<story><title>The White House&apos;s Response to SOPA</title><url>https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#/!/response/combating-online-piracy-while-protecting-open-and-innovative-internet</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tumult</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Let us be clear—online piracy is a real problem that harms the American economy, and threatens jobs for significant numbers of middle class workers and hurts some of our nation&apos;s most creative and innovative companies and entrepreneurs.  It harms everyone from struggling artists to production crews, and from startup social media companies to large movie studios.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of these things is not like the others.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;While we are strongly committed to the vigorous enforcement of intellectual property rights, existing tools are not strong enough to root out the worst online pirates beyond our borders. That is why the Administration calls on all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders while staying true to the principles outlined above in this response.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;We fully support the censorship of the internet, which baffles and scares us. However, this single step may have been too drastic. Please allow us some time to find stepping stones.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>RexRollman</author><text>I voted for Obama, but when he says &quot;Let us be clear&quot;, you know some bullshit is coming.</text></comment>
<story><title>The White House&apos;s Response to SOPA</title><url>https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#/!/response/combating-online-piracy-while-protecting-open-and-innovative-internet</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tumult</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Let us be clear—online piracy is a real problem that harms the American economy, and threatens jobs for significant numbers of middle class workers and hurts some of our nation&apos;s most creative and innovative companies and entrepreneurs.  It harms everyone from struggling artists to production crews, and from startup social media companies to large movie studios.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of these things is not like the others.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;While we are strongly committed to the vigorous enforcement of intellectual property rights, existing tools are not strong enough to root out the worst online pirates beyond our borders. That is why the Administration calls on all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders while staying true to the principles outlined above in this response.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;We fully support the censorship of the internet, which baffles and scares us. However, this single step may have been too drastic. Please allow us some time to find stepping stones.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kmfrk</author><text>That press statement, to me, is a typical example of using transparency as a political tool to give citizens a false sense of participation.&lt;p&gt;This is Obama&apos;s passivity during the LGBT rights activities during 2011 all over again.&lt;p&gt;(Well, except that I am sure he wasn&apos;t paid to sit idly by when the LGBT movement was at its apex.)&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Keep calm and carry on.&lt;/i&gt;</text></comment>