The Internet Blackout

[Pat8u]

So I guess escapist isn't blacking out tomorrow?

Bit of shame actually I think. In my opinion it seems only sites which take part of this are taking the threat of sopa seriously.

But well as it usually is profits > giving a damn.

Why would the Escapist bother going down? Almost all its visitors know SOPA and PIPA are bad and it's not a big enough site to attract mainstream media attention. Wikipedia is probably the site which will cause the biggest shockwaves, unless Google joins in. It's all about causing disruption and mking more people aware of the issue.

well tommorow would be a good time to black out because of zero punctuation and the traffic that brings

 

[Erttheking]

Wait what blackout? Am I missing something?

 

[illas]

If Google goes down for a day that could kill SOPA stone dead...

OT: singleplayer Minecraft beckons me onward...

 

[Tommeh Brownleh]

*Starts passing around candles*

Anyone care for a round of singing?

Sure. Now let me think of a song that isn't copyrighted.... oh yeah NONE.

 

[Irridium]

I just hate the whole thing because the anti-SOPA protests are so full of ignorance and misinformation that it just makes protesters look like a bunch of tools.

I agree that SOPA is a flawed piece of legislation and that it probably shouldn't be passed, but labeling it as a censorship bill makes you look like a supreme idiot. ENFORCING COPYRIGHT LAW IS NOT CENSORSHIP, the first amendment or any other free speech laws do not go hand in hand with general anarchy on the internet.

If I broke into your home, stole a bunch of your property, brought it over to my home and set up a shop selling your goods, would it make sense if I told you that you can't do anything about it because I have a right to freedom of speech?

That would require faith in the MPAA and the like to use this bill only for enforcing copyright law. They will not. The constantly abuse the DMCA to take things down that break no laws, regardless of if they violate copyright or not.

People are going on about the whole freedom of speech and censorship thing because these companies will try to censor things they simply don't like, or things they even think is infringing copyright of any kind. The way the bill (bills, if you include PIPA) is now, freedom of speech and censorship are really big concerns. Whether the people pushing the bill are aware of it or not.

 

[Durgiun]

I'll go to a porn-site, wax and then get pissed when I write in ''auto-erotic asphyxiation colonoscopy woodpecker sander'' into google expecting Wikipedia to work.

 

[Raddra]

Its back, its not been shelved.

http://torrentfreak.com/sopa-is-baaack-120117/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

They're trying to mess with us spreading yesses and no's so we don't know what is going on.

 

[annilator666]

i will do something maybe make a cannon or blow something up maybe both

 

[MisterGobbles]

I think it's a wonderful idea, it'll spread knowledge of the bill to those who wouldn't already know. However, I use Wikipedia everyday, so it's a bit of a nuisance for me.

 

[kebab4you]

http://gizmodo.com/5876984/the-mpaa-says-blackout-protests-are-an-abuse-of-power?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

The MPAA are saying that these blackouts being done by big websites are an abuse of power, and are being done to further their own corporate interests.

"It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today"
Oh I see but bribing politicians are perfectly fine for a company?! Just so they don't have to modernize their structure?

How you got any power is a mystery for me MPAA.

 

[Signa]

I just hate the whole thing because the anti-SOPA protests are so full of ignorance and misinformation that it just makes protesters look like a bunch of tools.

I agree that SOPA is a flawed piece of legislation and that it probably shouldn't be passed, but labeling it as a censorship bill makes you look like a supreme idiot. ENFORCING COPYRIGHT LAW IS NOT CENSORSHIP, the first amendment or any other free speech laws do not go hand in hand with general anarchy on the internet.

If I broke into your home, stole a bunch of your property, brought it over to my home and set up a shop selling your goods, would it make sense if I told you that you can't do anything about it because I have a right to freedom of speech?

companies will try to censor things they simply don't like, or things they even think is infringing copyright of any kind.

I understand this is what is scaring a lot of people, but as far as I can gather, this bill isn't changing legal definitions of what constitutes copyright infringement, there will still be such a thing as fair use, and if they abuse it, they're going to lose it.

No, you're right that it's not changing any of that. What it's changing is it's taking the power from the people who's job is to protect us (whether they do that or not is up for debate) and putting it in the hands of those who's job is to protect their bottom line. How this doesn't sound like lunacy to you is beyond me.

I also don't know what you mean about them losing it. It's not like the DMCA hasn't been raped over a barrel many times already. They ARE going to abuse it, and anyone without enough money for a lawyer isn't going to be able to call them out on it.

 

[Irridium]

I just hate the whole thing because the anti-SOPA protests are so full of ignorance and misinformation that it just makes protesters look like a bunch of tools.

I agree that SOPA is a flawed piece of legislation and that it probably shouldn't be passed, but labeling it as a censorship bill makes you look like a supreme idiot. ENFORCING COPYRIGHT LAW IS NOT CENSORSHIP, the first amendment or any other free speech laws do not go hand in hand with general anarchy on the internet.

If I broke into your home, stole a bunch of your property, brought it over to my home and set up a shop selling your goods, would it make sense if I told you that you can't do anything about it because I have a right to freedom of speech?

companies will try to censor things they simply don't like, or things they even think is infringing copyright of any kind.

I understand this is what is scaring a lot of people, but as far as I can gather, this bill isn't changing legal definitions of what constitutes copyright infringement, there will still be such a thing as fair use, and if they abuse it, they're going to lose it.

They've been abusing the DMCA pretty much since its inception in 1999. And that law is still here.

You can see this abuse the most on youtube, where videos are constantly taken down regardless of if they violate any law or not, by either the MPAA, RIAA, any other corporation, or any other person who feels like being a dick.

The people pushing this bill have proven that they will abuse whatever power they're given, and use it to shut down things they don't like. Regardless of if those things violate copyright or not.

 

[BlazeRaider]

*checks list*

I'll be playing neopets.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

http://www.3dsbuzz.com/

3DS Buzz is already down in protest.

That's..not that dramatic, to be honest, it's like a local convenience store trying to declare independence. The fact that google searches are built into firefox and chrome URL bars is a bit more important. However, a vast proportion of sites that people actually use for content, not methods of accessing content, are still up. I mean, seriously, no one actually gets news or entertainment from wiki, reddit or google, they just find links to other places from there. The other places will still be up.

I know. This protest is turning out to be pretty pathetic. Even with Wikipedia participating, most people still probably won't even notice that this is going on. Particularly the people who are still in the dark about these bills... i.e. the ones who need to know.

Eh, maybe Google's planning to make it a surprise. (He said, with the wishful-thinking tone of an unpopular kid thinking the other kids are just avoiding him because they're planning a surprise party and not just because they don't want to be around him.)

I agree that SOPA is a flawed piece of legislation and that it probably shouldn't be passed, but labeling it as a censorship bill makes you look like a supreme idiot. ENFORCING COPYRIGHT LAW IS NOT CENSORSHIP, the first amendment or any other free speech laws do not go hand in hand with general anarchy on the internet.

This is true. Even if the law were passed and abused to hell and back by Big Media, calling it "censorship" does send a misleading message and does seem to be little more than a ploy to get more attention. Then again, what term would one use that conveys the message "law that could easily be exploited by Big Media to silence negative opinions of its products and stifle competition from independent content creators"?

...Yeah, actually now that I think about it, "censorship" does sound more or less correct.

 

[SPARTANXIII]

Kind of irrelevant, seeing how SOPA hasn't passed (For now anyway).

Still, a good way to show how any censorship on the net will end up. I have the list here for people to look at:
http://sopastrike.com/on-strike/

The few, the brave, the hateful of Youtube takedowns

If there is a list of Z list internet sites, I think that list has them all. Other then wiki, I have no idea who any of the sites are.

Really? Never head of Facebook?
Or Twitter?
Or Tumblr?
Or the CIA? (Dead sirius, the CIA website is here)

Besides, there are real web addresses here.
What web addresses do you own?
(Please bare in mind these are WEB addresses, not home addresses!)

 

[Pyramid Head]

I've only heard talk so far, the only thing that is for sure is that the English Wikipedia is going to be taken offline Wednesday for 24 hours in protest, and some people are calling it silly. Twitter may have a point, the motion picture group in favor of SOPA can suck my cock for helping create this massive problem in the first place. But that's just me, i may be a little behind.

 

[ResonanceSD]

http://www.3dsbuzz.com/

3DS Buzz is already down in protest.

That's..not that dramatic, to be honest, it's like a local convenience store trying to declare independence. The fact that google searches are built into firefox and chrome URL bars is a bit more important. However, a vast proportion of sites that people actually use for content, not methods of accessing content, are still up. I mean, seriously, no one actually gets news or entertainment from wiki, reddit or google, they just find links to other places from there. The other places will still be up.

I was just listing another website doing what it can.

What have you done that is of any importance, at last they did what they could.

I've secured a well-paying job with News Corporation. I'd call that important =D All I'm saying is that no one is quaking in terror that a site dedicated to the 3DS is going offline for a few hours.

 

[ResonanceSD]

EDIT: Double post, -_- delete.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

http://www.3dsbuzz.com/

3DS Buzz is already down in protest.

That's..not that dramatic, to be honest, it's like a local convenience store trying to declare independence. The fact that google searches are built into firefox and chrome URL bars is a bit more important. However, a vast proportion of sites that people actually use for content, not methods of accessing content, are still up. I mean, seriously, no one actually gets news or entertainment from wiki, reddit or google, they just find links to other places from there. The other places will still be up.

I was just listing another website doing what it can.

What have you done that is of any importance, at last they did what they could.

I've secured a well-paying job with News Corporation. I'd call that important =D All I'm saying is that no one is quaking in terror that a site dedicated to the 3DS is going offline for a few hours.

I'm not sure if I'd admit that around here; people hate Newscorp on this site, although they tend to mistakenly call it Fox News when talking about its TV arm[footnote]even when they're actually referring to the local stations that are owned by Newscorp, but separate from the national Fox News.[/footnote], and The Daily Mail when they're talking about the news papers. Plus, I doubt Mr. Murdoch would approve of one of his employes publicly /dis/approving of SOPA.

 

[Von Strimmer]

Actually SOPA is still kicking around, allegedly it has not been shelved
http://torrentfreak.com/sopa-is-baaack-120117/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter