The recent Internet-led protest movement against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act clearly has had a profound effect on support for these chilling pieces of legislation. What’s astonishing is that the protests appear to have caught Washington by surprise. According to a report in PC World, neither supporters nor opponents of the bills “anticipated the response by Internet users.” Likewise, the rallying effect of protests led by Wikipedia, Google and other companies stunned the nation’s lawmakers.

Sadly, it is clear that Washington remains firmly entrenched in the 20^th century, with very little sense of how these two pieces of legislation could have a chilling effect on free speech, stifle creativity and innovation and expand government intervention in the free marketplace.

The legislation’s supporters further publicized their absolute cluelessness by assuming that they could railroad SOPA (the House bill) and PIPA (the Senate version) through Capitol Hill using the lobbying equivalent of Rust Belt technology. They rented big-shot lobbyists and depended on the clout of well-connected spokesmen like former Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, who has moved from the Hill to be chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.

That’s how most legislation gets passed. But SOPA and PIPA aren’t run-of-the-mill pieces of legislation. With their broad implications for free speech, they have incited a virtual rebellion among citizens who clearly know more about the Internet than the men and women who grace the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Thirteen million Internet users took part in the recent on-line protest against SOPA and PIPA. Three million emails poured into the inboxes of members of Congress in a single day.

If you didn’t count on this kind of response—and Congress clearly didn’t—it follows that you simply don’t understand the brave new world of the web. And if that’s the case, you should not be regulating it.

But even if Washington were better-informed, the legislation is what it is—an assault on free speech and unfettered access to information. These bills deserve a quick burial.

Old friends at their umpteenth reunion these past few months.

If you’re feeling withdrawal symptoms from reduced doses of Occupy Wall Street rabble-rousing (we hear they’re just hibernating), the success of last week’s SOPA blackout ought to cheer you up. Without going into the nitty-gritty of what this Stop Online Piracy Act was all about, let’s just say that the idea of blocking IP addresses and enforcing criminal laws for streaming copyrighted materials finally gave the Internet a reason to shut down for the day. While hundreds of kids complained that they couldn’t do their homework because Wikipedia was out protesting, the Congressmen behind SOPA withdrew their support within 24 hours of the January 18^th viral movement that was opposed by almost every major web service. If there’s one thing more powerful than an army of lobbyists, it’s an inbox full of angry Reddit users.

Not that we needed another reminder that we rely far too much on the Internet information, but when a deluge of reports started streaming in Saturday night that Penn State’s former football coach Joe Paterno had died of lung cancer, Twitter lit up like a Christmas tree plugged into a nuclear reactor. CBS and The Huffington Post also jumped the gun reporting the death of the beloved and controversial coach, who had been dismissed by the college swiftly last November after allegations of sexual abuse emerged against his assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. While Coach Paterno did indeed pass away, he died Sunday, not Saturday. Which just goes to show that you can’t believe everything you read. Or maybe you can, but give it 24 hours just to be sure.

One news item that we just flat-out refuse to believe is the separation of Seal and Heidi Klum. Those two were our inspiration, as much for their Halloween costumes as for their happy partnership. You’d think that after seven years together the couple would want to stay mum on the messy details, but Seal has a new album to promote and hit the talk-show circuit to discuss his heartache less than 24 hours after the announcement was made. Hey, Soul 2 isn’t going to sell itself! Unless, of course, the album is just 40 minutes of “Kiss from a Rose” covers. (Now that we think about it, that’s not a bad idea; we can almost hear Joanna Newsom plucking on her harp, followed by Randy Newman crooning about graying towers, eyes that emit light, graveyards, and whatever hell else that song was about.)

And of course the nominations for the 84^th annual Academy Awards are in, and what do you know? Transformers: Dark of the Moon was nominated for as many awards as Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. Michael Bay’s third movie based on action figures also grossed over a billion dollars more than Malick’s meditation on life and death, but that’s to be expected. Robots sell: lush landscapes serving as metaphors for childhood don’t.

The nominations also fly in the face of theories espoused by the late Christopher Hitchens and former Letterman comedy booker Eddie Brill; it appears that women are, in fact, funny. Bridesmaids, last year’s frontrunner in the hysterical-to-watch but infuriating-to-talk-about category, snagged a Best Original Screenplay nod for Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, and a Best Supporting Actress accolade for Melissa McCarthy. Hopefully these Oscar contenders don’t inspire another false dichotomy involving ovaries and funny bones ... or even worse, golf-claps for women triumphantly breaking through the gender barrier and being allowed to poop in sinks for laughs.

After all, isn’t it time we find something new to fight with our ideologically opposed families about? Certainly those Republican debates make for great conversation fodder. Newt Gingrich became a hero in South Carolina for refusing to answer John King’s question about his ex-wife’s claims that he asked for an open marriage while she was on her hospital bed, helping him to sweep up 40% of the votes in the state. (If only Mitt Romney could have someone leak to the press the existence of a few extra heretofore unknown wives; at this point it might help him pick up some extra points.) In other unsurprising news, Rick Santorum told Piers Morgan on Friday that he would urge his daughter not to get an abortion even if she was raped, and he’s predictably vehement about outlawing gay marriage. And Ron Paul, the only person on the stage with any military or medical experience, continues to have to fight to get a word in edgewise during questions about health or international relations.

It’s all sort of ridiculous, and dare we say funny. But not in a Bridesmaids sort of way. More a laugh-to-keep-from-crying sort of way. Just don’t bring up Heidi and Seal again, or we may lose it.

(AmericanCensorship.org)

In a blog post published Friday the Obama Administration signaled measured opposition to both the House-sponsored Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its kissing cousin in the Senate, the Protect IP Act of 2011 (PIPA). With fairly clear language (for government officials), impossibly-titled administration officials Victoria Espinel, Aneesh Chopra and Howard Schmidt authored the response to two petitions directed at the legislation, stating:

While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.

Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small.

The "measured" part of White House opposition came later in the response:

So, rather than just look at how legislation can be stopped, ask yourself: Where do we go from here? Don’t limit your opinion to what’s the wrong thing to do, ask yourself what’s right. Already, many of members of Congress are asking for public input around the issue. We are paying close attention to those opportunities, as well as to public input to the Administration.

Given the nature of relations between the White House and Congress, this response is likely to have no effect on legislators. Also, as noted by Fast Company blogger JD Rucker, another problem with SOPA and PIPA--a problem that will lead to them passing--is public ignorance as to what they're about. Rucker writes that even though there's a "perceived groundswell" against the acts, "the reality is that the majority of Americans still have no idea what SOPA is or what it means."

Protests by those who do know about the bills that could "break the Internet" continue. January 18th is Stop SOPA Blackout Day, when a number of major websites plan to go black to demonstrate just how devastating the acts could be.

If you're not clear on what could happen if SOPA and PIPA pass, AmericanCensorship.org can explain what's up with this helpful video.