Stop the Internet "Blacklist" Legislation ('S.O.P.A.' bill)
0
I'm simply hoping this blows over and gets vetoed. A law like this can only lead to dissent and dissonance. This could cause some serious repercussions if they honestly believe this will stop pirating and copyright infringement.
0
The Phenomenal One wrote...
Done and done.The level of rage I will have if this passes will be beyond comprehension.
Same. And because not a lot of people understand how the net is run, they aren't bothered or informed enough to get pissed enough to act.
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH
0
gizgal wrote...
Same. And because not a lot of people understand how the net is run, they aren't bothered or informed enough to get pissed enough to act.ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Or perhaps because a lot of people realize that this is almost an entirely bureaucratic matter, and no amount of personal letters to congressional representatives will make even a slight affect on the outcome of the situation?
We're talking about Communication & Electronics the fourth biggest lobbying client in the United States. The only thing that is going to affect the outcome of this bill is money. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately depending on your point of view, there are huge lobbyists on both sides. So, there is no quick decision on Congress' part. On one side you have the Motion Picture Association and Recording Industry Association of American in favor of the bill, but on the other side you have Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. who are fervently against the bill.
Point is, this is far beyond the realm of influence that any of us have. I mean, yeah, protesting and letters to representatives are nice and all. But by the same token, don't get upset at pragmatism just because some people see no reason to get worked up over something that is outside of their influence.
0
"SOPA" Bill Full Text
PROTECT IP Act Full Text
I urge all of you to read the full text and familiarize yourselves with it and what its referring to, mostly Title 17 USC chapter 5 (full text on the actual copyright law) and Title 18 USC (full text on crimes and criminal procedure).
For future reference this is an exhaustive list of every bill with full text proposed from 1989 onwards in both the Senate and House.
After reading both the bill's or whatever you want to call them I pretty much laughed. It seems someone told them it would be MUCH more effective to go after infringing sites than everyone in the country who has ever downloaded a song. The most interesting part of these is in HR3261 (SOPA) is this
So does every site in English with at least one person from the US using it fall under that category?
So here's how its supposed to work.
Being able to send an email C&D would be more effective. But this whole part sounds "USA = World Copyright Police" to me.
And last but not least. Just how are ISP's and search engines supposed to block all 350 million US residents from accessing a foreign copyrighting site?
So Google should open up its html editor and write in
[technically feasible and reasonable measures] block everyone from website.com [/technically feasible and reasonable measures]
I don't support these bills just because they sound vague to me. Vague law is asking for trouble, or at least some Supreme Court case to set a precedent from which every future case is determined.
PROTECT IP Act Full Text
I urge all of you to read the full text and familiarize yourselves with it and what its referring to, mostly Title 17 USC chapter 5 (full text on the actual copyright law) and Title 18 USC (full text on crimes and criminal procedure).
For future reference this is an exhaustive list of every bill with full text proposed from 1989 onwards in both the Senate and House.
After reading both the bill's or whatever you want to call them I pretty much laughed. It seems someone told them it would be MUCH more effective to go after infringing sites than everyone in the country who has ever downloaded a song. The most interesting part of these is in HR3261 (SOPA) is this
Spoiler:
So does every site in English with at least one person from the US using it fall under that category?
So here's how its supposed to work.
Spoiler:
Being able to send an email C&D would be more effective. But this whole part sounds "USA = World Copyright Police" to me.
And last but not least. Just how are ISP's and search engines supposed to block all 350 million US residents from accessing a foreign copyrighting site?
Spoiler:
So Google should open up its html editor and write in
[technically feasible and reasonable measures] block everyone from website.com [/technically feasible and reasonable measures]
I don't support these bills just because they sound vague to me. Vague law is asking for trouble, or at least some Supreme Court case to set a precedent from which every future case is determined.
Spoiler:
0
animefreak_usa
Child of Samael
I like how people think freedom of speech equals freedom of free downloads ans torrents. Also there is no freedoms on anything, you have privileges of freedom as long as the government allows it. People think because a piece of paper allows anything is really retarded. All your freedoms aren't guaranteed. There is no freedom of speech when your speech isn't heard. You based your logic off of a eight graded class lesson on how it was and not how it's done. I guarantee that if your speech is not up to snuff with the powers to bee idea of what freedoms are then your voice would be censored.
Your congress is in the pockets of the riaa and the other media lobbyists. Petitions would do shit.. black faxes and email/calls to them might. politicians only care if their jobs might be in danger.
Btw the way im not talking on the op topic... just general ideas of the bill of rights and petitioning via website.... i reread what i wrote and it seem to be pointed in the wrong person.
Your congress is in the pockets of the riaa and the other media lobbyists. Petitions would do shit.. black faxes and email/calls to them might. politicians only care if their jobs might be in danger.
Btw the way im not talking on the op topic... just general ideas of the bill of rights and petitioning via website.... i reread what i wrote and it seem to be pointed in the wrong person.
0
Oh, and even if the public wanted to hear/see what went down (as we have a right to), the stream of the whole thing was shitty.
Oh the irony.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/11/public-shut-out-stop-online-piracy-act-hearings-again
From the EFF this morning...
"This morning, EFF’s staff and concerned netizens across the country tuned into the live webcast of the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261). At least we tried to. Unfortunately, we were confronted with an incredibly poor webcast stream for much of the hearing. We find it ironic and deeply concerning that Congress is unable to successfully stream video of an event this important to all Internet users, even as they are debating a dangerous plan to change the Internet in fundamental ways and deputize Internet intermediaries to act like content police."
Another nice analysis of the ramifications of the bill, from the NYTimes.
Not only are there problems with how far it wants to restrict/remove freedoms, but the literal cost this would have on the government to put in place (and right now, that's just more debt).
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/firewall-law-could-infringe-on-free-speech.html
"China operates the world’s most elaborate and opaque system of Internet censorship. But Congress, under pressure to take action against the theft of intellectual property, is considering misguided legislation that would strengthen China’s Great Firewall and even bring major features of it to America.
The legislation — the Protect IP Act, which has been introduced in the Senate, and a House version known as the Stop Online Piracy Act — have an impressive array of well-financed backers, including the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Motion Picture Association of America, the American Federation of Musicians, the Directors Guild of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Screen Actors Guild. The bills aim not to censor political or religious speech as China does, but to protect American intellectual property. Alarm at the infringement of creative works through the Internet is justifiable. The solutions offered by the legislation, however, threaten to inflict collateral damage on democratic discourse and dissent both at home and around the world.
The bills would empower the attorney general to create a blacklist of sites to be blocked by Internet service providers, search engines, payment providers and advertising networks, all without a court hearing or a trial. The House version goes further, allowing private companies to sue service providers for even briefly and unknowingly hosting content that infringes on copyright — a sharp change from current law, which protects the service providers from civil liability if they remove the problematic content immediately upon notification. The intention is not the same as China’s Great Firewall, a nationwide system of Web censorship, but the practical effect could be similar."...
**read the rest at the link above**
Oh the irony.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/11/public-shut-out-stop-online-piracy-act-hearings-again
From the EFF this morning...
"This morning, EFF’s staff and concerned netizens across the country tuned into the live webcast of the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261). At least we tried to. Unfortunately, we were confronted with an incredibly poor webcast stream for much of the hearing. We find it ironic and deeply concerning that Congress is unable to successfully stream video of an event this important to all Internet users, even as they are debating a dangerous plan to change the Internet in fundamental ways and deputize Internet intermediaries to act like content police."
Another nice analysis of the ramifications of the bill, from the NYTimes.
Not only are there problems with how far it wants to restrict/remove freedoms, but the literal cost this would have on the government to put in place (and right now, that's just more debt).
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/firewall-law-could-infringe-on-free-speech.html
"China operates the world’s most elaborate and opaque system of Internet censorship. But Congress, under pressure to take action against the theft of intellectual property, is considering misguided legislation that would strengthen China’s Great Firewall and even bring major features of it to America.
The legislation — the Protect IP Act, which has been introduced in the Senate, and a House version known as the Stop Online Piracy Act — have an impressive array of well-financed backers, including the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Motion Picture Association of America, the American Federation of Musicians, the Directors Guild of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Screen Actors Guild. The bills aim not to censor political or religious speech as China does, but to protect American intellectual property. Alarm at the infringement of creative works through the Internet is justifiable. The solutions offered by the legislation, however, threaten to inflict collateral damage on democratic discourse and dissent both at home and around the world.
The bills would empower the attorney general to create a blacklist of sites to be blocked by Internet service providers, search engines, payment providers and advertising networks, all without a court hearing or a trial. The House version goes further, allowing private companies to sue service providers for even briefly and unknowingly hosting content that infringes on copyright — a sharp change from current law, which protects the service providers from civil liability if they remove the problematic content immediately upon notification. The intention is not the same as China’s Great Firewall, a nationwide system of Web censorship, but the practical effect could be similar."...
**read the rest at the link above**
0
Are republicans freaking stupid? Isn't this their third attempt recently to impose internet censorship?
There is no way Obama will let this pass. This is bound to be vetoed just like the other bills he has been vetoing.
Personally, I am disturbed we have so many congressmen who keep pushing for these "bills" however. Who are the idiots in our population who keep electing them?
There is no way Obama will let this pass. This is bound to be vetoed just like the other bills he has been vetoing.
Personally, I am disturbed we have so many congressmen who keep pushing for these "bills" however. Who are the idiots in our population who keep electing them?
0
Lishy1 wrote...
Are republicans freaking stupid? Isn't this their third attempt recently to impose internet censorship?There is no way Obama will let this pass. This is bound to be vetoed just like the other bills he has been vetoing.
Personally, I am disturbed we have so many congressmen who keep pushing for these "bills" however.
It is rumored he will veto at least this incarnation of the bill.
However, it's been tweaked in the past (to its present form aka SOPA titled version), and it will be tweaked and pushed again.
Let's look at who was present today, shall we?
http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/hear_11162011.html
Among the few witnesses present (and allowed) were reps from the MPAA, Pfizer, Mastercard. The rest were a few government and union related groups. All other attendees were prohibited, except to view/hear via a webcast that (as I mentioned above) went quite poorly.
They're letting in these people but shutting out dissenting opinions of any sort, right off the bat?
They know they can lock regular citizens out of hearing/seeing/learning of what's going down in there (at least in detail), and by gosh they're doing just that.
0
animefreak_usa
Child of Samael
Lishy1 wrote...
Are republicans freaking stupid? Isn't this their third attempt recently to impose internet censorship?There is no way Obama will let this pass. This is bound to be vetoed just like the other bills he has been vetoing.
Personally, I am disturbed we have so many congressmen who keep pushing for these "bills" however. Who are the idiots in our population who keep electing them?
United States Chamber of Commerce, the Motion Picture Association of America, the American Federation of Musicians, the Directors Guild of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Screen Actors Guild.
Ha.. those be all democrats funded groups.
It's not a democrat or republican thing baby.. it a money thing. Who is your main payer of your campaign. Who owns you. Unless you can push them out or get them afaid of there jobs being token away.. they will side with the money over the facts of the false idea of freedom.
0
gizgal wrote...
For those who haven't heard, today a bill is being proposed in Congress that would really ruin the neutral nature of the internet.From the EFF (source):
"The Internet Blacklist Legislation - known as PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House - is a threatening sequel to last year's COICA Internet censorship bill. Like its predecessor, this legislation invites Internet security risks, threatens online speech, and hampers Internet innovation. Urge your members of Congress to reject this Internet blacklist campaign in both its forms!
Big media and its allies in Congress are billing the Internet Blacklist Legislation as a new way to prevent online infringement. But innovation and free speech advocates know that this initiative is nothing more than a dangerous wish list that will compromise Internet security while doing little or nothing to encourage creative expression.
As drafted, the legislation would grant the government and private parties unprecedented power to interfere with the Internet's domain name system (DNS). The government would be able to force ISPs and search engines to redirect or dump users' attempts to reach certain websites' URLs. In response, third parties will woo average users to alternative servers that offer access to the entire Internet (not just the newly censored U.S. version), which will create new computer security vulnerabilities as the reliability and universality of the DNS evaporates.
It gets worse: Under SOPA's provisions, service providers (including hosting services) would be under new pressure to monitor and police their users’ activities. While PROTECT-IP targeted sites “dedicated to infringing activities,” SOPA targets websites that simply don’t do enough to track and police infringement (and it is not at all clear what would be enough). And it creates new powers to shut down folks who provide tools to help users get access to the Internet the rest of the world sees (not just the “U.S. authorized version”).
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has placed a hold on the Senate version of the bill, taking a principled stand against a very dangerous bill. But every Senator and Representative should be opposing the PROTECT IP Act and SOPA. Contact your members of Congress today to speak out!"
Big media and its allies in Congress are billing the Internet Blacklist Legislation as a new way to prevent online infringement. But innovation and free speech advocates know that this initiative is nothing more than a dangerous wish list that will compromise Internet security while doing little or nothing to encourage creative expression.
As drafted, the legislation would grant the government and private parties unprecedented power to interfere with the Internet's domain name system (DNS). The government would be able to force ISPs and search engines to redirect or dump users' attempts to reach certain websites' URLs. In response, third parties will woo average users to alternative servers that offer access to the entire Internet (not just the newly censored U.S. version), which will create new computer security vulnerabilities as the reliability and universality of the DNS evaporates.
It gets worse: Under SOPA's provisions, service providers (including hosting services) would be under new pressure to monitor and police their users’ activities. While PROTECT-IP targeted sites “dedicated to infringing activities,” SOPA targets websites that simply don’t do enough to track and police infringement (and it is not at all clear what would be enough). And it creates new powers to shut down folks who provide tools to help users get access to the Internet the rest of the world sees (not just the “U.S. authorized version”).
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has placed a hold on the Senate version of the bill, taking a principled stand against a very dangerous bill. But every Senator and Representative should be opposing the PROTECT IP Act and SOPA. Contact your members of Congress today to speak out!"
Sound bad enough already?
WRITE CONGRESS. They're not allowing dissenting parties to be present at the hearing today, just the corporations that want this bill to pass.
As a user of the Internet, don't you want it to stay free and neutral?
http://americancensorship.org/
Using this official site, enter your info (if you don't want to tell your address, just put your general town/city and a fake email) and a letter will be sent telling Congress that you, like so many others online, DON'T APPROVE of this restrictive and unfair bill!
Wondering why you haven't heard of this, even though it's being brought before Congress TODAY?
This major event is flying under the radar of major media because the people who "run"/own the mainstream media will benefit from this controlling bill; they aren't going to inform you that they're supporting this.
Don't let your voice go un-heard!
[size=10]/urgent advocacy message. I don't usually get this passionate about stuff, but this will certainly effect our community if it passes![/h]
haha oh yeah i did a thread like this. you guys spamm emailed me hate posts like crazy. here's my support. BITCH! but seriously yeah.
0
Tsurayu wrote...
Ugh...I'll say the same thing I've already said half-a-dozen times to other people today.
Stop worrying about it!
Congress won't take more than a glance at SOPA today. The deficit committee has only a week to figure out a plan before another government shut down. Suffice it to say, piracy just isn't a big deal right now. That isn't to say the y won't come back to SOPA later, but nothing will happen with it today. There are far bigger concerns.
Besides, that's not true that disscenting groups aren't part of the lobbyists. Microsoft, Google and Yahoo are all big lobbying groups and all three are anti-SOPA. So it isn't fair to say that there is a huge lobbying group that is pro-SOPA and that means we're all doomed. There are equally as many groups who are against SOPA. People need to stop panicking over this, especially when there are much more important matters to contend with.
so what you sayin? dont vote no? sometimes frenzied panic is a good. flood in enouge letters of dissaproval, and SOMEONE has to get the picture.
then agian, this america. land of screwing people over for money.
0
trekki859 wrote...
so what you sayin? dont vote no? sometimes frenzied panic is a good. flood in enouge letters of dissaproval, and SOMEONE has to get the picture. then agian, this america. land of screwing people over for money.
No. I'm not entirely sure what I want to say.
I just don't like how so many people think that somehow sending a generic, unoriginal, letter to their congressional representatives makes them feel like they've accomplished something.
I mean think about it, would you, as a Congressman want to read a generic, computer written, message saying "I am writing as your constituent in the Blah-blah Congressional district of Name Your State [...]" It is like getting useless spam mail in your e-mail. If people can't at least personalize their messages, or heaven forbid do something more drastic like actually rally and protest, then those people really need to stop complaining when things don't go their way.
0
animefreak_usa
Child of Samael
Actually my congressman is a corrupted pedophile.. and the dude before was a illiterate hick from the mountains who stole money to build a library in that county. Gotta love a region where you can be a sex offender and be the congressman of the republican capital of the nation... Obama got 9 % of the vote here.
Black fax, voice calls, tv ads... where the real protesting coming from.. lazy net users who only go outside from pizza and the new crap game won't cut it..
Funny enough im a republican like Lincoln/Eisenhower/Goldwater was... real republican.
Black fax, voice calls, tv ads... where the real protesting coming from.. lazy net users who only go outside from pizza and the new crap game won't cut it..
Funny enough im a republican like Lincoln/Eisenhower/Goldwater was... real republican.
0
Tsurayu wrote...
trekki859 wrote...
so what you sayin? dont vote no? sometimes frenzied panic is a good. flood in enouge letters of dissaproval, and SOMEONE has to get the picture. then agian, this america. land of screwing people over for money.
No. I'm not entirely sure what I want to say.
I just don't like how so many people think that somehow sending a generic, unoriginal, letter to their congressional representatives makes them feel like they've accomplished something.
I mean think about it, would you, as a Congressman want to read a generic, computer written, message saying "I am writing as your constituent in the Blah-blah Congressional district of Name Your State [...]" It is like getting useless spam mail in your e-mail. If people can't at least personalize their messages, or heaven forbid do something more drastic like actually rally and protest, then those people really need to stop complaining when things don't go their way.
An internet campaign by Tumblr resulted in over 87,000 calls to Congress. Sometimes, these things work.
