SOPA Storms Back

[cheese_wizington]

Can someone just shoot this fuck? Seriously, there has to be at least ONE crazy asshole who can just kill this guy.

Christ politicians are awful.

 

[The Floating Nose]

Why are they still talking about passing it ? Just wrap it in a carpet throw it down a bridge and let it sink SOPA AND PIPA ARE NOT GOOD IDEAS !!!

It honestly pains me that there are also some jobs on the line like the people from That Guy With The Glasses...i am really not a fan of their videos (i won't start talking why i don't like their site) but it honestly pains me that if it passes, well they won't have a job anymore. Making videos is what they do for a living and if it passes well it would honestly hurt me to see their site shut down.

 

[Kuroneko97]

Well guys. I'll spend my time mourning this by listening to pirated music. I get this feeling that the bill WILL get passed, and after the enormous shitfest that comes forth it'll either be reversed to control to population, or some guy from the government will come out and say:

 

[Marmooset]

I hope to God this thing never passes, and if it ever does, then the massive backlash will send legislators back-peddling.

At least, I hope that's what happens, 'cause I don't have the money to leave the country...

Those are the kind of bills that get passed hereabouts. This country tries to scare you with emotional issues like enforced gay marriage and requiring expectant mothers to carry around an abortion for 24 hours before considering having one, but those issues are a smokescreen. If nobody, nobody wants a bill passed, yet somehow it's before congress, it's time to be afraid. Because nobodies tend to be very powerful around here.

 

[CulixCupric]

Good lord, time to move to England.

my thoughts exactly. however, it is imperative to first learn English-English, not American-English.

OT: and there is still PIPA to also deal with.

 

[blindthrall]

I'm certainly going to vote against everybody who supports it. For all the good that'll do.

On the other end of the responsibility spectrum, where's Anonymous when you need them?

 

[blindthrall]

...Did they seriously pull out the race card?
SOPA, you continue to amuse my disappointment. I hope your houses spontaneously fall down on top of you.

The irony is that "foreign thieves", fictitious entities or not, aren't the ones to be punished by preventing US citizens from accessing a free internet.

It's sure going to open up a market for people selling an uncensored internet to us, though; certain entrepreneurs are already setting plans in motion to capitalize on our government's foolhardiness. Way to combat piracy by helping to invent a new form of it, Congress. Truly, you are a boon to the people.

I'd also be interested to see how many people would flat out leave the country over this.

So the future will have internet speakeasies? I wonder if a private booth will be available, because if they don't sequester the porn seekers, I ain't going in there.

 

[Zeekar]

I wish I could properly explain how the US Congress works to The Escapist community. How many of you actually know what markup is? I can tell you that markup is NOT where proponents of this bill want it to go. I can tell you that its chances of revival in this congressional term are slim and that this is a huge setback.

But you won't believe me.

Because the internet is for OMG!, not intelligent conversation.

As someone who works in legislative law, SOPA and PIPA (by proxy) are dead. Of course, anything can rear its head again, but for now it is over. Good job. You people made my work SOOOOOOOOO much easier.

Thanks.

Thank you. Now I don't have to say it.

 

[zehydra]

Damn stubborn politicians, just let SOPA die.

"To enact legislation that protects consumers, businesses and jobs from foreign thieves who steal America's intellectual property, we will continue to bring together industry representatives and Members to find ways to combat online piracy,"

So now its only us foreign people that pirate then is it?

The idea is that foreign pirates are outside of US jurisdiction, so we can't prosecute them. This was the politicians' way of solving that problem.

But of course, they're doing it all wrong.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Damn stubborn politicians, just let SOPA die.

"To enact legislation that protects consumers, businesses and jobs from foreign thieves who steal America's intellectual property, we will continue to bring together industry representatives and Members to find ways to combat online piracy,"

So now its only us foreign people that pirate then is it?

The idea is that foreign pirates are outside of US jurisdiction, so we can't prosecute them. This was the politicians' way of solving that problem.

But of course, they're doing it all wrong.

True, but given that the US has successfully gotten an extradition notice for a uk citezen on the grounds of copyright infringement one must wonder why they need legislation like SOPA and PIPA to go after pirates outside of US jurisdiction.

 

[z121231211]

Learn programming because they could. Quite easily. It just would cost money and no site wants to spend money doing such a thing.

I know I must of heard wrong when I heard that entire sites can be shut down "without due process." By all means encourage sites programming in anti-piracy things into websites. But at least have site shut-downs go through some kind of judiciary thing requiring evidence and possibly give the site a chance to remove said content.

From the looks of it, it completely undermines the whole "Innocent until proven guilty" thing we have going on. It would then become "You've been accused of copyright infringement, you are now guilty and face all charges until you prove yourself innocent."

 

[spartan231490]

SOPA will pass and then be repealed after the consequences are fully realized. Did anyone expect it to be completely gone?

Do you really think it will be repealed? The NDAA is still going strong and is still much worse. The "Protect Children from online pornography act" is far worse than SOPA ever was and is on the floor right now. Could be wrong about the name, but it's close to that. The fact is, that a worse law than we could ever imagine will be on the books within the next 2 years regardless of what we do. With the NDAA on the books, it is a very short period of time before some form of censorship is put on the internet. It's the next step. Without a censorship of the internet, the NDAA cannot be used effectively, meaning that if they put it on the books, they will need to put an internet censor on the books to use it. It is the next obvious step.

 

[Velentr]

God I really hoped that we had won that one... on a similar note:

Have any of you guys heard of ACTA? Basically it's SOPA on speed, and it's being drawn up in EU, and it has been since 2008 WITHOUT the knowledge of the populations of the countries involved...

Show us your surport- surport a free internet-STOP ACTA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bAkpsRLE

 

[Wintermoot]

I expected another SOPA/PROTECT IP ish bill was going to be announced but not the original also wasn't SOPA/PROTECT IP shelved ?

At any rate, I knew SOPA was far from over. I didn't partake in any "the bill's dead, w00t!" celebrations yesterday.

me neither I was afraid PROTECT IP was still discussed.

 

[Wintermoot]

God I really hoped that we had won that one... on a similar note:

Have any of you guys heard of ACTA? Basically it's SOPA on speed, and it's being drawn up in EU, and it has been since 2008 WITHOUT the knowledge of the populations of the countries involved...

Show us your surport- surport a free internet-STOP ACTA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bAkpsRLE

I live in the EU and I never knew about it until this whole SOPA debacle.
I think it,s disgusting they discus this stuff without informing the people.
PS
if you want to post a video it,s

 

[solar065]

God I really hoped that we had won that one... on a similar note:

Have any of you guys heard of ACTA? Basically it's SOPA on speed, and it's being drawn up in EU, and it has been since 2008 WITHOUT the knowledge of the populations of the countries involved...

Show us your surport- surport a free internet-STOP ACTA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bAkpsRLE

This is a common misconception. America and Japan are the driving forces behind ACTA. In fact, the EU is one of the major players that hasn't signed on to it.

But you're right, it's damn dodgy. Considering it's being done in complete secret. When a group requested information on the treaty via the Freedom of Information Act in 2009, it was denied by the US Government in the interest of national security. Apparently a go-to phrase for them.

Some information has been made public via wikileaks though. I also find it amusing that it's been attracting criticism from most processionals; a group of over 75 law professors sent a joint letter damming ACTA to the White House. Enjoy.

http://www.wcl.american.edu/pijip/go/blog-post/academic-sign-on-letter-to-obama-on-acta

 

[Boskone]

Looks like Smith is getting paid! This guy is making you Americans look really bad. I hope this all sorts out.

 

[Revolutionary]

As a dirty thieving foreigner, this makes me laugh at the pure ignorance of Mr. smith. However it also scares me shitless of what twits like him might try next.

 

[warrenEBB]

(I think it's important to maintain the line between theft of actual property and infringing conceptual rights).

The problem is that the distinction is one based on personal belief. (...)

Actually, no, I believe there is clear legal precedent that copyright infringement is NOT theft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement#Theft
:
"Courts have distinguished between copyright infringement and theft, holding, for instance, in the United States Supreme Court case Dowling v. United States (1985) that bootleg phonorecords did not constitute stolen property and that "interference with copyright does not easily equate with theft, conversion, or fraud. The Copyright Act even employs a separate term of art to define one who misappropriates a copyright... 'an infringer of the copyright.'""

I think it is common to use the word "theft," because it is inflammatory. but it is not correct, and I hope to stick to correct descriptions of the 'crime.'

it's easy to agree that thievery is wrong. I wouldn't ask "theives" over for dinner.
But when i infringe a copyright, I am not a thief. I wouldn't mind inviting "infringers" over for dinner.