The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R. 3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The bill expands the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Now before the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the Protect IP Act.

For starters, I’m thankful that while there are hundreds of words I probably shouldn’t say on the radio, there are only (1,2,3,4,5,6) seven that could really get me into trouble.

I’m sure that most people are familiar with these seven words – or at least the fact that there’s a set of words that the FCC says we’re not allowed to say on the radio. You can thank Pacifica Station WBAI for taking that all the way to the US Supreme Court. And while some people will probably complain about even a single word being on a censor list, seven isn’t so bad, given the competition. Ealier this month, Pakistan released their short list of words that are to be blocked by all wireless providers in an effort to crack down on sexting.

If you’re thankfully unaware of what sexting is, never fear: Technology Bytes is here to rob you of your innocence. So… I can explain sexting. Let’s see. When a man phone loves a woman phone very much, they… OK. Actually, just Google it. Unless phliKtid wants to have the birds and geeks talk with you… phliKtid? (OK – just Google it.)

So… sexting may not directly map to radio – the big difference here is that while Radio is consumed by the public with little control over the age or maturity level of the listener, text messages are sent to a specific individual and are private by design. Oh, and the other thing to note is that while our list contains just seven words, Pakistan comes in at sixteen hundred…give or take.

So what made the list of banned words?

You can’t text Dahmer. I’m assuming that’s a reference to Jeffrey. Apologies if it means something else. You also can’t text Devil. Harem and Hobo are also out, as is the word Hoser. Sorry, Canada. KMart and Snot are also no-nos, but *I* could have told you that…

I can also tell you that I’m thankful that Google is forcing me to get a new Android phone, as the Nexus One will not get the Ice Cream Sandwich update. The Nexus Galaxy won’t be available on my network at it’s debut, so I guess I’m thankful that I may be moving to a
wireless carrier that offers LTE.

I’m also thankful that cloud computing is taking off. I mean, it’s about time we started sharing data over a series of interconnected networks. I’m getting really tired of people having to come to my home to view the documents on my PC. My keyboard is just…icky.

I’m thankful for Peanut Butter Jelly Time.

I’m thankful that we don’t have to take a lot of Mac calls, because Apple users can be really annoying.

I’m thankful that pizza is now a vegetable. My diet just got a whole lot healthier…

I’m thankful that Cyber Monday takes much less physical effort than Black Friday. I’d high-five Jay Lee on that, but I’ve already done a lot of mousing today. I’m kinda spent…

I’m thankful for cheap hobbyist electronics and sites like Adafruit Industries, MakerShed, Solarbotics, and Sparkfun for bringing more than just blinky lights to the masses.

I’m thankful that the crew of Technology bytes is *almost* back in full force and in good health after a few months dealing with the travel bug, the fundraising flu, the shutter bug and Doctor Dwayne’s orders to sit last week out.

I’m thankful that we’re headed into what promises to be a beautiful Thanksgiving Day with clear skies, warm sun and cool temperatures.

And… I’m thankful that we have a Geek Gathering coming up on Friday, December 2nd, where we get to hang out with you, our listeners. More details on that next week, but for now, that’s it for this litany of T-Day Thanks and that’s that for BarretTime.

Just a heads up that there will be no “official” Technology Bytes Geek Gathering for August. Jay Lee and Barrett Canon are off to Vegas to attend the granddaddy of all geek gatherings, The Defcon 19 Hacking Conference in Las Vegas. Jay and Barrett will be posting updates to their Twitter accounts over the weekend if you want to keep up on all the shenanigans. The other hosts will be taking the night off.

Well see you in September!