SOPA

[Dyakovo]

Yeah it is. You want to stop a bill from passing? You write your congressman, you don't have a hissy fit and shut down your website for a day. The first will be noticed, the second won't.

The blackout is having an effect:
The sponsors have said they are going to study the offending portion of the law.
Three co sponsors have ended their co sponsorship of the law.
Recently the President of the United States has said that he will veto the law if Congress passes it.

That's far from having no effect on the law. Most of the time, simply writing your Congressman has no effect because most letters to Congress go into the trash can without ever being opened.

Obama said he'd veto them before the blackout, the rest follows from that. The blackout is still pointless.

[Tubbsalot]

Obama said he'd veto them before the blackout

No he did not.

The White House released a statement saying they opposed SOPA in its current form.

That does not mean Obama would veto it.

[Dyakovo]

Most people don't know what bribery is unless someone points it out to them.
The campaigns of Lamar Smith and other supporters of SOPA/PIPA are being funded by the MPAA, in addition to other gifts they and their families have been receiving from MPAA president Chris Dodd, himself a former member of Congress.
Most of the time, however, they skirt the rules by using paid proxies to provide the cash and gifts to avoid trouble with the Justice Department.

This Farnhamia is what I mean. They may not call it bribery but that fools nobody.

So if you were to make a campaign contribution to a candidate, you'd be bribing them?

[Charlotte Ryberg]

Would Nationstates be blocked by SOPA?

I already know my friend's site (Gaiaonline) is Censored by SOPA.

Fuck them. Seriously, the people who designed it should be executed.

No, it isn't. Nothing is censored by SOPA.

They could. All the holders have to do is post ten infringing images in this forum, claim copyright and NS will be driven out of the USA.

[Mirrodinia]

The blackout is having an effect:
The sponsors have said they are going to study the offending portion of the law.
Three co sponsors have ended their co sponsorship of the law.
Recently the President of the United States has said that he will veto the law if Congress passes it.

That's far from having no effect on the law. Most of the time, simply writing your Congressman has no effect because most letters to Congress go into the trash can without ever being opened.

Obama said he'd veto them before the blackout, the rest follows from that. The blackout is still pointless.

Actually, the blackout was a pretty good idea. When I went to school yesterday, I hadn't heard of SOPA or PIPA in my life. Around the middle or end of first period, I had already been informed by my classmates that Wikapedia was down and Google blocked their name. Then my teacher told the class why this was which gave me a basic idea of what was going on. By the end of the school day, just about everyone knew about the blackout. The blackout may have been a way to protest, but I think it did a better job of raising awareness on the two bills.

[Dyakovo]

How is it not a lost sale? I offer my work for sale. You take it without paying for it (or you get it from someone who did). How is that not a lost sale? Saying that you'll be more likely to support that artist is, frankly, bullshit. You'll be more likely to steal from that artist, maybe, if that's what you think qualifies as support.

Under your rules, why should I do all the work, writing and playing and researching and all that, just so you can take it? Yeah, yeah, art should be free. Yeah, and we're all meeting later to sing "Kumbaya." Copyrights exist so I can get a little compensation for my work, so I can eat and buy clothes and pay my rent. Every time someone doesn't pay an artist for his or her work, that artist is pushed one step closer to packing it in.

They weren't going to buy it anyway. Either they get it or they don't. And while many won't end up supporting the group/artist/director a few will... Also, how is "piracy" any different than sharing a dvd or a cd... Or do you want to make that a crime too...

What a great argument... "They weren't going to buy it, so they should be allowed to steal it."

[The United Soviet Socialist Republic]

well i think its intenions are good but if put in it would just vialate the constitution with no benifits at all.

[Dyakovo]

Hair-splitting. It's still illegal.

Only if it's for profit.

Wrong.

[Pope Joan]

I stand with wiki and google et al.

Who benefits from all this "intellectual property right"? Not the artists, writers, creators.

Noooo.

It's the suits, the men in grey, the non creators, the bloodsuckers.

[Zersium]

I stand with wiki and google et al.

Who benefits from all this "intellectual property right"? Not the artists, writers, creators.

Noooo.

It's the suits, the men in grey, the non creators, the bloodsuckers.

(Sigh) give someone else the Internet. Obviously America isn't trustworthy enough to hold the awesome centre of the Internetz.

[Dyakovo]

I think people are overreacting- yes wikipedia, I'm looking at you.


The NDAA was far more dangerous yet nobody seemed to give a damn when it was passed into law

Great... More ignorance...

[Kirrig]

Piracy should be a capital offence... for the hard drives.

[Charlotte Ryberg]

I stand with wiki and google et al.

Who benefits from all this "intellectual property right"? Not the artists, writers, creators.

Noooo.

It's the suits, the men in grey, the non creators, the bloodsuckers.

1. First of all, a future legislation must ban vigilantism via IP addresses.
2. Secondly, prosecutions must be on the basis that the site owner is receiving money directly from the proceeds of selling pirated profits, rather than from adverts just to keep the site running.
3. Thirdly, Fair Use must be reinforced. Inclusion of footage for critical purposes is not an excuse for piracy alone.
4. Finally, pirated sites must include those that offer pay premium access to content, even if the basic access is free. That would not get TPB in one go, but certainly RapidShare, which I really hate!

SOPA is unlikely to let defendants fight back.

But they still can. The government has no hope of winning this.

What I said is a scenario where if it was passed (unlikely now).

[Dyakovo]

This bill is nothing to worry about. If the government does shut down your website, sue them to hell. This is a violation of the 1st and fourth amendments, therefore unconstitutional and illegal. If this passes, we're gonna make some money!

The constitution does not permit illegal acts.

[Pope Joan]

"SOPA wouldn't just be costly and futile: It would deter innovation, interfere with legal speech protected by the First Amendment and (as the geeks at Sandia put it) "negatively impact US and global cybersecurity and Internet functionality."

Under SOPA, any foreign site that allowed users to upload — or even just link to — content would have to fear being wrongly branded a "rogue site," effectively shut down and cut off from revenue until it could prove its innocence in a US court. That's the kind of risk that sends investors running — and why tech entrepreneurs are among the voices loudly opposed to SOPA.

More than 100 eminent constitutional scholars have joined that chorus. They point out that blocking entire Web domain names after a one-sided hearing will inevitably shut down discussion forums where protected speech coexists with links to infringing content, and block Americans' access to their own legal files along with pirated material — as we've already seen happen under existing authorities. Such sweeping "prior restraint" flies in the face of our First Amendment traditions."

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub ... c2ee1767d9

What about Open Education Resources, OER? They would be in serious jeopardy.

Wki Educator? Same deal.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/w67242q2g7503642/

http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTO ... 903011.htm

[AETEN II]

KILL SOPA,
KILL IT WITH AN APPETIZER OF A NUKE DIP, A MAIN COURSE OF GODZILLA, AND FINISH IT OFF WITH A DESSERT OF GLASSING!

Seriously, this is the most obviously fucked up thing the Government has come up with in years, how they Hell HASN'T it been killed already? I rest my faith in the Supreme Court to at least cut this thing down, they seem to be the only sane thing left in the American Gov.

[The Floridian Coast]

So the Chamber of Commerce is running pro-SOPA ads on national TV today. A little too late, dipshits.

[Valourium]

My opinion... SOPA and PIPA are the worst ideas that the U.S. Congress has ever had. If they pass, it's going to lead to wide spread riots and, knowing the American public, maybe something a little more extreme. The chaos that would ensue sites like Google and Youtube shutting down would be the end of U.S. Congress altogether. You know what I mean by that.
Similar policies are used by the following countries: Syria, Iran, and China.
Seriously, even as a communist I still believe that this is a stupid idea. Now, if you knew what TRUE communism is, then I wouldn't have to say that. But you know how people are. Still, isn't it funny that a firm communist believes that the internet should not be censored, while the lawmaking body of the supposedly "free" U.S. is in belief that it should?

[Valourium]

KILL SOPA,
KILL IT WITH AN APPETIZER OF A NUKE DIP, A MAIN COURSE OF GODZILLA, AND FINISH IT OFF WITH A DESSERT OF GLASSING!

Seriously, this is the most obviously fucked up thing the Government has come up with in years, how they Hell HASN'T it been killed already? I rest my faith in the Supreme Court to at least cut this thing down, they seem to be the only sane thing left in the American Gov.

Amen to that.

[Dyakovo]

I support it

With out liberal propaganda (wikipedia) i support ANYTHING against wiki

Nothing but lies comes from wikipedia because it isn't a true source where anyone and everyone can edit it

[Dyakovo]

SOPA is already dead.

NO it isn't. They've just delayed debate on it for now. The Bill has not been voted down yet. Until that happens, SOPA/PIPA is not dead.

It hasn't been voted down because it is stuck in commitee, a situation that is extremely unlikely to change.

[Dyakovo]

Why are websites being blocked right now even though SOPA has no hope of passing?

Because it still has hope of passing.

No, it really doesn't... It lacks even The support to get out of commitee.

[Aglrinia]

My opinion... SOPA and PIPA are the worst ideas that the U.S. Congress has ever had. If they pass, it's going to lead to wide spread riots and, knowing the American public, maybe something a little more extreme. The chaos that would ensue sites like Google and Youtube shutting down would be the end of U.S. Congress altogether. You know what I mean by that.
Similar policies are used by the following countries: Syria, Iran, and China.
Seriously, even as a communist I still believe that this is a stupid idea. Now, if you knew what TRUE communism is, then I wouldn't have to say that. But you know how people are. Still, isn't it funny that a firm communist believes that the internet should not be censored, while the lawmaking body of the supposedly "free" U.S. is in belief that it should?

Google/YouTube actually has the money to pack up their entire company and workers to a different country should SOPA and PIPA be enacted considering how they are towards China's internet policy it wouldn't surprise me if they hightail it to Canada simply to avoid obeying these laws.

[Dyakovo]

FIXED AND CENSORED

You, sir, have won the internet.

Ignorance wins the internet?

[Zersium]

You, sir, have won the internet.

Ignorance wins the internet?

Yeah, obviously. Like people ignoring the obvious fact these are plans by the Bilderbeg-Rothchild society.