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Re: [school-discuss] Fight Against SOPA



Given how catastrophic SOPA/PIPA are, I don't see blacking out the site as an extreme option - Wikipedia is participating: http://wapo.st/pi_sopa

This is a serious issue, and one worthy of generating conversation.

My .02

Cheers,

Bill

On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 3:48 AM, Joel Kahn <jj2kk4@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I've tossed around a few ideas for an image to contribute for the upcoming Day of Protest, but its clear I'm not going to have something in time. Instead, I would like to make a brief comment about the long-running legal attacks against SOPA, PIPA, and many other legislative atrocities in the field of intellectual property. While I've never been near a law school myself, and I won't attempt to go into a lot of detail, there is one concept that I think deserves more attention than it has received: "void for vagueness." Here's a site that has a good and short summary of some relevant cases &c:

http://www.famguardian.org/TaxFreedom/CitesByTopic/VoidForVagueness.htm

One quotation that does not appear on the site, but which has special application now, is this statement from the man who was then Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, William Rehnquist, in a unanimous decision:

"Because copyright law ultimately serves the purpose of enriching the general public through access to creative works, it is peculiarly important that the boundaries of copyright law be demarcated as clearly as possible."

(Specific citation details available upon request.)

SOPA/PIPA/&c are particularly offensive and vulnerable in this area; they are all over the map, trying to do far too many things at once; and their *alleged* efforts to provide "protection for innocents" only add to the confusion. In whatever communications and actions you may choose to engage in, I think the "void for vagueness" doctrine, ruthlessly applied, should be among your most-used weapons. Please pass this along to all of your co-conspirators.

One more topic. David Bucknell and I have had a brief private email exchange about the Frankentoons, and he suggested I communicate with the group about them. I have given the matter careful and extensive further thought, and I think that my Frankentoon experiment in civil disobedience should be viewed as something separate from both the SOPA/PIPA action and the central goals of SchoolForge. If anyone else wants to learn more about my activities and goals in this area, please email me off the SchoolForge list. If there is enough interest, an appropriate separate activity can be set up. I want to re-emphasize my warning that you will be entering into legally murky territory where few people have been willing to tread for more than a decade.

Joel

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