[IRP] PROTECT IP no longer coming for a vote!

[Jochai Ben-Avie]

Just to clarify, my "we did it" statement referred to the larger internet
community, not just those on this list, although I certainly think the
human rights community played a role on this! Thanks again for all of your
support!

Cheers,
Jochai

On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 9:58 AM, Jochai Ben-Avie <jochai at accessnow.org>wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Just wanted to let you know that... we did it! Everyone, we did it!
> Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has postponed Tuesday's cloture vote!
>
> Press release from Reid's office is below, but wanted to let you know that
> the Public Knowledge strategy call originally scheduled for 1 PM EST
> (GMT-5) has been moved to 2 PM and we'll be discussing next steps. Let me
> know if you want the number.
>
> Cheers,
> Jochai
>
>
>
> http://democrats.senate.gov/2012/01/20/reid-statement-on-intellectual-property-bill/
>
>
> Washington, D.C. ? Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following
> statement today on the Senate?s PROTECT I.P. Act:
>
> ?In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday?s vote on
> the PROTECT I.P. Act.
>
> ?There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this
> bill cannot be resolved. Counterfeiting and piracy cost the American
> economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year, with the movie
> industry alone supporting over 2.2 million jobs. We must take action to
> stop these illegal practices. We live in a country where people rightfully
> expect to be fairly compensated for a day?s work, whether that person is a
> miner in the high desert of Nevada, an independent band in New York City,
> or a union worker on the back lots of a California movie studio.
>
> ?I admire the work that Chairman Leahy has put into this bill. I encourage
> him to continue engaging with all stakeholders to forge a balance between
> protecting Americans? intellectual property, and maintaining openness and
> innovation on the internet. We made good progress through the discussions
> we?ve held in recent days, and I am optimistic that we can reach a
> compromise in the coming weeks.?
>
> On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 11:57 PM, Jochai Ben-Avie <jochai at accessnow.org>wrote:
>
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>>
>>
>> Just wanted to reach out and give a brief summary of what?s been
>> happening around PIPA and the letter you all signed on to.
>>
>>
>>
>> As I?m sure many of you know, yesterday, more than 115,000 websites
>> blacked out to protest PIPA and SOPA. I spent a large chunk of the day on
>> the Hill and the phones in Senate offices were ringing non-stop. Senator
>> Kirk?s office, for example, said that they had received 5,000 calls in less
>> than 24 hours. Some are saying that this is the most calls on *any*issue that the Senate has
>> *ever* received.
>>
>>
>>
>> On the offline side, the protest outside Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand?s
>> offices in NYC coordinated by NY Tech Meetup was a rousing success, with
>> about 2,500 people turning out? perhaps the largest copyright protest ever.
>> Most of the Access Team was at the protest holding a giant 9x3 foot banner
>> that said ?Say No to PIPA and SOPA? and then called attention to the letter
>> from the human rights community, listing the URL, and the names of all of
>> the signatories. For more details and photos, check out our blog post
>> here<https://www.accessnow.org/policy-activism/press-blog/pipa-sopa-internet-censorship>.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On the letter:
>>
>> A group of human rights organizations (including myself) were on the Hill
>> yesterday pushing the issues we raised in the letter. My impression is that
>> a lot of Senators (and Representatives, but the focus is on the House at
>> the moment given the legislative calendar) are really starting to grok that
>> this legislation affects human rights and are pulling their support or
>> going from no position to opposition. The fact that respected human rights
>> like ours are speaking out is making it easier for Senators to wean
>> themselves off the ?there are no first amendment concerns in this bill
>> because it only deals with piracy koolaid.? I?ll also add that the section
>> on information location tools in particular seemed to have resonance and
>> didn?t appear to be an issue that staffers were familiar with.
>>
>>
>>
>> Today, with help from the Free Press Action Fund, one of our
>> co-signatories, we delivered the letter to the full Senate. *It would be
>> really great if everyone on this list could follow up with any contacts
>> that you have on the Hill to make sure they see the letter.* The final
>> version of the letter can be found at
>> https://www.accessnow.org/pipa-letter, if you want to give a link to
>> download the letter as a PDF use:
>> https://www.accessnow.org/page/-/docs/PIPA-LETTER-FROM-HUMAN-RIGHTS-COMMUNITY-FINAL.pdf.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Access press release about the delivery of the letter can be found here:
>> https://www.accessnow.org/policy-activism/press-blog/human-rights-organizations-rally-against-pipa-sopa.
>> *Please feel free to reuse this press release as you wish* (and change
>> up the quotes), key thing is just to get media attention around the letter.
>>
>>
>>
>> While Tuesday?s vote is still a very real threat that we should be
>> pushing hard on, things seem to be going our way. This afternoon, I?ve
>> heard that Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader won't be whipping votes
>> for the vote on Tuesday, and Mitch McConnell (the Senate Minority Leader)
>> has come out against. However, if this bill passes a cloture vote on
>> Tuesday, it?s about 95% down the road to becoming law, and at that point we
>> can only hope for amendments to make it better.
>>
>>
>>
>> Complicating things a little bit is that a Kyl-Leahy brokered manager?s
>> amendment may drop as early as tomorrow. For those not so familiar with
>> these names, Sen. Leahy is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
>> and the lead sponsor of PIPA and Sen. Kyl is the Republican Whip (the
>> second highest ranking Republican in the Senate). For those who don?t speak
>> American legislative lingo, a manager?s amendment allows the lead sponsor
>> of the legislation (in this case Senator Leahy) to more or less
>> unilaterally rewrite the provisions of the bill, so PIPA post-manager?s
>> amendment may look like a very different piece of legislation. Leahy?s
>> office will try and sell this as a compromise, assuaging the concerns that
>> opponents and citizens of the internet have raised, but the messaging
>> around this should be ?you don?t compromise on human rights.? Moreover,
>> without seeing the actual language of the manager's amendment (which the
>> public probably won?t see until Monday), we're just kind of taking Leahy's
>> at his word that problematic elements have been removed, and there are too
>> many BIG problems with this bill to extend him that kind of trust. We need
>> rhetoric like the internet is too important an enabler of human rights to
>> make hasty decisions and backrooms deals about its governance.
>>
>>
>>
>> For those who really want to dive deep into the inside the beltway
>> machinations and movements around this bill, Public Knowledge (one of the
>> DC groups that?s been leading the charge in the fight against PIPA/SOPA) is
>> holding a strategy call tomorrow at 1PM EST (GMT-5). Happy to pass on the
>> number to those interested.
>>
>>
>>
>> If you have any questions let me know. Thanks for all your support!
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Jochai
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Jochai Ben-Avie
>> Policy Director
>> Access | AccessNow.org
>> P: +1-347-806-9531 | S: jochaiben-avie | PGP: 0x9E6D805F
>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
> Jochai Ben-Avie
> Policy Director
> Access | AccessNow.org
> P: +1-347-806-9531 | S: jochaiben-avie | PGP: 0x9E6D805F
>
>


-- 

Jochai Ben-Avie
Policy Director
Access | AccessNow.org
P: +1-347-806-9531 | S: jochaiben-avie | PGP: 0x9E6D805F
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