# Sopa



## sashamerideth (Jan 18, 2012)

I've known about this SOPA bill for a while and have been trying to do my bit to fight the bill, contacting congresscritters, signing petitions, but it's not going away. Quite a few websites are shutting down in protest, and rightly so. SOPA is bad news for the USA. What are you doing to fight it?

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## Calash (Jan 18, 2012)

I have blacked out 2 of my 3 sites.  My main writing site gets too many non-US visitors so the blackout would not have the necessary impact.  I did post an announcement explaining SOPA, PIPA and the international ACTA that they can rally against.

All my Facebook/Twitter/Google+ accounts have posted about it as well.  All the petitions are signed and tweets+emails have been sent to the local congressmen.


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## Xanados (Jan 18, 2012)

Numerous sites that I frequent have been "blacked out" in protest of SOPA and PIPA.
@Calash: It's about more than the US...


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## sashamerideth (Jan 18, 2012)

Xanados said:
			
		

> Numerous sites that I frequent have been "blacked out" in protest of SOPA and PIPA.
> @Calash: It's about more than the US...



No kidding, a UK student is being extradited to America to stand trial for copyright infringement. He's never been on US soil, and aparrently what he did was legal in the UK, but affected a US rights holder, so away he goes like a foreign combatant. Sad.

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## Black Dragon (Jan 18, 2012)

The long term consequences of SOPA are chilling.  In the name of fighting piracy, it effectively allows the U.S. government to seize control over the Internet.  It doesn't take much imagination to see how easily such power could be abused.



> My main writing site gets too many  non-US visitors so the blackout would not have the necessary impact.



Yeah, same here.  Too much of our traffic is international.  I was planning on starting a thread on SOPA this morning, but Sasha beat me too it.


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## Calash (Jan 18, 2012)

It may be about more than the US, but non-US members are a bit out of the loop on what they can do here.  The best bet is to direct them to the ACTA page as it is something they can actually fight against.  SOPA and PITA are US Government and we (meaning US citizens) need to be the ones fighting it.

I did find the Cloudflare has a nice plugin for protesting.  First visit blocks out words and puts a badge in the top right corner.  Following visits just have the badge.  Nice, simple, and does not get in the way too much but pushes people to learn more about what is going on.


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## Telcontar (Jan 18, 2012)

I've been tracking SOPA for months (learning it's weaknesses, it's habits... Ahem. Sorry) and I'm glad that Wikipedia followed through with the blackout idea. I want Google to do the same. So far a relatively small group of tech-savvy people are upset over this. We need the public support of many, many more. Take away a couple of the tools they've come to rely on so much, and they'll start paying attention. Wikipedia was a good start. Google and Facebook would be even better.


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## The Blue Lotus (Jan 18, 2012)

Google has blacked out their name on my home page. It's a good start but not strong enough. 

Imagine if all search engins were down for 24 hrs... the world would be thrown into total chaos! I think that is exactly what is needed.

The Gov needs to back away quickly. They are getting a little too big in the pants for my tastes and people need to take a firm stand.


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## Calash (Jan 18, 2012)

I actually like what Google did.  It is hard to miss the giant black box that pops up when you go to search.  It is something that can be left for a while.

I do understand what you are getting at with the removal of key sites to force awareness.  It is a strong, but risky statement.  Yes you do get your point out via hammering but you risk being seen as the bad guy.  The quickest way to lose support is to make yourself worse than the villain.


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## Xanados (Jan 18, 2012)

The Blue Lotus said:


> The Gov needs to back away quickly. They are getting a little too big in the pants for my tastes and people need to take a firm stand.



The American government have pretty much stated that they have no idea what this bill is about.
SOPA.
PIPA.
It's all buzz-words and marketing for them.


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## The Blue Lotus (Jan 18, 2012)

People lived with out google, yahoo, aol ect for millions of years I'm pretty sure we could do so again for 24 hrs. 
These bills scare the crap outta me. That is not good.


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## The Blue Lotus (Jan 18, 2012)

Xanados said:


> The American government have pretty much stated that they have no idea what this bill is about.
> SOPA.
> PIPA.
> It's all buzz-words and marketing for them.



Bull spit. Show me a politician who never lies I'll show you a dead body!


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## sashamerideth (Jan 18, 2012)

Black Dragon said:
			
		

> I was planning on starting a thread on SOPA this morning, but Sasha beat me too it.



Feel free to hijack this, SOPA and anything else that comes after needs to be fought and defeated. Not until the opposite of SOPA is written, enshrining these rights in law, can we rest. 

Need to vote out the creeps that are supporting it.

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## Graham Irwin (Jan 18, 2012)

These bills won't pass. 

Also, media is a profit-driven industry. If everything is available for free, no one can afford to produce the media.

Being able to watch Indiana Jones 4 illegally through a dutch website is not freedom. No one gets paid and the artistic worth of the work becomes nill.


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## sashamerideth (Jan 18, 2012)

Graham Irwin said:
			
		

> These bills won't pass.
> 
> Also, media is a profit-driven industry. If everything is available for free, no one can afford to produce the media.
> 
> Being able to watch Indiana Jones 4 illegally through a dutch website is not freedom. No one gets paid and the artistic worth of the work becomes nill.



I hope that they won't pass. I also think that you have missed the reasons for opposing SOPA. Yes, piracy is a problem, not as big a problem as the movie and music industries would have us believe, but a problem. SOPA is the wrong solution, it has too high a potential for abuse, and won't actually impact piracy.

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## Graham Irwin (Jan 18, 2012)

sashamerideth said:


> SOPA is the wrong solution, it has too high a potential for abuse, and won't actually impact piracy.



It would impact piracy, absolutely. All too much.

But they won't pass.


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## sashamerideth (Jan 18, 2012)

Graham Irwin said:
			
		

> It would impact piracy, absolutely. All too much.
> 
> But they won't pass.



Piracy would turn to other channels, while YouTube, Google, Wikipedia, blogs, writing sites, and anything that allows users created content gets taken off the American Internet. 

The potential abuse, lack of oversight and due process are my big problems with this bill. Just the wrong solution to the problem. Would not be such a problem if the movie and music industries were adapting instead of trying to do things as they've always done them. Extending copyright duration and making infringement a felony are just not... Right, it's disproportionate.

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## Xanados (Jan 18, 2012)

The Blue Lotus said:


> People lived with out google, yahoo, aol ect for millions of years I'm prtty sure we could do so again for 24 hrs.
> These bills scare the crap outta me. That is not good.


My favorite variety gaming channels on Youtube have blacked out their content for a day. I'm already feeling withdrawal symptoms.


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## Legendary Sidekick (Jan 18, 2012)

Black Dragon said:


> The long term consequences of SOPA are chilling. In the name of fighting piracy, it effectively allows the U.S. government to seize control over the Internet. It doesn't take much imagination to see how easily such power could be abused.



Senator Scott Brown (Massachusetts) was on the radio show I listen to on the way to work. It was good to hear his take on this. He was respectful when discussing the intentions of those who created or are supporting the bill, but he is fighting it for the reasons you stated.


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## Black Dragon (Jan 18, 2012)

Piracy is a problem, and it's hurting a lot of smaller, independent publishers of media.  

But giving the U.S. government absolute control over the Internet is not the solution.  Heck, giving the government absolute control over anything rarely works out well.


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## sashamerideth (Jan 18, 2012)

I'm not publishing on Amazon with DRM, and will get around to putting up stuff free on my site to reel in future sales, loss leader I think it's called. Personally I don't see a pirated copy of my book as a lost sale, they weren't going to buy it anyways so no real loss. 

It's not like they stole it from me and now I have one less book on a shelf to sell. The pirate just made a perfect digital copy of my work without compensating me. I'm accepting it will happen (I should be so lucky), so if I put something out there, I want to make sure the pirates can't improve on the user experience. 

I hope these sites going dark is worth it, not having Wikipedia has slowed me down today.

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## Legendary Sidekick (Jan 18, 2012)

Black Dragon said:


> giving the government absolute control over anything rarely works out well.



I teach at a public school. I see evidence of this five days a week (and try not to think or talk about it during the other two).


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## Graham Irwin (Jan 18, 2012)

I'm sure we're all seeing the news reports coming in. The bills will not leave committee!

Woo-hoo internet democracy!!


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## sashamerideth (Jan 18, 2012)

Graham Irwin said:
			
		

> I'm sure we're all seeing the news reports coming in. The bills will not leave committee!
> 
> Woo-hoo internet democracy!!



Let's hope it stays down. I am sure about bill that does a lot of the same stuff but not quite so bad will be introduced shortly. They'll say, "See, not as bad as SOPA," and we'll say, "Cool, pass it," and we will be no better off than if SOPA had passed. 

What is that quote about not getting the government we want but rather the government we deserve? Hopefully we're going to become more deserving of a more representative government.

If anyone in your district was for SOPA, vote for the other guy next time.

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## Neurosis (Jan 18, 2012)

Have a look at this: The Ongoing War On Computing; Legacy Players Trying To Control The Uncontrollable | Techdirt


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## writeshiek33 (Jan 19, 2012)

personally i am very frightened because it will effect me aswell as a person in foriegn country to usa for those of us who can't spend on everything and prices going up it ot of double talk i am wandering what i can do to derail this on my part


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## Needamedic (Jan 19, 2012)

Unfortunately Lamar Smith is my congressman and the author of SOPA. I hit him with daily or twice a day emails about this bill. Click the link and blast him too.


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## myrddin173 (Jan 20, 2012)

I for one am glad SOPA didn't pass (or well is staying in council indefinitely...).  I thought today's vlogbrothers video made some good points about SOPA and what it was meant to do


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## Black Dragon (Jan 20, 2012)

I received an email response from one of my senators, Pat Toomey.  

He says that while he is opposed to piracy, SOPA is bad legislation which would have negative consequences, and that he opposes it.


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## The Blue Lotus (Jan 20, 2012)

Needamedic said:


> Unfortunately Lamar Smith is my congressman and the author of SOPA. I hit him with daily or twice a day emails about this bill. Click the link and blast him too.



Why does the fact that he looks like a walking butt cap not surprise me at all?


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## Needamedic (Jan 22, 2012)

The Blue Lotus said:


> Why does the fact that he looks like a walking butt cap not surprise me at all?



Heh, yeah. LOL. He does kinda look like a politician. Oh, did you say butt cap?


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## The Blue Lotus (Jan 22, 2012)

Needamedic said:


> Heh, yeah. LOL. He does kinda look like a politician. Oh, did you say butt cap?



Yes... yes I did. LOL... Check your PM box for definition of "butt cap".


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