Sopa

[sashamerideth]

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]

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.

 

[Xanados]

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

 

[sashamerideth]

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]

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.

 

[Calash]

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.

 

[Telcontar]

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.

 

[The Blue Lotus]

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.

 

[Calash]

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.

 

[Xanados]

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.

 

[The Blue Lotus]

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.

 

[The Blue Lotus]

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!

 

[sashamerideth]

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]

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.

 

[sashamerideth]

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]

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.

 

[sashamerideth]

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]

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.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

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.

 

[Black Dragon]

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.