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Please defeat SOPA

Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 10:25 pm
by hanelyp
MythBuster Adam Savage: SOPA Could Destroy the Internet as We Know It

Soon the U.S. Congress will reconvene to consider the Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Mythbuster and PM contributing editor Adam Savage says that if these sweeping pieces of legislation pass, the U.S. will join the likes of China and Iran in censoring the Internet, and destroy the openness that made the Web perhaps the most important technological advance of his lifetime.

Read more: MythBuster Adam Savage: SOPA Could Destroy the Internet as We Know It - Popular Mechanics
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science ... it-6620300

Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 10:54 pm
by Skipjack
Yepp, the US will return to the pre- web- stone age.
I dont think that in the long term anyone will win from that.

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 3:13 am
by palladin9479
Ohh the SOPA is an evil set of laws that will end free speech on the internet.

It was specifically written so that any commercial entity could shut down smaller entity's without governmental involvement. All that is required is the bigger commercial send a piece of paper to a service provider. No amount of due diligence or investigation is required. No requirement that the allegation actually be true.

It's very very evil.

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:08 pm
by GIThruster
Somehow I think the situation is vastly more complex than being portrayed by the guy at the link, especially given there are two versions of the bill. I don't see any evidence the guy at the link read either bill, nor that he didn't misrepresent the bill for his own reasons. I'd want to see the bills before jumping in with both feet to side with IP violators. We do have huge trouble with people stealing IP on the web. Anyone who is an artist such as a musician, would likely also demand a careful look at this bill before deciding like a drone to be upset by it, especially when it could easily be the guy at the link, is an IP thief who has been stealing tens of thousands of dollars in IP for decades.

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:10 pm
by GIThruster
palladin9479 wrote: No requirement that the allegation actually be true.

It's very very evil.
I can't imagine this could be true. It would mean that every commercial organization that had a competitor would find themselves closed down based upon bogus complaints. I think you'd need to be pretty naive to believe any law would allow/promote such a thing.

You need to take a step back and wonder whether you're being lied to. Seems obvious you are.

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:13 pm
by jgarry
GoDaddy, in an effort to out-dumb Netflix, backed SOPA and lost about 20k domains.
http://tech.pnosker.com/2011/12/26/sopa ... ting-sopa/

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:29 pm
by GIThruster
What you didn't mote is that it was a boycott against GoDaddy that caused them to lose the business. It's important to recognize that it has become acceptable to steal music and movies on the web, and people are willing to punish places like GoDaddy for standing up against thievery as a lifestyle.

Note the argument being used by this link: "we can't hold UTube responsible for posts that violate IP laws or we won't have the internet we all know and love".

That's crazy thinking. We can't enforce laws that support IP because we won't have the violation of those laws that we all know and love? Crazy as can be. . .

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:15 pm
by jgarry
So? Yes they got boycotted for doing something really stupid just like Netflix. Some brain-dead entitled CEO forgot that customers are the most important thing. Poor little rich people.

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:27 pm
by GIThruster
So you want to go on record that you support making it easy for people to steal what is not theirs, because they're stealing from "rich people"?

Tell us, do you download movies and music that you know you're supposed to pay for, and yet don't, because you know you're only stealing from "rich people"?

And tell us, how is it people keep pointing us to these links about the bills and yet we're not seeing what the bills actually say?

Looks to me like thieves supporting thievery.

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:32 pm
by jgarry
Oh dear, thiefs. Such a lot of overwrought rhetoric. I suggest you go take a nap.

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:32 pm
by jgarry
thieves, of course

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 3:50 pm
by Betruger
Another brick in the govt wall. And this thing's different from the previous censorship attempts how? -- As far as savvy users being able to ignore it with e.g. alternative DNS.

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:09 pm
by kcdodd
GIThruster wrote:
palladin9479 wrote: No requirement that the allegation actually be true.

It's very very evil.
I can't imagine this could be true. It would mean that every commercial organization that had a competitor would find themselves closed down based upon bogus complaints. I think you'd need to be pretty naive to believe any law would allow/promote such a thing.

You need to take a step back and wonder whether you're being lied to. Seems obvious you are.
All you have to do is spend a minute in the youtube community to know that bogus DMCA take downs happen EVERY DAY out of fear of being sued, and that is with CURRENT law. The magic of these laws is that someone doesn't even have to file a motion before the dept. of justice. If the penalties are severe enough noone (web hosts, DNS's, advertisers (yes even they will be liable), etc) will take any chances upon a mere whisper of infringement. If infringement becomes a FELONY, are you as an owner going to take any chance of what someone else posts on your website? Would you even upload content in the first place? The internet will become like 1995. That is exactly what SOPA will do. Everyone becomes liable for everyone else, and so noone trusts anyone and noone will share resources. Real oppression is achieved through citizens turning on each other and shutting each other through fear of the government, and that is exactly what is being pushed here. How is this different then me potentially being put in prison for what my neighbor did. Everyone who defends these laws is a fool, and I don't use that lightly. This very website could be liable. Do any of you own the word Polywell? Who does? Is your webhost going to take a chance if someone comes to them and says they own it, and they should take it down or they're getting the lawyer? And GIThruster, what about your name? Do you own the intellectual rights to use it?

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:35 pm
by GIThruster
kcdodd wrote: How is this different then me potentially being put in prison for what my neighbor did.
I dunno. No one has posted any links to the actual bills. Are you saying the proposed acts make it a felony to promote a path where others steal?

Its not a felony to have a front yard where if someone gets hurt, you're civaly responsible. Having a front yard where someone slips on some ice won't put you in jail, but it will up your home insurance if you didn't salt the walk for the post person.

Are you saying the proposed legislature would put CEO's at UTube in prison for what others post on their website? That sounds like a straw man to me.

Rather, people at UTube ought to be responsible when people post stolen IP so others can likewise steal it. What's wrong with laws that close paths for people to steal?

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:50 pm
by GIThruster
Before we go further in this discussion, I think we ought to look for a consensus about the need to protect IP. Be it a copyright, a patent or a trademark, seems obvious to me we need to recognize the intrinsic value of supporting the notion of IP.

In a world where every songwriter and performer, can have their work stollen with no repercussions, there will be no songwriters. What you're left with when you justify stealing from the "rich" is a world with no creativity, innovation nor progress in the arts or sciences.

IMHO, it is NOT okay to steal, just because what you've stollen is not a physical item. The modern world produces as much intellectual property as physical property and IMHO, all property deserves protection, or it will soon cease to be created.