SOPA Blackout

[al_mama]

Haven't seen much about it on WAHM. The blackout is going on until 8pm EST today I think, and there are protests going on today, too. The best thing I read about it is on Warrior Forum and Wikipedia. If you go to WF, they've blacked out their site too and have a long-form letter that is a VERY good read about what this bill will do to Internet users if it passes. It's scary.

What do y'all think??

[karmicwindows]

I am very opposed to SOPA and PIPA. Not only do they threaten the DNS system they allow for a form of virtual dictatorship that has the potential of putting those of who work from home on the defensive.

I don't want to have to worry about having my sites disrupted or even abolished on the basis of presumed copyright infringement. I want the ability to say what I have to say be it commentary, article, or review. The broad strokes with which these bills are written put them in the same light as so many other bills that have been passed recently, too much room for interpretation and abuse.

I believe that there are better ways to be found to combat foreign piracy.

[Mejo101]

Have been hearing about the blackouts here on local UK radio. It's a shame that they talked about them but did not explain what it was all about. Just said it was some protest ... What a wasted opportunity to explain to the masses.

[CJWrite]

Originally Posted by karmicwindows

I am very opposed to SOPA and PIPA. Not only do they threaten the DNS system they allow for a form of virtual dictatorship that has the potential of putting those of who work from home on the defensive.

I don't want to have to worry about having my sites disrupted or even abolished on the basis of presumed copyright infringement. I want the ability to say what I have to say be it commentary, article, or review. The broad strokes with which these bills are written put them in the same light as so many other bills that have been passed recently, too much room for interpretation and abuse.

I believe that there are better ways to be found to combat foreign piracy.

I agree.

Artists - including musicians and writers - know all to well about piracy and copyright infringement on the internet. I don't have a problem with trying to ban ILLEGAL piracy on the Internet.

But these bills just aren't the way to do it! There has to be a better way!

At this point, I don't think it's all about people JUST opposing these bills, however, although that's a big part of it. I think the big thing now is whether or not they'll pass - even with the huge amount of opposition. If these pass with this much opposition, we might as well rip up The Constitution, burn the flag, and start over. Either that, or get rid of our representatives that are supposed to...well, represent "The People". Now, there's a novel idea.

[Hoping2]

I have to say, I don't get why people don't like this bill. It makes it easier to go after infringers. How is that a bad thing? From what I have seen, it's mostly multi-national corporations convincing people that fighting theft is "censorship" so they can continue to profit from the theft. No thanks. Theft is not a form of self expression. Exactly what is it that people are so opposed to? I sincerely don't get it.

[adbullock]

Originally Posted by Hoping2

I have to say, I don't get why people don't like this bill. It makes it easier to go after infringers. How is that a bad thing? From what I have seen, it's mostly multi-national corporations convincing people that fighting theft is "censorship" so they can continue to profit from the theft. No thanks. Theft is not a form of self expression. Exactly what is it that people are so opposed to? I sincerely don't get it.

Other than killing OUR business?

Most of us don't write for big huge corporations and the little businesses online, the bulk o our bread and butter, are the ones that are going to be killed by this if it passes.

PotPieGirl has an interesting and fairly accurate take on the bill. My assertions about it affecting our business are mine and not anything she mentioned. Please feel free to read her article. On the surface, it looks great. The problem is, nothing in politics is ever that simple.

SOPA - My Thoughts About the Stop Online Privacy Act | PotPieGirl.com

[al_mama]

Originally Posted by Hoping2

I have to say, I don't get why people don't like this bill. It makes it easier to go after infringers. How is that a bad thing? From what I have seen, it's mostly multi-national corporations convincing people that fighting theft is "censorship" so they can continue to profit from the theft. No thanks. Theft is not a form of self expression. Exactly what is it that people are so opposed to? I sincerely don't get it.

It's because the way the bill is written, it gives "copyright holders" permission to team up with U.S. Dept of Justice to shut down "offending" sites. The problem here is that the bill is so far-reaching, it could be interpreted to mean content users share or link to in forums, social networking sites, spam in comments of your blog that you couldn't get to quick enough, etc... all sorts of stuff that webmasters have no control over. And the gov't is pretty clueless, one of the main bill supporters on NPR I heard was quoted as saying, "Well, I'm not really into this tech stuff... I don't know much about the internet."

Scary. This means that the "copyright holders" have room to massively abuse SOPA if it becomes law. Think about it. Especially for us, if someone sees a quote we used in an article or we mention something copyrighted in our work, will we get in trouble? I dunno, maybe. But mainly I can see how people can take advantage of this law to try to wipe out competitors in the online advertising game. The point of the Internet is freedom of information, and when that freedom is taken away through censorship, it hurts people. And the U.S. sets the precedent for the world. So when we do something, the world follows.

Plus, as a couple of article pointed out, hacking is going to get a hell of a lot more sophisticated if this thing passes. It's going to become really hard for people like us to have sites and blogs if that happens.

[Hoping2]

How could that kill our business? If anything, it gives us a stronger position. Google and companies like it have made it simple for anyone to scrape content and make money from it. This would make it easy to go after sites that do this. It would also keep companies from looking the other way when the little guy's content is stolen. Like every other business on Earth, they would actually be accountable for what they do.

Pawn shops are responsible for what they sell and have to take steps to make sure their merchandise isn't stolen. In print publishing, a publisher found stealing from a writer would be held accountable. So why are the big online corporations not being held accountable for infringement on their sites? All I can figure is that they've convinced people it would be "censorship" for them to be accountable. I don't see any form of censorship here.

[Hoping2]

Originally Posted by al_mama

It's because the way the bill is written, it gives "copyright holders" permission to team up with U.S. Dept of Justice to shut down "offending" sites. The problem here is that the bill is so far-reaching, it could be interpreted to mean content users share or link to in forums, social networking sites, spam in comments of your blog that you couldn't get to quick enough, etc... all sorts of stuff that webmasters have no control over. And the gov't is pretty clueless, one of the main bill supporters on NPR I heard was quoted as saying, "Well, I'm not really into this tech stuff... I don't know much about the internet."

Scary. This means that the "copyright holders" have room to massively abuse SOPA if it becomes law. Think about it. Especially for us, if someone sees a quote we used in an article or we mention something copyrighted in our work, will we get in trouble? I dunno, maybe. But mainly I can see how people can take advantage of this law to try to wipe out competitors in the online advertising game. The point of the Internet is freedom of information, and when that freedom is taken away through censorship, it hurts people. And the U.S. sets the precedent for the world. So when we do something, the world follows.

Plus, as a couple of article pointed out, hacking is going to get a hell of a lot more sophisticated if this thing passes. It's going to become really hard for people like us to have sites and blogs if that happens.

I'm sorry, I wish I could just agree with everyone, but copyright law just doesn't work that way. A link is not copyrighted content. Fair use laws are still in effect. This just makes it easier to go after thieves. That's really all it does. All of this hoopla is being stirred up by corporations that don't want to lower their profit margins by putting filters or other protections in place. Meanwhile, our business is being made more difficult because we are scraped every day.

[mini]

Originally Posted by Hoping2

How could that kill our business? If anything, it gives us a stronger position. Google and companies like it have made it simple for anyone to scrape content and make money from it. This would make it easy to go after sites that do this. It would also keep companies from looking the other way when the little guy's content is stolen. Like every other business on Earth, they would actually be accountable for what they do.

Pawn shops are responsible for what they sell and have to take steps to make sure their merchandise isn't stolen. In print publishing, a publisher found stealing from a writer would be held accountable. So why are the big online corporations not being held accountable for infringement on their sites? All I can figure is that they've convinced people it would be "censorship" for them to be accountable. I don't see any form of censorship here.

Please get a clue. People like you make it hard for freedom to exist. The MPAA, RIAA, Nike and others are abusing people and use our lawmakers like pawns to keep things the same. We do not need SOPA or PIPA. The billionaires are the ones who are worried.

Take the recording industry(RIAA). It has been fighting piracy because artists no longer need the business model. Artists get more money from touring. They no longer need the RIAA to promote them with the rise of the Internet. Artists can promote and sell their music via the web. Even with piracy, they will earn more.

I can't stand ignorance. I can't stand people who aren't billionaires fighting for the rights of billionaires. It has been proven time and time again that people will pay. It has also been proven time and time again that corporations are abusing the consumer. Produce affordable, quality content, and people will pay for it. Why buy a CD for one good song? Why spend $10 for a crappy movie because we have nowhere else to turn to be entertained? SOPA will guarantee that the "big boys" remain in control. We haven't even addressed the political ramifications of passing this crap.