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For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia'

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Forsaken_GA

DevilWAH wrote: »

Why should any the rest of us chose to follow US if they chose to pass this bill?

The citizenry likely wouldn't.

Your government, otoh....

You cannot be that naive. If you think the US is the only government in the world that has various lobby's all over the governments jock, you're ignorant of politics. If the US, home of freedom, is willing to adopt such measures, you think that's not going to be used as an argument by your lobbyists?

Now lets go to the flipside of that - The RIAA and the MPAA can tell other countries that if they don't adopt similar measures, they'll stop distribution to them. Which means that the countries will turn to piracy. Which will give the RIAA and MPAA legal recourse to affect that companies operations in the states.

You think UK providers who were found to be hosting illegal content want to be cut off from US business partners and have their links pulled from google?

The bills have global implications, you ignore them at your own peril.

Roguetadhg

it_consultant wrote: »

Lets not pretend that there aren't some websites out there specifically designed to pass copyrighted information illegally. One which many of us have found ourselves on occasionally, thepiratebay.org and similar torrent tracking sites. There is legitimate issue that needs to be resolved. The problem, in my estimation, is twofold. The recording industry and other backers really want to make some public examples and they have no idea how the internet really works.

The recording industry, minus the artists. Artists like the fact that they get free advertisement, and can get out to the public easier using these channels.

I'm not against finding a way around piracy. I like knowing the stuff I love to use don't have "gifts". Im sure most of the people are the same way. You love it, You'll buy it when you can. That's why I love "Demos" and "Trials"

The legitimate issue is a problem, piracy. How to solve it, needs a different way to accomplish it. If there's a very-very-strict way to do what they want to, i'll be content. PC gaming will florish again (I hope).

it_consultant

Turgon wrote: »

If this legislation passes is there not a risk that government could use it to take down content they just dont want out there using copyright violation as a pretext?

Using existing laws it is not terribly difficult for the US government to shut down US based websites. They have to get a warrant and everything but the standards aren't too high. They need to show, on a prima facia basis, that they believe that the website is doing illegal things and they can shut it down long before there is a trial etc. The problem with THIS law is that it would allow copyright holders to demand that a website is shut down purely on the copyright holders idea that their rights are being infringed. This has little to do with the government. Put up a website in the US with illegal p1rn, terrorism, fraud, etc and see how quickly the FBI takes it down. The FBI simply doesn't really care about copyright because they have so many other important things to worry about. The recording industry wants the ability to enforce laws outside of regular law enforcement procedures, i.e. demanding youtube's entire operation gets shut down because there was one instance of a copyright violation.

Jayjett90

From what I read, this is only supposed to be for today.

Forsaken_GA

Jayjett90 wrote: »

From what I read, this is only supposed to be for today.

It is, PIPA is coming up for a vote in the US Senate next week. SOPA is shelved, for now.

For those who don't quite understand what this legislation would do, I recommend reading the blog that Mozilla's chairwoman wrote on the subject

PIPA/SOPA and Why You Should Care | Mitchell's Blog

It has a practical example, and demonstrates the insidious nature of this legislation.

Jayjett90

I did a lot more reading up on this topic and basically this two bills from the House and Senate would override the DCMA which companies like Youtube rely on.

ColbyG

life sucks without reddit $:\$

networker050184

ColbyG wrote: »

life sucks without reddit $:\$

I woke up this morning and went to look at it on my phone while on the john. Was very disappointed.

humdingy02

I missed my morning comic. I like their redirect page though, looks official.
CONTENT BLOCKED BY SOPA/PIPA

SteveLord

Speaking of comics, Oatmeal.com is out too.

it_consultant

stevelord wrote: »

speaking of comics, oatmeal.com is out too.

nooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forsaken_GA

SteveLord wrote: »

Speaking of comics, Oatmeal.com is out too.

xkcd as well, /sigh

CodeBlox

Roguetadhg wrote: »

The legislation has the potential to knock out a lot of websites we use a lot. We being technical people of all natures - Windows, Linux, Cisco, Novell, Apple. Like it or not, the internet connects everyone together. And it's connecting people constantly - Facebook, twitter, RSS feeds, Smart phones and data plans.

It feels like Napster revisited. This time, kiss a lot of websites good bye. Im sure websites will need to stop allowing uploads, because people will try to upload pictures. Any dropboxes, tinyurl, file downloading sites, DeviantArt. Anything that someone can possibly upload copyright items will probably get the ban hammer. Of course, kiss Youtube and Wiki goodbye.

Youtube has been fighting to stay alive by allowed copyright holders to file a complaint, and the complaint leads to a video without sound, deleted, not available in the country, etc. Youtube still has copyrighted stuff on it, things go through the cracks and generally I can see this site the first of many sites.

Are you familiar with the show most shocking and the sister show most daring? Someone had uploaded a ton of scenes from this show. I could and did spend hours watching them. The account was finally terminated as of sometime yesterday

Forsaken_GA

Well, Wikipedia, Reddit, Google and the like certainly had an effect.

The House had already announced it was placing SOPA on hold, but today, the Senate has also backed down on PIPA, there will be no vote next week.

Without a doubt, these bills will show their heads again in some form or another, but the immediate danger is past, and the public is a little more aware now, so when the issue comes back, it's not in as much danger of falling through the cracks.

Zartanasaurus

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Well, Wikipedia, Reddit, Google and the like certainly had an effect.

The House had already announced it was placing SOPA on hold, but today, the Senate has also backed down on PIPA, there will be no vote next week.

Without a doubt, these bills will show their heads again in some form or another, but the immediate danger is past, and the public is a little more aware now, so when the issue comes back, it's not in as much danger of falling through the cracks.

It will get attached to some defense spending bill and pass with 90% yes votes now.

bryanthetechie

Even though SOPA was put on hold, ACTA was ratified yesterday. ACTA puts shameful SOPA to shame: Avaaz - ACTA: The new threat to the net

Here's an article on the ratification: 22 EU Countries Ratify ACTA

And a comparison between SOPA and ACTA: 'ACTA is More Dangerous Than SOPA'

Very dangerous stuff here, guys...

Turgon

bryanthetechie wrote: »

Even though SOPA was put on hold, ACTA was ratified yesterday. ACTA puts shameful SOPA to shame: Avaaz - ACTA: The new threat to the net

Here's an article on the ratification: 22 EU Countries Ratify ACTA

And a comparison between SOPA and ACTA: 'ACTA is More Dangerous Than SOPA'

Very dangerous stuff here, guys...

The people behind the legislation are re-evaluating things based on the response from popular websites that protested. They will come up with tactics to counter resistance. The internet experience will change over the next 5 years. State ownership of popular sites perhaps buying influence on policy to comply. After investing so much collateral in content, most people are too lazy to switch afterall. Less than 10 website experiences twitter, google etc cover *most* people. The rage against the machine protests in Wall Street etc continue to garner little or no interest in main stream media.