U.S. Congress Shelves SOPA

w00tage

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Zachary Amaranth said:
Miles000 said:
The PROTECT IP act is a Senate bill. SOPA was a House bill.
That means a completely different set of people are in charge of it.
SOPA was dropped to take attention away from PIPA!
To go anywhere, PIPA needs a House equivalent.
Yeah but that's a process issue only. Bills can originate in either House or Senate. This is the best chance to stop both bills, but we have to stay on it until they're dead and buried, or one or the other will pop back up the instant nobody's watching.
 

Metalrocks

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wow. im still rubbing my eyes, but did i read correctly??? the politicians objected to this SOPA crap?? they actually did something right. i think i cant sleep tonight because i cant process that what i have read now :p lol
 

lord.jeff

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Xanthious said:
Well looks like all the fuss was for nothing and it turns out the sky, is indded, not falling after all. The bill never had a chance from the get go of making it out of The House (as I said it wouldn't multiple times over). I won't dispute it was horrible but it has absolutely ZERO chance of being put into law.

I guess now the internet can take a rest and get themselves ready for the next Bill/Law that gets them all in a collective tizzy and screaming about the end of days. At least watching people grossly over react is amusing I suppose. . . .
I agree and I think all this doom saying over the past years and likely into the next few is just going to comeback and bite us in the ass when a voice is really needed.
 

The Virgo

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YES YES YES. I hate piracy and I want there to be a way to remove it, but SOPA was not the way to do that. Giving corporations the ability to just close down whatever they accuse of pirating is just bad.

So, everybody: CHEERS! :D And here's to the internet being not being totally controlled ... for at least a little longer ... :)
 

AstylahAthrys

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Okay, quick question now that SOPA is essentially dead. What are the primary differences between PIPA and SOPA? I've heard PIPA is bad, too, but SOPA has been in the spotlight so much more that I'm not so sure what PIPA contains.
 

noobium

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Apr 26, 2010
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We may have won this battle but the war is still not over. Next we must conquer the PIPA. Who's with me bothers!
 

Astoria

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Well we can breathe easy for now but only until they think of a new way to try to sneak this in. I have nothing against trying to control piracy but what this bill was proposing was stupid and would've done just as much harm as good, if not more. Congress can you take your time and think of a good bill this time, please?
 

Steve the Pocket

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Miles000 said:
SOPA isn't dead!

It's simply been hidden under the rug until people look away again.
The only way to kill it, at this stage, is to vote out it's founder! Rep Lamar S. Smith. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_S._Smith]

PIPA is still going ahead!

The PROTECT IP act is a Senate bill. SOPA was a House bill.
That means a completely different set of people are in charge of it.
SOPA was dropped to take attention away from PIPA!
Sadly, it seems to be working...

One the positive side though...
Wikipedia is joining the blackout! [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71500.html]

Don't let this think we've won. It's another scam to get us to drop our guards!
Just like the removal of DNS. This hasn't solved anything!

EDIT: Imgur is joining the blackout, along with many smaller sites!
Quoting this because it needs to be reiterated as many times as possible in this thread. I hope the SOPAStrike.org has enough time to edit their site and change their domain to PIPAStrike.org before the blackout goes live. Or more accurately, goes dead.
 

alandavidson

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Thanks for the positive feedback, the business side is something people rarely look at.


w00tage said:
Re your take on pirates affecting you personally though, I have trouble believing that free publicity is bad for you, unless you're in the position where you wouldn't be receiving any recognition.
As far as free publicity, I have no issues with people uploading clips to YouTube and posting pictures as memes or whatever, because you're right in the sense that it actually helps sales. In fact, I actually encourage it, and have listed some of my shorts as "Creative Commons" for that very reason.

The issue comes in the form of sales vs. piracy. The best way to explain it is to use an example (and you just thought you didn't have to do story problems in math anymore!. I'll use a hypothetical film as to not break the forum guidelines.

I play the role of "Irish" in Half-Dollar Harry Goes to the Moon. It has a SAG low-budget agreement, meaning that I get paid around $500 per day on set (could get into the weird 30% taxation and paying your agent, etc, but that's not really the point of the illustration). According to the agreement, I am entitled to residuals from DVD sales, Television broadcasts, and streaming ad revenue. The numbers work to where I get around 2 cents per DVD sale, and 1 cent per TV or internet viewer. That's nicely bundled at the end of the month and sent to me in a paycheck.

But here's where piracy comes in. Let's say that Harry does really well, and around 1 million people buy the DVD in a month, and 1 million copies are downloaded via a pirate torrent in a month. That's a total of $20,000 that I never see, and need to make payments and go into savings, etc (there are many times that you live off of your savings as an actor because there is no work for you for a while). That's where piracy directly hurts and effects me. Direct loss of income. The best way I can really put is this: you're working, and you only get half of your paycheck because someone stole your product.

Don't get me wrong, I am very pro-streaming and YouTube, and I think that more studios should offer more content for free. Just on a personal note, I have bought more albums and movies based off stuff that was on YouTube than any other source. The marketing studies have shown that people will buy your product more if you offer some of it for free.

So if I make a movie, and you upload a clip that you really like to YouTube, or take my face and make it into a meme, or post a photo from the film online I'm not going to say anything because I know that it's actually helping to boost sales. But if you upload the whole movie, or make a torrent for it, I'll probably email you and talk with you about it, and ask you to take it down. Seriously, I don't like involving lawyers. If I have to, I will, but it's not the first step I make.

I hope that explained things for you, and it was clear enough (I have a tendency to get a little jumbled sometimes).
 

Canadamus Prime

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Jun 17, 2009
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I wouldn't be celebrating if I were you. Think of the kind of reactionary extremist wackos that would propose this kind of nonsense, and now remember that you've got some of them in your government right now.
 

AnotherAvatar

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The Cool Kid said:
Sizzle Montyjing said:
The Cool Kid said:
This is disgusting. Almost all the criticisms were based on lies. The fact that this is seen as some sort of victory is appauling and shows how few have bothered to read the bill and how mass ignorance has controlled the internet and will simply harm the industries we love so much.
...
Y'know what, i won't even bother.

OP: YESSSS!!!
This is good news.
Good news indeed.
ZeroMachine said:
Diablo1099 said:
And in the spirit of this win, I will post Copyrighted material.
Play it again Bison, Play it again...
I realize you already posted it, but still...


Now that we got that out of the way...

The Cool Kid said:
This is disgusting. Almost all the criticisms were based on lies. The fact that this is seen as some sort of victory is appauling and shows how few have bothered to read the bill and how mass ignorance has controlled the internet and will simply harm the industries we love so much.
Please, kindly explain exactly what you mean.
Here's an extract from a thread I did:

Did you ever read the actual Bill that was proposed?
Here it is: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr3261ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr3261ih.pdf

If you read through that you may be surprised at the realisation that almost all the points made by the opposition towards SOPA is simply wrong.

There were claims that SOPA could be enacted without any need for evidence, or very loose evidence.
Wrong - Section 103.4 (B) (ii) & (iii) clearly state you need evidence

There were claims that SOPA could be enacted with no consequences.
Wrong - see above and Section 103.6

There were claims that SOPA would not allow any defence against it being enacted.
Wrong - Section 103.5

There were claims that SOPA would remove freedom of speech.
Wrong - there is nothing in the Bill that even vaguely supports this accusation.

Surprised?

In short, you were all lied to and the result will be that the gaming, film and music industry will lose billions due to people not bothering to read what they were so happy to criticise.
Okay... let's go through this shall we?

Response 1: Yeah, because authorities have never planted false evidence to get someone they want put away.

Response 2: Sure, but that doesn't mean the site won't go down for a set period of time, and while they can sue for damages that's still a rough position to put someone in to the point where they may just be forced to back down by the pressure. The Church of Scientology throws out false court cases left and right (though I think after a while they got an order from the court to stop, could be wrong) to scare off nay sayers.

Response 3: I hadn't heard you couldn't make an appeal anywhere, but all the same this portion makes me like the bill less because it seems to encourage what I mentioned above, the hassling of innocent websites.

Response 4: Anytime you give someone the power to shut down a full website that's limiting freedom of speech... I mean isn't that kind of a duh?

Final words: While you may not like piracy, possibly because you're rich and have never wanted anything you couldn't have, I really do, and so does the majority of this country I'd wager (as the gap between the rich and the poor widens). I view file sharing, and lets call it that, because that's what it is, is a great thing for humanity and the advancement of our arts.

I'm a musician, I produce and mix music, and I can tell you right now that every musician I know actually loves file sharing. File sharing makes our songs available to people, who then become fans, and then go to shows, which is where the artists in the industry really make there money. The only people in the industry who don't like piracy are the millionaire musicians who got rich before the internet and are told by their record companies that piracy is reducing their massive stacks of cash, and of course the record companies who are the one's that really get all the money spent on music. Record companies that don't really do anything for the product except put up the money to advertise and release it. Now you start charing for that music, with no alternatives, good bands never get found because it becomes only what you can buy on beatport, and then no one will go to shows for lack of cash or knowledge of all the great music out there. Neither of those things are good for musicians or the art form.

The film and game industries may not be the same, but I'm still willing to bet that many people have gotten a shared game for a demo and then bought it (I know I have many times in the past), same with movies I'd wager, not all the time, but occasionally I know for a fact it happens. Plus, any true artist, not just in it for the dollar bills (which are the only kind I feel should be respected) wouldn't care, they'd just want you to see their work. Picture all the new artists who now have access to a world of creativity thanks to this new system of file sharing.

Best part is only the money men are getting hurt, and frankly, fuck those guys, they have more than enough to bribe congress to pass laws for them, which means to me they have more than enough in general.

File sharing, as I said, is good for our arts, for the people, and more importantly for our culture and our unity as a culture.

So, reguardless of your little points: Fuck SOPA/PIPA and everything they stand for.

This isn't a world were rich old men should take the freedoms young men are inventing for themselves, especially if no one is getting hurt (show me one bankrupt artist of any kind that blames piracy, please). These works of art aren't just for the rich, or even the middle class, they are for all of humanity to have. It's not theft you fool, it's sharing with friends!

Would you see me sent to jail for burning a CD to share with a buddy?
Or perhaps you would see libraries shut down for sharing one copy of a book they paid for with millions?



Oh, also, YAY!!! One down, one to go, and then we just have to wait until our generation takes over political office and maybe the internet might actually survive without these stupid old fucks mangling it!
 

emeraldrafael

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bootz said:
Epic wow Mr. Obama won my vote the next election . I'm doing my happy dance. Is wikipedia.org and other sites still going to black out that day?
Mr. Obama really didnt have much to do this. I mean, he can say he was going to veto it, but even if he did, all it had to do was go back to Congress and they woulc turn it over with a 3/4s vote and tell obama to shove andrew jacksons veto stick straight up his ass. I think really most politicians saw that since Obama is seen as a "young mans" president, and the backlash they would take (because honestly it wouldnt surprised me if you saw a whole demographical shift like you did when the "liberal dems" were run out of office), they backed down.

If Mr. Obama (or barrack as i Like to call him, cause we're cool like that [and he absolutely hates being called BO]), leaves office this upcoming election, we'll probably see SOPA come back up with a more "conservative god fearing christian man" (basically a republican) at the helm.

But eh, the fight is won for another day. Though this is a good reason why the young people need tos tart taking an interest and wanting to be politicians, so there are some voices of sanity in that place.
 

Awexsome

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Mar 25, 2009
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I do believe that the wild west style of the internet will need to be curtailed a bit sooner or later... however extreme bills call for extreme responses. Well done internet. Well done.

If PIPA or some other shit picks up steam again (while still being bad of course) we'll be there with a shitstorm right behind it.

It's biggest flaw was making too wide a range of websites liable for copyright. Stuff like Pirate Bay or Megaupload I'd like to see these kinds of strict laws forced on, but Youtube, Facebook and TGWTG? To think they'd be threatened showed obvious flaws in the bill.
 

DuskServent

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Jul 22, 2010
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Once again, the internet has won the battle. But we still have a war to settle...I think...
...Okay, what do we take on next?
 

CoL0sS

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Nov 2, 2010
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Perhaps it's a little bit to early, and somebody already posted this (thank you very much @erttheking), but:

 

Akimoto

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The_root_of_all_evil said:
?That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.?


SOPA only rests. It will return.
Awesome quote.

Hopefully SOPA does not resurrect under a different name. Lately Malaysia did away with the Internal Security Act after public pressure but the new law - forgot the name - has powers similar to the ISA. SSDD.
 

Diablo1099_v1legacy

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Dec 12, 2009
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Mimsofthedawg said:
oh, and diablo? Yea, I've listened to that for about 2:10... and I'm sure I'm going to have nightmares about it...
Fucking Lightweight, be thankful I don't drop the G MAJOR version on ya XD
 

angry_flashlight

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Jul 20, 2010
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Hooray! This PoS Bill is gone, but what's this? A new challenger arises! PIPA has come to the fore. Now brethren, we must continue the push and quash this plague!


Seriously, SOPA was using a Tactical Nuke to hammer a nail. It might do what you want, but you're probably just going to end up with a giant mess, and it probably won't even hammer that metaphorical nail to boot.
 

BrownGaijin

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Andy Chalk said:
Another SOPA-like bill could always be proposed at some point in the future [and, let's face it, almost certainly will]
Reaction A: And when that time comes, we'll be there to stop it right guys?!

Reaction B: So long as a boat is on water, there is always the chance that it will sink. The fight to defend our concept of democracy is an endless one.