, and God forbid that something doesn’t happen, and the interest rates on our loans skyrocket. That would be disastrous for our whole family,” says Watral.

It’s likely intrest would skyrocket if a deal isn’t reached in time, so Watral teamed up with other SGA presidents to take their concerns straight to the top in a conference call with President Obama. The message was sympathetic because the SGA presidents understand that democracy isn’t always a fast process.

“We elect people because we want them to lead. We don’t want them to talk to us forever and ever and ever when we literally have a ticking clock,” says Watral.

It’s not just student loans, Watral is also worried about the loans taken by the university for construction projects. He says he thinks Obama took their non-partisan message to heart. The President thanked them for speaking up for what they cared about.

“By all of us student body presidents standing up and being engaged, it definitely caught their attention,” says Watral.

Special thanks to reporter Janelle Lilley for taking an interest in the effort.

© Copyright 2011 WHSV / Gray Television Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Presidental Phone Call Part II

Yesterday I joined a conference call between other student leaders and senior White House advisers, plus President Obama himself.  Our topic of conversation was the stalemated negotiations in Washington and the looming debt crisis.

 

We meant not to add our voices to the continuous babble about one plan vs another, or one party vs another. But instead to urge all leaders to cut it out and to start making tough decisions, it’s why we put them there.

The President seemed to get our message- that we’re not interested in the political game anymore- we want to see a country headed for financial stability, and that we know it won’t be easy for anyone.

 

How to get there? Agreeing on something seems to be Washington’s problem… if only our leaders had the courage to BE THE CHANGE.

 

Help us get the word out- say “DO SOMETHING!”Contact your rep or senator
https://writerep.house.gov​/writerep/welcome.shtml
http://www.senate.gov/gene​ral/contact_information/se​nators_cfm.cfm

And visit http://www.dowehaveadealye​t.com/ to keep tabs on and share the student movement. Join the conversation on Twitter #DoWeHaveADealYet.

-Pat

Presidential Phone Call

This afternoon the members of the Do We Have A Deal Yet campaign will participate in a conference call with Senior White House Officials, as well as the President himself.

Student Body President Pat Watral will be on this call and may have the ability to ask your questions about the situation.

Submit questions via the blog or Twitter @Pat_Watral #DoWeHaveADealYet by 11:15 am EST.  Check back for an update!

#DoWeHaveADealYet?

Student body presidents from across the country are asking: ‘Do We Have A Deal Yet?‘ including JMU’s own Pat Watral. 

The campaign is geared toward “asking President Obama and legislative leaders to come to a consensus on raising the debt ceiling, while also supporting the Gang of Six’s deficit deal” according to ABC News. 

The Do We Have A Deal Yet members sent out a letter to legislative officials with a clear message:

“While you may disagree over which party shoulders more blame for our current situation, one thing is certain – young people will shoulder the consequences of gridlock during a time that requires bold action.”

Much of the support seen for this campaign comes from school leaders hoping for achieving economic stability by looming graduation dates for many.  University of Georgia’s student body president Mallory Davis sees this as an opportunity to connect with campuses across the nation as well as other school representatives for the greater good of the country.

This grassroots campaign came from conversations at Georgetown University, and within a week the Student Association of the University was involved and gathering support.

 As a University we have a responsibility to become involved in issues that our generation will see the potentially detrimental consequences of.  No matter your major, class standing or political affiliation, know the issue and share your opinion.

Join the conversation on Twitter at #DoWeHaveADealYet? @BarackObama and @SpeakerBoehner.