SOPA hearing yesterday: There are not enough /facepalms in the world

[instantbenz]

But hey, its you guys voting these fuckers into place.

No, it isn't us. It's middle-aged people concerned about their children. It's elderly people who have been told by the golf partner of these elderly congressmen at their weekly bridge night.

I would be so bold as to say no one on the escapist is the type of person to (at least knowingly) vote in someone who is opposed to a freer internet.

 

[Flac00]

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!

William, you were wrong. They can apparently take away our freedom.

Do you know what's ironic? That picture would be illegal due to the laws that SOPA would enforce.

 

[GigaHz]

I'm from the future where SOPA has passed through legislation.

All mediocre internet personalities have purged themselves from existence. Everyone has became richer AND happier as a result.

The economic crisis resolved itself, Peace was established in the middle east, famine was abolished, and we made contact with an Alien civilization. Oh and naturally, we discovered time travel.

I hope the backing for SOPA is as strong this time as it was before I traveled back in time.

 

[Irridium]

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!

William, you were wrong. They can apparently take away our freedom.

Do you know what's ironic? That picture would be illegal due to the laws that SOPA would enforce.

Yep. If Fox or Comedy Central or Matt Groening (or whoever the hell owns futurama) doesn't like it, they can say it infringes copyright, and get the entire site shut down. And could be enough to throw whoever linked it into prison for five years, since SOPA makes this kind of stuff a felony.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

SOPA is an intentionally retarded distraction put forward by those in power to distract us from the important legislation they are putting through.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2011/12/2011121643213177164.html

There's their real design. Their real goal.

I have refused to believe it even as I have seen Obama push for Corporatist policy and be allowed his aims yet be blocked in any Populist design he has claimed to want. This is the final straw though. If pressured I must concede that our economy is now almost totally Corporatist and this will give us a military state to match.

Fascism didn't come to America with a Bible in one hand and an American flag in the other, the flag was on a pin on the president's lapel and the Bibles were in the hands of his supposed opposition.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

It pains me to, say, see people who have zero hands-on experience in the field of education make extremely important decisions about the future of education in our country. Or the internet, in the case of SOPA.

As both a secondary teacher and an internet enthusiast, I salute you.

This is why I teach at a private school. There are standards we have to meet in order to maintain our ability to issue state-recognized diplomas, but there's still MUCH less red tape and bullshit to sift through compared to what I hear from my friends who have taught in public schools.

It's too bad that there isn't some way to take the internet out of the hands of public policy.

 

[4RM3D]

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!

William, you were wrong. They can apparently take away our freedom.

Do you know what's ironic? That picture would be illegal due to the laws that SOPA would enforce.

Yep. If Fox or Comedy Central or Matt Groening (or whoever the hell owns futurama) doesn't like it, they can say it infringes copyright, and get the entire site shut down. And could be enough to throw whoever linked it into prison for five years, since SOPA makes this kind of stuff a felony.

And suddenly everyone on the forum is named Anonymous and is using a public proxy to make it appear as he is living in Zimbabwe.

Also, even if SOPA is happening, good luck enforcing it on people outside of the USA.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

I think at this point america should tear the entire system down, have a massive survey on the smartest people in the country and only let those people vote on how the new system will work.

 

[saintdane05]

Here is how I think about the hearing:


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[Asbobitus]

would've sweared it was in phoenix

 

[Agente L]

As a wise man once said...

They are just a bunch of pretentious old men playing at running the world. But the world left them behind long ago.

 

[Irridium]

So, seems Firefox users have a bit of a failsafe if SOPA passes.

http://lifehacker.com/5869665/desopa-for-firefox-bypasses-sopa-dns-blocking

Just thought I'd share this.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

Anybody in the government that has more power than the average citizen of the country should be REQUIRED to have a good understanding of modern technology, and in depth understanding and pior experience of ANY issue whatsoever they have any say for, be it technology, ecomomics, or the mating rituals of narwhals.

While we are at it, every one of them should be nonpartisan, people should be elected solely on their merit, not if they are arbitrarily pro-this or that.

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!

William, you were wrong. They can apparently take away our freedom.

Do you know what's ironic? That picture would be illegal due to the laws that SOPA would enforce.

Yep. If Fox or Comedy Central or Matt Groening (or whoever the hell owns futurama) doesn't like it, they can say it infringes copyright, and get the entire site shut down. And could be enough to throw whoever linked it into prison for five years, since SOPA makes this kind of stuff a felony.

And suddenly everyone on the forum is named Anonymous and is using a public proxy to make it appear as he is living in Zimbabwe.

Also, even if SOPA is happening, good luck enforcing it on people outside of the USA.

On the plus side, you could probably get FOX's site shut down too. Pretty sure EVERY website would violate at least 1 part of SOPA.

 

[MistahFixIt]

So, seems Firefox users have a bit of a failsafe if SOPA passes.

http://lifehacker.com/5869665/desopa-for-firefox-bypasses-sopa-dns-blocking

Just thought I'd share this.

As it was, as it shall always be. DRM and anti-piracy measures don't actually stop pirates; it just makes it more and more draconian for your legitimate customers and users to do business with you.

So in other words, anti-piracy measures only seem to punish those who play by the rules.

 

[Irridium]

Apparently the markup for tomorrow has been postponed.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111220/11175317144/lamar-smith-says-just-joking-about-tomorrow-sopa-markup-postponed.shtml

So seems it's back to next year.

Or, I should say, back to the future.

 

[LordFisheh]

On the plus side, you could probably get FOX's site shut down too. Pretty sure EVERY website would violate at least 1 part of SOPA.

Doubtful. The rule of law doesn't apply to friends of those with power.

 

[Terminate421]

Guess what.

Escapist will be shut down too, why? Look at your avatars. Half of them are copyrighted images, in other words, we're all fucked because of that.

 

[OneCatch]

I think this sums it up pretty well. Why are they allowed to vote on stuff they know nothing about, maybe they should look into measures preventing uninformed clods making decisions about stuff they are baffled by.

I may have pinched that cartoon for future use...