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Where did these pop out of? I never heard of it until today..your thoughts dakka?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15757282

Oh, you haven't heard about them because you weren't meant to.

They've been extra quiet on that little gem. They also stacked up the hearing conveniantly in favor of those who suppose SOPA.

Check it out:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111114/23145216770/house-judiciary-committee-sopa-hearings-stacked-5-to-1-favor-censoring-internet.shtml

Now cue the apologists who will say that "you have nothing to fear if you're not doing badness", that it's "for the artists and content producers", and that they might even work in my personal favorite: It "will protect the children".

daedalus wrote: It "will protect the children".

I swear..if that means 4chan is illegal....god knows what would happen

Fittingly enough, "sopa" means "trash" (n) in Swedish.

daedalus wrote:y personal favorite: It "will protect the children".

The sad part is that every other country that has tried this has at least have the decency to hide it behind the "protect the children and stop child pornography on the internet" excuse. (The effectiveness of DNS blocking instead of actually removing the content and going after the hosts is a whole other story and Germany has shown that the later is much more effective).

But no, instead of protecting the children our senators march to the sound of the legacy industries and try to infringe on our freedoms to protect corporations. At least lie to us and pretend it is for the children...

This is my favourite part:

James Allworth, a fellow at Harvard Business School, said SOPA could stifle innovation.

"It contains provisions that will chill innovation. It contains provisions that will tinker with the fundamental fabric of the internet. It gives private corporations the power to censor. And best of all, it bypasses due legal process to do much of it," he said.

One law for some eh?

NOOOO!!!!!

Sigh...

Why you so stupid humanity?

Why you so stupid?

I honestly believe there's more at work here than just businesses. I'm not claiming Illuminati or anything, but the less the masses can communicate freely, the more anyone with power can exert it.

Well, any surprise that there's a sudden push to censor the internet under any pretense, what with so many countries recently using it to organize protests and revolt?

Has anybody told the USA that having freedoms is the thing that separates you from China and the great firewall?
This is predictable as it is depressing. No doubt we in the UK would follow suit with our own version in the interest of preserving 'the special relationship.'

If they really want to stop piracy, then stop ripping people off with overpriced DVDs and CDs (if anyone still buys them!)

Call me cynical, but I remember years ago when people talked about the internet being a force for good that would change mankind for ever... The search for truth is over, as there is only one truth in the universe - money talks. Rant over.

If this passes I'll be quite angry.

As I revisited this topic the lyrics that come from my randomized playlist are:

All this time has whittled away
Like so many days in one
Back and forth the leaders sway
Backing it up with guns
Superpowers flex their wings
Hold the world on puppet strings
Egos will feed
While citizens bleed
That's always the way it goes

...surreal

The "good" news is that IF passed, enforcing it will be a HUGE boondoggle without an ENORMOUS increase in manpower.

I don't believe it will pass, but if it does, it really won't be around long. It'll be like prohibition. Once we get down to actually doing it, they'll realize it was a horrible idea after all.

Oh god I hope this does not pass because if its does the idiots here in Oz will try to use it as leverage to do the same thing here.

Knowledge is free and I guess we are easier to control as a people if we cant access any.

Also I wonder if many of the idiots trying to pass this bill even use the interwebz I have found over and over again that older people resent what they dont understand.

No. These bills need to die a quick death. It's total bs to censor the web to protect private interests. I don't even have a good reason just reading this bill makes me wary.

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
If they really want to stop piracy, then stop ripping people off with overpriced DVDs and CDs (if anyone still buys them!)

Indeed, that and release stuff in good time or even at all. I fail to understand why there is so much of a lead time between a DVD release and it's cinema release. It just exacerbates the issue. Take for example Game of Thrones. No release date for it on DVD right now, there was simply no way I could've watched this legally as I am a Virgin Media customer, and, as many UKers know Sky has Virgin by the balls so no Sky Atlantic for you!

The thing that gets me too, the most downloaded films of the past 3 years (Dark Knight, Avatar, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 1) have also been the highest grossing at the box office in their respective years and the movie industry is dying? Right. Admittedly it is a problem they're making for themselves with all this 3D nonsense, there are some cinemas that won't show it in 2D, meaning one has to go elsewhere or wait a ridiculously long amount of time to see it in a manner they like.

Rant over. For now.

Wait, do we have the right to steal other people's intellectual property now, or something? If it's overpriced, just go without. It's not like we're talking about food and water here, we're talking about movies, music and games - diversions. Diversions which also happen to be commercial products.

Perhaps we should all just grow up a little.

Albatross wrote:Wait, do we have the right to steal other people's intellectual property now, or something?

I always thought of it more of a privilege, nay, a duty, to abscond with others IP, not a right. Of course you have to wear a domino mask and laugh like Mutley while you do it.

I'm sure the UK would love to take google's (and other tech companies) dollars and convert them into Sterling if this passes... assuming we don't have the same kind of idiots in charge of our countr...

Ah well... never mind

Albatross wrote:Wait, do we have the right to steal other people's intellectual property now, or something? If it's overpriced, just go without. It's not like we're talking about food and water here, we're talking about movies, music and games - diversions. Diversions which also happen to be commercial products.

Perhaps we should all just grow up a little.

To me it's not entirely that cut and dry. I know you have a personal stake in this one and I mean no disrespect towards it, but there are somethings that I would not have spent money on because I was only half-heartedly interested in them and gone without, save that I could see them for free. If I'm not going to spend the money anyway (and only I know if I would or not, which is where "integrity" comes in here IMO), what have I cost anyone? I've told people about things I've seen for free and they have actually bought it themselves purely on my recommendation; it's not always the case, but it happens. Not everyone is "responsible" in the same way that I am, but I think it really needs to come down to finding a way to enforce punishment for abuse rather than restricting the ability to legitimately do things as well.

Albatross wrote:Wait, do we have the right to steal other people's intellectual property now, or something? If it's overpriced, just go without. It's not like we're talking about food and water here, we're talking about movies, music and games - diversions. Diversions which also happen to be commercial products.

Perhaps we should all just grow up a little.

And theres the threat of more than just pirated sites getting shut down as well....and tbh at this rate I'll never get to be a somalian pirate!

Huffy wrote:

Albatross wrote:Wait, do we have the right to steal other people's intellectual property now, or something? If it's overpriced, just go without. It's not like we're talking about food and water here, we're talking about movies, music and games - diversions. Diversions which also happen to be commercial products.

Perhaps we should all just grow up a little.

And theres the threat of more than just pirated sites getting shut down as well....and tbh at this rate I'll never get to be a somalian pirate!

Maybe they shouldn't be doing suspicious things. You have nothing to fear if you're not doing badness.

Platuan4th wrote:

Huffy wrote:

Albatross wrote:Wait, do we have the right to steal other people's intellectual property now, or something? If it's overpriced, just go without. It's not like we're talking about food and water here, we're talking about movies, music and games - diversions. Diversions which also happen to be commercial products.

Perhaps we should all just grow up a little.

And theres the threat of more than just pirated sites getting shut down as well....and tbh at this rate I'll never get to be a somalian pirate!

Maybe they shouldn't be doing suspicious things. You have nothing to fear if you're not doing badness.

Well, seeing as then Dakkadakka goes away, I have a big problem with these.

Oh well, if it passes, I quit the internet.

I don't understand how this is even Legal.

Sasori wrote:I don't understand how this is even Legal.

Could very well be unconstitutional.

Happygrunt wrote:

Sasori wrote:I don't understand how this is even Legal.

Could very well be unconstitutional.

When has that stopped D.C.??

Wheres my freedom of speech?

Come on you stupid american Senators none of you are looking at the brighter picture.
example
http://www.washingtonpost.com/stop-online-piracy-act-sopa-sparks-backlash-from-facebook-google/2011/11/16/gIQAnaSOSN_story.html

"this is amazingly shortsighted."

"Why hit the best part of the economy?"

Sigh, perhaps it is time we donned the masks again boys?

Krellnus wrote:Sigh, perhaps it is time we donned the masks again boys?
[image of anon face]

One simple answer for that No. I will not join a group that attacks good people as well as bad people. They are vigilantes.

Also the thing i want to support is a petition and people taking up arms against the stupidity by protesting.