Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith (R-Texas) said. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

Smith also released the following statement on Friday:

“We need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products. “The problem of online piracy is too big to ignore. American intellectual property industries provide 19 million high-paying jobs and account for more than 60% of U.S. exports. The theft of America’s intellectual property costs the U.S. economy more than $100 billion annually and results in the loss of thousands of American jobs. Congress cannot stand by and do nothing while American innovators and job creators are under attack.”

“The online theft of American intellectual property is no different than the theft of products from a store. It is illegal and the law should be enforced both in the store and online.

“The Committee will continue work with copyright owners, Internet companies, financial institutions to develop proposals that combat online piracy and protect America’s intellectual property. We welcome input from all organizations and individuals who have an honest difference of opinion about how best to address this widespread problem. The Committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation.”

The move comes after widespread protest on the Internet on Wednesday by Wikipedia, Reddit and others. The sites signaled their displeasure with the bill by going dark. That day, several Congressmen dropped their support for SOPA and its Senate counterpart, PIPA. The latter bill has also been taken off the table for now.

“In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT IP Act,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in a statement Friday morning.

Smith’s stance comes just two days after he told The Wall Street Journal that he didn’t plan to back down on SOPA, telling the newspaper he expected to “move forward” with the bill in February.

Wednesday in a blog, Red Hat offered its two cents concerning the drama surrounding SOPA (House) and PIPA (Senate). The company points out that now isn’t really the time to introduce the bills, as corporations, small independent companies and even the government itself is working hard to rebuild confidence in the American economy. Red Hat — along with most of America — worries that these two bills, if passed, could effect jobs and innovation nationwide. Not only could they break the Internet, they could break a fragile economy trying to recover.

“As America’s – and the world’s – largest and most successful provider of open source solutions and an S&P 500 company, Red Hat is proud to be headquartered in Raleigh,” Red Hat said. “Our high-quality, affordable technology solutions are found throughout the mission-critical IT architecture of the financial, defense, transportation, telecommunications and most other industry sectors.
Our success and, increasingly, the economic success of our state is the product of the encouragement of open innovation and collaboration. A vital ingredient of this success involves leveraging the tremendous gains that the Internet has brought through online collaboration, software development and sharing of ideas.”

“In a single generation, the Internet has transformed our world to such an extent that it is easy to forget its miraculous properties and take it for granted,” Red Hat continues. “It’s worth reminding ourselves, though, that our future economic growth depends on our ability to use the Internet to share new ideas and technology. Measures that block the freedom and openness of the Internet also hinder innovation. That poses a threat to the future success of Red Hat and other innovative companies. The sponsors of SOPA and PIPA claim that the bills are intended to thwart web piracy. Yet, the bills overreach, and could put a website out of business after a single complaint. Web sites would vanish, and have little recourse, if they were suspected of infringing copyrights or trademarks.”

Red Hat hits the nail on the head. The bills would seemingly launch a virtual dictatorship that would allow enforcers to shoot first and ask questions later. However the good news is that there’s growing opposition from all corners of the Web. The White House itself has even expressed serious concerns over the language used in the bills that “reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.”

“Six prominent Senators, including the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, who previously supported the bill called for delay in consideration of PIPA due to a variety of unresolved, outstanding issues,” Red Hat reports. “On the House side, the Majority Leader has dashed the momentum of SOPA by delaying consideration until consensus is reached. SOPA and PIPA remain on the Congressional agenda, despite these developments. Even as legislators work to address the problems of ‘rogue’ web sites, Congress owes us a solution that addresses those concerns without killing the web’s economic engine and shutting down the future of innovation. SOPA and PIPA aren’t that solution.”

“We all need to remain vigilant as work on these bills continues,” the company concludes. “The momentum has slowed, but supporters of SOPA and PIPA continue to push hard. Opponents should make sure their representatives hear their voices.”

On Blackout Day, Facebook hasn’t grown dark, it hasn’t posted links to external information, and it hasn’t thrown up an image shooting Washington the middle finger. Instead, Facebook has posted its stance on the whole SOPA debate. In a nutshell, Facebook doesn’t think the legislation currently being considered by Congress is the right solution to defeating piracy.

“PROTECT IP and SOPA could create very real problems for Internet companies like ours that are a primary driver of innovation, growth, and job creation in the 21st century economy,” Facebook states. “The bills contain overly broad definitions and create a new private cause of action against companies on the basis of those expansive definitions, which could seriously hamper the innovation, growth, and investment in new companies that have been the hallmarks of the Internet. In addition, we are concerned about provisions in the bills that could chill free expression or weaken the Internet’s architecture.”

The Facebook entity goes on to say that it’s been engaging in a constructive dialogue with content creators and trademark owners on the most effective ways to combat piracy. The public address also offers a way for users to report IP infringement, or rather, to tattle on someone who might be using copyrighted material incorrectly. However Facebook Mark Zuckerberg actually posted a statement on his profile page, a two-paragraph message that briefly outlines Facebook’s stance.

“The internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world,” he writes. “We can’t let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the internet’s development. Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet.”

He goes on to say that the world today needs political leaders who are pro-internet. “We have been working with many of these folks for months on better alternatives to these current proposals,” he added. “I encourage you to learn more about these issues and tell your congressmen that you want them to be pro-internet.”

For more information on Facebook’s situation of the SOPA and PIPA drama, head here.

What do you spend your cash on when you’re milking the hell out of the internet with your very own filesharing supersite? Buy things like a Rolls-Royce Phantom with a license plate reading “GOD.” Now, the government owns it!

Revealed in the enormous 72-page indictment against Megaupload’s operators is the huge list of forfeited property—and it’s way more than just their data servers (of which there were sixty). Some highlights?

Cars. Lots of cars:

• 2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, VIN WDD2120772A103834, LicensePlate No. “STONED”;73.
• 2010 Mini Cooper S Coupe, VIN WMWZG32000TZ03651, License PlateNo. “V”;74.
• 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG, VIN WDC1641772A608055, LicensePlate No. “GUILTY”;75.
• 2007 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG, VIN WDD2163792A025130, LicensePlate No. “KIMCOM”;76.
• 2009 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG, VIN WDC1641772A542449, LicensePlate No. “MAFIA”;77.
• 2010 Toyota Vellfire, VIN 7AT0H65MX11041670, License Plate Nos.”WOW” or “7″;78.
• 2011 Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG, VIN WDB4632702X193395, LicensePlate Nos. “POLICE” or “GDS672″;79.
• 2011 Toyota Hilux, VIN MR0FZ29G001599926, License PlateNo. “FSN455″;80.
• Harley Davidson Motorcycle, VIN 1HD1HPH3XBC803936, LicensePlate No. “36YED”;81.
• 2010 Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG, VIN WDD2163742A026653, LicensePlate No. “HACKER”;82.
• 2005 Mercedes-Benz A170, VIN WDD1690322J184595, License PlateNo. “FUR252″;83.
• 2005 Mercedes-Benz ML500, VIN WDC1641752A026107, License PlateNo. DFF816
• 1957 Cadillac El Dorado, VIN 5770137596;86.
• 2010 Sea-Doo GTX Jet Ski, VIN YDV03103E010;87.
• 1959 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible, VIN 59F115669;88.
• Von Dutch Kustom Motor Bike, VIN 1H9S14955BB451257;89.
• 2006 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM, VIN WDB2094421T067269;90.
• 2010 Mini Cooper S Coupe, VIN WMWZG32000TZ03648 LicensePlate No. “T”;
• 1989 Lamborghini LM002, VIN ZA9LU45AXKLA12158, License PlateNo. “FRP358″;92.
• 2011 Mercedes-Benz ML63, VIN 4JGBB7HB0BA666219

A lot of cars for seven guys. How about some dubious art?

• Artwork, Predator Statue;
• Artwork, Anonymous Hooded Sculpture

Predator statue?

But wouldn’t be a kingpin operation without gadgets. And they had those too:

• Sharp LC-65XS1M 65″ LCD TV
• Sharp LC-65XS1M 65″ LCD TV
  
• TVLogic 56″ LUM56W TV
  
• Sharp 108″ LCD Display TV
  
• Sharp 108″ LCD Display TV
  
• Sony PMW-F3K Camera S/N 0200231;101.
  
• Sony PMW-F3K Camera S/N 0200561;
  
• Samsung 820DXN 82″ LCD TV
  
• Samsung 820DXN 82″ LCD TV
  
• Samsung 820DXN 82″ LCD TV

Anonymous has sure been quiet lately, but today’s federal bust of Megaupload riled ‘em up good: a retaliatory strike against DoJ.gov (and plenty of other foes) leaving them completely dead.

DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com is reporting the department’s site as universally nuked, and an Anonymous-affiliated Twitter account is boasting success. This is almost certainly the result of a quickly-assembled DDoS attack—and easily the widest in scope and ferocity we’ve seen in some time. If you had any doubts Anonymous is still a hacker wrecking ball, doubt no more.

The combination of the hacking nebula’s SOPA animosity—they’ve been a vocal opponent of the bill since its inception—combined with today’s sudden Megaupload news has made the group bubble over: hundreds upon hundreds of Anon operatives are in a plotting frenzy, chatting about which site will go down next.

In Anon’s eyes, the government and media interests are responsible for the undue destruction of Megaupload (and the arrest of four of its operators), so it’ll be exactly those entities that’re feeling the pain right now. Pretty much every company that makes movies, TV, or music, along with the entirety of the federal government, is in Anonymous’ crosshairs.

Popular file-hosting site Megaupload, probably known to our readers for a variety of reasons, has been taken down after the FBI charged some of its staff with copyright infringement and “conspiracy to commit racketeering.” Seven people have been charged, and four arrested (in New Zealand), and the site itself appears to be down as authorities around the world closed in on the site’s resources.

Bizarrely, it was also just revealed that the CEO of the company is none other than Swizz Beats, the husband of Alicia Keys. Clearly the rabbit hole goes much deeper than the FBI expected.

Mr. Beats is just the acting CEO, and probably was brought on by founder Kim Dotcom as part of the site’s efforts to legitimize itself in the eyes of the law. Part of this effort was the publication of the so-called “Mega Song,” in which a number of musicians espouse the service as a useful and fast way of transferring files.

In December, Will.I.Am, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and the others pulled their support, and it was claimed that they never consented to appearing in the video, which was subsequently removed from YouTube.

Read more…

Looks like we may not reach the end of the internet after all, as June 6 will mark the day our favorite virtual frontier, the World Wide Web, officially goes into IPv6 mode. Major internet service providers, home networking equipment manufacturers, and web companies have all agreed to permanently enable the new protocol on their products and services by that date.

“Organized by the Internet Society, and building on the successful one-day World IPv6 Day event held on 8 June 2011, World IPv6 Launch represents a major milestone in the global deployment of IPv6,” the Internet Society stated on Tuesday. “As the successor to the current Internet Protocol, IPv4, IPv6 is critical to the Internet’s continued growth as a platform for innovation and economic development.”

For the uninitiated, IPv4 only supports approximately four billion IP addresses. But due to the “explosion” of people, devices, and web services now accessing the global network, that large number is nearly depleted. To resolve this, a next-generation protocol — IPv6 — is slowly being introduced which will provide more than “340 trillion, trillion, trillion” addresses. That should be enough to sustain the Internet’s growth “indefinitely.”

ISPs participating in World IPv6 Launch on June 6 will enable IPv6 for enough users so that at least 1-percent of their wireline residential subscribers who visit participating websites will do so using IPv6 by 6 June 2012. ISPs committed to the change-over include AT&T, Comcast, Free Telecom, Internode, KDDI, Time Warner Cable and XS4ALL. Participating home networking equipment manufacturers include Cisco and D-Link. Websites will include Facebook, Google, Bing and Yahoo!

“The fact that leading companies across several industries are making significant commitments to participate in World IPv6 Launch is yet another indication that IPv6 is no longer a lab experiment; it’s here and is an important next step in the Internet’s evolution,” commented Leslie Daigle, the Internet Society’s Chief Internet Technology Officer. “And, as there are more IPv6 services, it becomes increasingly important for companies to accelerate their own deployment plans.”

To learn more about World IPv6 Launch Day, head here.

As of this writing, numerous sites plan to participate in Blackout Day in protest of the still-not-dead pro-censorship SOPA legislation. These sites include Destructoid, Facebook, Google, Mozilla, Reddit, Tuscows, Wikipedia, WordPress, XDA-Developers and many others. The protest, which will span from linked anti-SOPA material to complete website blackouts, depending on the site, will last from 8AM EST to 8PM EST.

On Tuesday the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) had the nerve to strike out against those expressing Free Speech (PDF), calling the protest “dangerous” and “irresponsible” although there’s no indication that any harm will come to surfers who come across a link or a blank page. The letter, written by Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the MPAA, went public on Tuesday, and arrives after the White House blasted both the SOPA and PIPA legislation to the point of near-death.

According to Senator Dodd, “technology business interests” are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into corporate pawns rather than coming to the table to find solutions. “It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services,” he writes. “It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today.”

Let’s stop right there. Isn’t that like the pot calling the kettle black? Isn’t it an abuse in power of sorts when the MPAA dictates how and where consumers can watch movies and TV purchased with their own hard-earned money? Why is it that consumer can’t buy a digital movie or TV and watch it on a device of their choosing? The general public is seemingly treated like pirates by default, even if a good portion is honest and only want to watch their favorite episodes of Glee on multiple platforms without harsh legal repercussions.

Of course, an opinion like that posted on a popular website will likely be purposely misinterpreted by content owners and their representative to appear as an abuse of power in itself, a diabolical scheme Senator Dodd points out in his letter. “It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests,” he writes.

“A so-called ‘blackout’ is yet another gimmick, albeit a dangerous one, designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals,” the Senator continues. “It is our hope that the White House and the Congress will call on those who intend to stage this ‘blackout’ to stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy.”

There’s no question that Washington need to find a way to legally prevent piracy without violating the Constitution or the rights of those living outside the States. Shooting first and asking questions later is not the way to solve the issue — it will just make things worse. Loosen the grip Hollywood, and maybe consumers won’t feel the need to download digital content from BitTorrent because DRM has it locked to just a handful of devices.

But to Hollywood’s credit, UltraViolet may be a step in the right direction in regards to video content: one purchase, and one app that can play the video across multiple platforms. Still, the format has a long way to go before it even comes close to solving piracy.

The Pirate Bay has announced that it will stop hosting torrents and announced the first move towards a torrent-free Pirate Bay today. The company said via blog post that it had made the decision not to host torrent files a long time ago and that going forward magnet links will be the default option on the site. TBP explained that the reasoning behind the decision was that magnets ‘are now good enough to use’ and not as easy to block as torrent files. Additionally, the Pirate Bay highlights how much bandwidth they will save with the switch.

“Hey all!

Quite some time ago we decided to not host torrent files anymore. In following with that decision, we decided to make Magnet links the default option for the Download buttons!

We’ve just changed places on the links. Magnet is now default, Download torrent is now where the magnet links used to be. The reason is the same as always: Magnets are now good enough to use, and it’s not as easy to block as .torrent files. Also it saves us a huge amount of bandwidth!”

TorrentFreak reports that end users will experience very little change as a result of the switch, however, the site also says that the biggest downside will be that downloads may take a little bit longer to start, especially if there are only a few people sharing a file. This is because the .torrent file is no longer being hosted on the Pirate Bay — the file must instead be retrieved from from other users.

As the Pirate Bay mentioned in its blog post, the company isn’t ditching torrent files completely. They’re merely swapping it out to the non-default option. Just as you could use magnet links when torrents were the default option, you can still use torrents now that magnet links are the default option. However, it might be wise to get used to magnet links, as TPB could soon ditch torrents altogether. An insider told TF that the Pirate Bay would stop serving torrents “indefinitely” within the next month or so.

SOURCE via TorrentFreak

It’s turned out to be a big weekend for those concerned about the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act. Yesterday came word that a key House hearing originally scheduled for Wednesday will be delayed until there is a “consensus” on the bill, and today the White House has issued an official statement on SOPA (and the Protect IP Act, its counterpart in the Senate) in response to a petition that drew thousands of signatures.

While it doesn’t go quite as far as to issue a firm veto threat from the President, it does lay out the administration’s position in the clearest terms yet, including the condition that any proposed law “must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System.” That follows word late last week that Representative Lamar Smith and Senator Patrick Leahy would indeed pull the DNS provisions from SOPA and PIPA. The White House statement is less specific in other respects, but it broadly states that the administration will “not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.”

In related news, the planned blackouts to protest SOPA and PIPA only seem to be increasing, with the popular xda-developers forum recently announcing that it will go dark at 8AM on January 18th, and return either at 8PM or as soon as it’s able to get 50,000 people to sign a pledge to contact their local Senator or Representative.

SOURCE via CNET