Sopa

[inkman996]

Go to Wikipedia nuf said wow.

[Nation03]

It's crazy. Didn't notice how much I used Wiki till today when I couldn't search anything lol. This whole SOPA thing sounds like Fascism at its best.

[Command-Z]

Big media companies are finding it hard to adapt to the rapidly changing world of information delivery and in a panic, they're trying hard to change the laws so that they can gain control of the internet.

People of all political persuasions are outraged and it's kind of cool to see so much agreement... censorship is a big deal. I understand copyright protection is important, but there are already laws to protect intellectual property.

[mk162]

I wrote my congressman, and unfortunately I can't remember the exact language, but it went something like
"this issue goes across the political spectrum and will ignite a fire under the posterior of most americans...blah blah blah."

Pretty much stated the government is encroaching into our lives more and more.  This and the CPSIA act of 2008 need to be looked at again.

I am glad to see a lot of congressmen are backing down now.

[Prōdigium]

The saddest part of the entire legislation is that it will not actually do anything to protect copyrighted products. It merely allows the government to put into place a massive firewall that uses a type of "Parental Filter" in a vain attempt to prevent Americans from getting to those websites the government deems to be in conflict with the laws. Also it allows huge companies to simply make a claim of copyright infringement to have a site blacklisted, and the owner of the site only has 5 days to reply. If your a small company, you can be damn sure that your claims will be ignored when a big US company chooses to take your content.

Furthermore it states that ANY website will be in violation for even making a web-link to another site that is in violation.....So in essence, this forum and any (every) other forum could go black for simply making a link to a site that has content like Logo's or Fonts that are not "authorized" even if you had no idea the site was not. It is not inconceivable that in a matter of a few months tens of thousands of sites would be forced offline as big companies scour the internet for violators...Or as I understand it, companies that offer that as a service will be able to make millions selling other companies listings that they already have...AND Yes, such companies already exist such as Kessler and Mark Monitor who actively scan the internet for these things.

The reality is that big companies already have the resources at their disposal to find and prosecute violations...and there is already more than A sufficient GLOBAL LEGAL SYSTEM that allows companies to shut down, and recover for damages. The truth is that SOPA is yet another example of BIG BROTHER making US believe that they need to "protect" something when in fact they are merely legislating your freedoms away. As I live here in China at the moment, I cannot help but to laugh at Congress that what they are ACTUALLY doing is making a system that is for all intensive purposes EXACTLY what China does to "filter" content the government here deems inappropriate. In either country, I do not need to have somebody making choices about what I want to read or see on the internet. The US condemning the " Great Firewall Of China " is more than the pot calling the kettle black! 

Lastly, the part that NOBODY seams to talk about is that once such a system is in place, THE GOVERNMENT WILL MOST LIKELY HAVE A DATABASE OF YOUR ENTIRE ONLINE HISTORY...or at very least require that internet providers keep such data for prosecution evidence. If this law is passed in ANY SHAPE OR FORM, it will be the worst mistake EVER in the short history of the internet. Such efforts will never block access to ANY website in a connected world, and as a person already inside such a system I can tell you that despite China's best efforts I can reach ANYTHING I desire with ease and there is NOTHING they can do to stop me. I use a network system called TOR that allows me to circumvent ANY government or private filters AND encrypts the data stream as well ensuring that most information is kept as it should be...Private! I can even host "private" websites that are not DNS routed that would make it impossible for this law to block under the PIPA law.

If anyone here does not understand the nature of these laws, get up to date soon and make your voice heard..before its too late.

[mk162]

it's been pulled.  these things usually have a way of coming back in smaller forms until the whole thing is passed.

[Fluid]

In a nut shell, one can say it boils down to censorship.  They claim it is to stop torrent sites from foreign locations yet one of the main issues is the "anti-circumvention" clause. Censorship at its worst.    You couldn't even mention something copyrighted say on your facebook status without the risk of it being removed.

[sweetts]

The saddest part of the entire legislation is that it will not actually do anything to protect copyrighted products. It merely allows the government to put into place a massive firewall that uses a type of "Parental Filter" in a vain attempt to prevent Americans from getting to those websites the government deems to be in conflict with the laws. Also it allows huge companies to simply make a claim of copyright infringement to have a site blacklisted, and the owner of the site only has 5 days to reply. If your a small company, you can be damn sure that your claims will be ignored when a big US company chooses to take your content.

Furthermore it states that ANY website will be in violation for even making a web-link to another site that is in violation.....So in essence, this forum and any (every) other forum could go black for simply making a link to a site that has content like Logo's or Fonts that are not "authorized" even if you had no idea the site was not. It is not inconceivable that in a matter of a few months tens of thousands of sites would be forced offline as big companies scour the internet for violators...Or as I understand it, companies that offer that as a service will be able to make millions selling other companies listings that they already have...AND Yes, such companies already exist such as Kessler and Mark Monitor who actively scan the internet for these things.

The reality is that big companies already have the resources at their disposal to find and prosecute violations...and there is already more than A sufficient GLOBAL LEGAL SYSTEM that allows companies to shut down, and recover for damages. The truth is that SOPA is yet another example of BIG BROTHER making US believe that they need to "protect" something when in fact they are merely legislating your freedoms away. As I live here in China at the moment, I cannot help but to laugh at Congress that what they are ACTUALLY doing is making a system that is for all intensive purposes EXACTLY what China does to "filter" content the government here deems inappropriate. In either country, I do not need to have somebody making choices about what I want to read or see on the internet. The US condemning the " Great Firewall Of China " is more than the pot calling the kettle black! 

Lastly, the part that NOBODY seams to talk about is that once such a system is in place, THE GOVERNMENT WILL MOST LIKELY HAVE A DATABASE OF YOUR ENTIRE ONLINE HISTORY...or at very least require that internet providers keep such data for prosecution evidence. If this law is passed in ANY SHAPE OR FORM, it will be the worst mistake EVER in the short history of the internet. Such efforts will never block access to ANY website in a connected world, and as a person already inside such a system I can tell you that despite China's best efforts I can reach ANYTHING I desire with ease and there is NOTHING they can do to stop me. I use a network system called TOR that allows me to circumvent ANY government or private filters AND encrypts the data stream as well ensuring that most information is kept as it should be...Private! I can even host "private" websites that are not DNS routed that would make it impossible for this law to block under the PIPA law.

If anyone here does not understand the nature of these laws, get up to date soon and make your voice heard..before its too late.

Link to TOR project https://www.torproject.org/

[inkman996]

Wow just seen a commercial on tv supporting Sopa  and actually claiming online piracy costs hundreds of thousands of American jobs. I see the commercial is paid for by creative America campaign, look them up and sure enough it is the entertainment industry behind them.

So now these sneaky bastards targeted all Americans through the tv and you can bet many many Americans still do not use the net and much much more are not internet adept and will fall for this crap the commercial is saying. All of us can write our congressman but unfortunately that same congressman will probably get more support from naive Americans than us all combined.

[mk162]

I think the rights of entertainment companies should be protected, just like I think lead and certain pthalates should be illegal in children's toys.  But when you get a group of people together that have never done anything other than write laws, what do you expect?  Most of them have never owned a business or had to deal with burdensome regulations themselves.

They will continue to write misguided laws that overstep until we send a clear message this won't be tolerated.

[Sbrem]

I don't like to do politics, because I hate arguing with my friends here, but we seriously need term limits on all offices, but most emphatically on the feds. I know some say that we already have them, and it's called voting, but if you don't like something a senator or representative is doing, and they are from another state, you can't do anything at all about it. So, no, there isn't really term limits, yet. 2 terms in the senate, and 6 in the house, 12 years, and you MUST enter the private sector. And no lobbying either. OK, I'm done. I'm glad we're all together on this infringement into our lives and rights.

Steve

[mk162]

laws tend to be political issues...it's the nature of the beast. 

[mjrprint]

It all comes down to money. They are all mad because the people don't need giant record companies anymore and they are losing money. They will never stop piracy and in many cases it is a promotional tool. People listen to a downloaded song then end up buying an album or two of an artist they may have never heard of before. Radiohead had the best idea when they released an album and said "pay whatever you want". I think they made 6 miliion on that record!

[Command-Z]

These bills clearly demonstrate how politicians are merely puppets of the monied elite.

When the free market doesn't seem to be working in their favor, they game the system and change the rules.

Oil companies determine our foreign policy, manufacturers write our international trade policies, private prison corps are pushing state-level immigration laws and now the entertainment/media industry wants to control the last source of unfiltered information we have.

This won't stop until money is taken out of the election process. Campaign finance reform and the reversal of Supreme Court decisions like Citizen's United v. FEC would do a lot to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

[inkman996]

I foresee the pirates easily circumventing any laws put in place they are super smart computer whiz's nothing is going to stop them. It will be us normal day to day users that will suffer, isn't that what always happens with laws that have good intentions? Its like gun laws the only people that struggle with them are the honest gun buyers, what the hell do criminals care about the laws?