SOPA and PIPA

[Karl Valten]

Hey guys. So normally I never bother people or really involve myself about politics, but this is something I've been following for a while (since October). The issue is currently in the House of Representatives and was supposed to not be until next year, but was moved up in order to try and slam the legislature through.

If you haven't been paying attention about copyright and censorship laws at all recently, the United States House of Representatives is currently slated to vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) as well as the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

While I can definitely get behind and support the idea of IP protection and piracy prevention...these two acts DO NOT productively attempt to handle this. These acts are more a way at internet blacklisting and will allow inappropriate corporate censorship and control of content that companies may not even have the rights to.

Worse yet is that the bulk of congress has no real idea of the ramifications that these bills will have in the long run on the internet. This bill doesn't just affect the U.S., it will have international implications.

I'm sorry to throw this at you guys in such short order around the Holidays, but voting wasn't supposed to happen until next year and was prematurely moved up so that it could be forced through the House.

Please, please, PLEASE, read up on SOPA and PIPA and understand what they honestly imply in the long run. Don't take my word for it.

If these two bills pass in the House (or even if they don't) contact your state Congressmen, contact your Senators and Representatives and tell them to vote these bills down.

They are a travesty to free speech and freedom of information that are being wrapped up in the guise IP and Piracy protection. This is blanket censorship at it's worst and could cripple technological innovation in the future as well as cripple current websites such as: Facebook, Google, Youtube, Photobucket, Myspace, Craigslist, and many, many, many others.

I guess about the most decent analysis I found on this (20 minute video) is from a British law student that posted on youtube.....though the title could be much better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM

I know everyone is busy with the Holidays and I'm sorry for the email, but like I said, this issue wasn't supposed to be delayed to and voted on for another few months. It was moved up in the last day or two. In other words, congress and the media corporations lied.


I've already written a letter to my CO and MN reps as well as the Congress email address. Here is a decent link for more info: There is a link for petitions for Internationals as well.

http://americancensorship.org/

And for you people in the US:

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml



One of my graduate school colleagues wrote a pretty powerful letter as well and said I was free to share it as an example. I'd rather not openly post it, though, so PM me, get a hold of me on facebook, or email me if you'd like to see it.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Even if it passes it will get appealed to the courts, and I honestly can't see the courts allowing the law to stand. I can see it being struck down by the Supreme Court.

[Karl Valten]

Even if it passes it will get appealed to the courts, and I honestly can't see the courts allowing the law to stand. I can see it being struck down by the Supreme Court.

Same. Even if it get's through the Senate, I'm pretty sure a Presidential ban-hammer will hit it and then there's that whole set of stuff to go along with that and bog congress down with more crap that they really shouldn't be focusing on.

Still, though, Bills like this are an atrocity.

[Morgan Evanar]

I don't trust Obama to veto this.

[Vince]

I don't trust Obama to veto this.

Agreed. If he does, it might be because "the Executive Office" doesn't get enough power from it.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well it has to get 60 votes in the Senate which will be difficult.

[Silus Xilarian]

I could potentially write down some song lyrics on a piece of paper

Ban notebooks plz (and pens shouldn't expect to get off light either)

[Yog]

JMC, if I were you, I'd trust the government a whole lot less. The sad truth is, every level of government, from congress, senate, president and even the courts are heavily pressured and lobbied by powerful media corporations. The US leadership is corrupt to the core. Sure, it is less so with Obama than with Bush. But it is a dire situation overall, when the republicans can pressure the president to sign bills he does not approve of, in order to "compromise". We seen a lot of that lately.

I would not be surprised if the SOPA bill gets mixed into the budget warfare, where republicans threatens to bankrupt US unless the democrats give in to their absolute demands and extortion. So for this reason, I would not trust a veto to happen. The future for US is rather grim, both in terms of economy and in general unless there happens some serious reform of the democracy.

The only thing you can trust politicians with, is to do exactly the opposite of what they should:

Lawmakers seem intent on approving SOPA, PIPA (http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/lawmakers-seem-intent-approving-sopa-pipa-183328)

If this bill actually takes effect, it will have catastropic impact on Internet as we know it. It affects all sites with user generated content, from wikipedia, youtube, facebook, and even discussion forums like the very one we are posting from now. All it takes is one guy to post a link to potentially copyright material. For example, I post a link to a blog about your cat, and the moment someone files a complaint, whether it is a valid complaint or not, the server host will have to shut down the swfans domain. No email saying "please remove copyrighted material", just kaboom. Gone.

That is how insane this bill is. And the fact congress is in favor of it shows how impossibly corrupt and incompetent your government is.

[Jedi Master Carr]

JMC, if I were you, I'd trust the government a whole lot less. The sad truth is, every level of government, from congress, senate, president and even the courts are heavily pressured and lobbied by powerful media corporations. The US leadership is corrupt to the core. Sure, it is less so with Obama than with Bush. But it is a dire situation overall, when the republicans can pressure the president to sign bills he does not approve of, in order to "compromise". We seen a lot of that lately.

I would not be surprised if the SOPA bill gets mixed into the budget warfare, where republicans threatens to bankrupt US unless the democrats give in to their absolute demands and extortion. So for this reason, I would not trust a veto to happen. The future for US is rather grim, both in terms of economy and in general unless there happens some serious reform of the democracy.

The only thing you can trust politicians with, is to do exactly the opposite of what they should:

Lawmakers seem intent on approving SOPA, PIPA (http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/lawmakers-seem-intent-approving-sopa-pipa-183328)

If this bill actually takes effect, it will have catastropic impact on Internet as we know it. It affects all sites with user generated content, from wikipedia, youtube, facebook, and even discussion forums like the very one we are posting from now. All it takes is one guy to post a link to potentially copyright material. For example, I post a link to a blog about your cat, and the moment someone files a complaint, whether it is a valid complaint or not, the server host will have to shut down the swfans domain. No email saying "please remove copyrighted material", just kaboom. Gone.

That is how insane this bill is. And the fact congress is in favor of it shows how impossibly corrupt and incompetent your government is.


Well the problem it is lobbied by both sides (google and a few other groups are against it) which is why it will never pass. Last I heard they said it had little chance of getting 60 votes in the senate. We know it will be filibustered. almost, nothing gets passed these days because of the hatred between the two sides. I still say it would get struct down if it got passed. The ACLU have some amazing lawyers and will definitely appeal and win because they have better lawyers.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I think things are working in a positive direction with this not getting passed.

http://news.yahoo.com/wikipedia-blackout-websites-wikipedia-reddit-others-dark-wednesday-214444829--abc-news.html

Support has dwindled and there is no way the current bill would ever get through the Senate. Now we will have to see what this watered down bill might be.

[Karl Valten]

Well wikipedia is self-censoring themselves and google has protest links plastered all over today.

[Vince]

The elder scrolls wiki is apparently blocked:

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Becoming_Thane

[Morgan Evanar]

Apparently Senate and Rep pages are crashing.

[Karl Valten]

Apparently Senate and Rep pages are crashing.

DDOS crap from Anon, etc or actual people hitting those links on all the webpages? Or both?

[Jedi Master Carr]

The current bill is dead, especially with the President saying he will veto it. Now we shall see what the watered down version will look like.

[Morgan Evanar]

Real people in overwhelming numbers.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I'm so sick of reading about this now >_<

Just do the right thing, America.

[Mu Satach]

Just do the right thing, America.

*3 beeps*

*recorded voice*

Recorded voice > "I'm sorry, the number you have dialed has been disconnected. Please hang up and try your call again."

*3 beeps*

Recorded voice > "I'm sorry, the number you have dialed has been disconnected. Please hang up and try your call again."

*3 beeps*

[Jedi Master Carr]

The Bills have been delayed

http://news.yahoo.com/reid-postpones-senate-vote-anti-piracy-bill-143916719.html

They say they are still going to try to remake the bills. I think Internet Piracy needs to be addressed and they are ways to attack that are more sensible.

[Vince]

One person I remember reading (or watching) said it perfectly, that the issue with piracy is at heart a service issue: make the services conveying the material more convenient (at least, more convenient than the piracy sites after more intelligent legislation has gone up), and while piracy won't die, there will be a rise in 'legitimate' acquisition of media and less piracy.

[Kyran O'Hurn]

I also heard something the other day that I can't credit someone for because I really can't remember where I heard it.

And basically it was the person saying it, relating that they had talked to an industry insider (pretty sure it was a movie industry person). And the industry guy had said that in reality they can't quantify how much piracy actually costs them.

His reasoning, which made total sense, was that there is no way to really determine whether the person who downloaded an illegal copy of a movie would have ever actually gone to see the movie in theatres. And thus, while yes the piracy aspect was still bad and illegal, it actually didn't take any money away from the industry.

Not saying it makes a valid argument FOR piracy, but it certainly puts a different spin on some of the arguments the industry has been trying to push about how they lose a ton of money because of it...

They might want to start looking at it costing $40 for 2 people to go to the movies (with snacks) as to why they might be losing money. Know I don't go near as often as I used to.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well it is still theft, and what they need to do is take down the places that are peddling it like megaupload which they took down today. I think there are ways within the current laws to attack piracy.

[Karl Valten]

One person I remember reading (or watching) said it perfectly, that the issue with piracy is at heart a service issue: make the services conveying the material more convenient (at least, more convenient than the piracy sites after more intelligent legislation has gone up), and while piracy won't die, there will be a rise in 'legitimate' acquisition of media and less piracy.

Valve has figured this out with Steam.....seriously do they even have a pirating problem.

Provide a better service that the pirates and the issue is much less profound.

[Crusader]

I tried to buy English TV episodes on XBL and I tried to get a hulu plus and netflix account because I think they are providing a really good service and they have got episodes there in a reasonable timeframe...
But Hollywood does not seem to want my money since they deny me access to any of those services. So in my book it is lack of service.

But what really pisses me of here is:
In the past few years big companies asked for laws so that they could act as global and international organisations while on the other hand they have tried to reduce the freedom of choice to a minimum. Globalization should not only help the big corporations to make even more money but give us end customers the same freedom of choice to make our deals with whoever and especially wherever we want to.
You could tax me twice for my TV shows, once in Germany and once in the US, and I would still be a happy customer because I would not have to get my stuff elsewhere.