"Google seems to think it's above America's laws."<p>... No, it seems to think that particular law is unjust, and as responsible citizens, they are duty-bound to fight it.
Today I got to talk to Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, one of the very few legislators who is fighting this. Here are my notes: <a href="http://33bits.org/2011/05/19/fighting-protect-ip-congresswoman-lofgren/" rel="nofollow">http://33bits.org/2011/05/19/fighting-protect-ip-congresswom...</a> There were some surprises for me. Here is the summary:<p><i>Appeals to free speech and chilling effects are at best temporary measures in the fight against Protect IP and domain seizures. Even if we win this time it will keep coming back in modified form; the only way defeat it for good is to convince Washington that artists are in fact thriving, that piracy is not the real problem, and that takedown efforts are not in the interest of society. We in the tech world know this, but we are doing a poor job of making ourselves heard in Washington, and this needs to change.</i>
Ugh.. This article barely mentions the critics of IP. They get mentioned at the very end of the article as "those who believe in the free flow of information, and critics of Protect IP." Meanwhile, the article throws around unsourced 'billions of dollars and thousands of jobs' claims about just how <i>awful</i> it is that intellectual property is violated.<p>I don't know what motive Google has for fighting it, but I'm glad they are nonetheless
They said this crap about warrantless wiretapping. It won't be used against pirate sites it will be used against sites that express a POV contrary to the administration. Wikileaks is not a 'pirate' site.<p>When the government asks for something you should not consider how they want to use it, you should consider how they want to abuse the power. The case they trot out is specious and could usually be dealt with via much better ways via existing law.<p>If these file sharing sites are conducting criminal activities then they should be taken to court and tried according to the laws of the country in which the site operates.<p>As far as being above America's laws, I think Google's position is clearly within a plain reading of the constitution.
"Copyright owners have said the legislation has a series of legal checks and balances built in and would be geared only toward pirate sites."<p>Any information on what these 'checks and balances' would be?