The SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) Discission Thread

[flowerpower]

Anyone hear about SOPA?

Here's some of what wikipedia says about it:
"The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R.3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011.
The House Judiciary Committee held hearings on SOPA on November 16 and December 15, 2011. A vote is presently scheduled for Wednesday, December 21."

"The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites outside U.S. jurisdiction accused of infringing on copyrights, or of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.[SUP][4][/SUP] After delivering a court order, the U.S. Attorney-General could require US-directed Internet service providers, ad networks such as Google and payment processors such as PayPal or Visa to suspend doing business with sites found to infringe on federal criminal intellectual property laws and take "technically feasible and reasonable measures" to prevent access to the infringing site. The Attorney-General could also bar search engines from displaying links to the sites."

"The second section increases the penalties for streaming video and for selling counterfeit drugs, military materials or consumer goods. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a felony."

"Supporters of the bill include the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America,Macmillan Publishers, Viacom, and various other companies and unions in the cable, movie, and music industries. Supporters also include trademark-dependent companies such as Nike, L'Oréal, Acushnet Company, NBCUniversal, Pfizer, Ford Motor Company, Revlon, NBA, Macmillan, the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Governors Association, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Attorneys General, the Better Business Bureau, and the National Consumers League.

"Opponents of the bill include Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, AOL, LinkedIn, eBay, Mozilla Corporation, the Brookings Institution, theWikimedia Foundation,[SUP][93][/SUP] and human rights organizations such as Reporters Without Borders,[SUP][94][/SUP] the Electronic Frontier Foundation, theACLU, and Human Rights Watch"...
and me, of course.

I know a lot of us here on mfk use, and rely on, the internet in our daily lives. Do you think that this bill, and others like it will have an effect on how we communicate online? Are the days of "free internet" in the US coming to an end?
Please share your thoughts.

 

[Wiggles92]

It will definitely have an effect because it will allow for these corporations to freely censor things at their will. It doesn't take much to see that those who will profit for the bill are supporting this bill, and those who will be hurt and/or like keeping everything nice and uncensored are against it. I personally have a big problem with the MPA and RIAA; they're probably the worst out of the supporters. Heck, most of the musicians and movie makers that they "protect" don't even like them. I'm not quite sure why car companies such as Ford need in on this; one certainly doesn't see many (if any) Chevrolet trucks with Ford emblems on them being passed off as Fords.

I would expect an Anonymous and/or LulzSec attack on these groups in no time at all; this seems to be the kind of thing that results in their attacks after all.

 

[krichardson]

Interesting,don't know how long this will be allowed to remain open but thanks for posting it.

 

[bbortko]

It sounds great on paper but it would be a tremendous financial burden on companies such as google and personally i can't see someone convincing me that it is google's responsibility do anything other than search for what I tell it. It is my responsibility to know what is right and what is wrong and it is usually obvious. Just another example of d.c. wasting our tax dollars protecting the interests of corporations while ignoring the interests of typical American. I personally find it disgusting that they would waste 1 second on this when there are much more pressing issues.

 

[Wiggles92]

Interesting,don't know how long this will be allowed to remain open but thanks for posting it.

I would imagine that it will stay open as long as we keep it clean since it relates to the Internet in its entirety rather than just politics.

It sounds great on paper but it would be a tremendous financial burden on companies such as google and personally i can't see someone convincing me that it is google's responsibility do anything other than search for what I tell it. It is my responsibility to know what is right and what is wrong and it is usually obvious. Just another example of d.c. wasting our tax dollars protecting the interests of corporations while ignoring the interests of typical American. I personally find it disgusting that they would waste 1 second on this when there are much more pressing issues.

That's politicians for you; they tend to overly focus on things that don't matter.

 

[flowerpower]

I agree, the list of those opposed versus those in favor is very telling.
Fraud, copyright infringement and identity theft are not new phenomenons on the internet, so why the recent push for regulation? Why the need to suppress this tool of communication and free speech? When i think back on the past year or so, i immediately recall Wikileaks, anonymous, Gary McKinnon, the Arab spring, occupy wall street- all which took effect online.
Wikileaks exposed true facts about the level of immorality and corruption within our government.
'Anonymous' successfully sabotaged the websites of several multinational corporations and caused untold millions+ in losses all to promote a morally sound ideological message.
Gary McKinnon hacked into NASA and is living in fear of extradition to the US where he could face life in prison.
The Arab spring movement was effective in overthrowing the dictator of Egypt, Hasni Mubarak, and is the prototypical internet-driven, grassroots movement of our era.
Occupy movements use the same social networking resources to gain attention and support. They have provoked dialogue and broadened peoples awareness with regards to the extent of corruption in government and the crimes being perpetrated against us.
Come to think of it, the internet is more of a weapon than a tool.

 

[Warborg]

Oh my goodness!! I can't believe I'm on the same side as ACLU. What is this world coming to?

 

[Wiggles92]

I agree, the list of those opposed versus those in favor is very telling.
Fraud, copyright infringement and identity theft are not new phenomenons on the internet, so why the recent push for regulation? Why the need to suppress this tool of communication and free speech? When i think back on the past year or so, i immediately recall Wikileaks, anonymous, Gary McKinnon, the Arab spring, occupy wall street- all which took effect online.
Wikileaks exposed true facts about the level of immorality and corruption within our government.
'Anonymous' successfully sabotaged the websites of several multinational corporations and caused untold millions+ in losses all to promote a morally sound ideological message.
Gary McKinnon hacked into NASA and is living in fear of extradition to the US where he could face life in prison.
The Arab spring movement was effective in overthrowing the dictator of Egypt, Hasni Mubarak, and is the prototypical internet-driven, grassroots movement of our era.
Occupy movements use the same social networking resources to gain attention and support. They have provoked dialogue and broadened peoples awareness with regards to the extent of corruption in government and the crimes being perpetrated against us.
Come to think of it, the internet is more of a weapon than a tool.

Things turned violent when the Egyptian government censored and then turned off the Internet for their country, and that government is no longer in power; up until then the protests had been fairly peaceful. But, hey, the whole "violent protests leading to war" thing is already covered by National Defense Authorization Act, so our government will do whatever they want at this point. And now I'm straying a little too far into politics (oops)...

The free and open Internet is really the last domain for truly free speech these days, so I find this bill to be a threat to free speech and to advancing our country.

 

[plecostic]

It's funny how nobody protested companies profiting before the invention of the internet. All of a sudden now people want to be john conner and the resistance lol The internet was never intended to be free and open nor was it intended to be for your leisure. "last domain of free speech" ha ha ha that's funny. Silly pirates tricks are for kids.

 

[Spartacus]

Haven't you heard?Bootlegging is not illegal.A recent ruling says once it is for sale in a store,it is now in the public domain and can be claimed by any who find it.The musicians were told to get off their fat asses and tour to make money.(literally).......and plecostic-didn't people protest in the american revolution and during the 60's,and by people,I don't mean you,you cynical bastard.