Facist US admin looking to shut down the internet

[Caruso]

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/11/t...starts-to-die/

Tomorrow sees one of the most pivotal pieces of internet legislation pass through the halls of power in Washington.

The ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ (SOPA) bill, combined with PROTECT IP Act, seeks to give the US Justice Department the power to force Internet Providers into blocking access to any website that is suspected of hosting or linking to copyrighted material.

Provision for ‘going after’ ‘disputed sites’ hosting companies; search engines that link to them; payment services that support them, and other ancillary services will also be granted through the act.

From YouTube to Wikipedia; if it’s accused then the lights go out.

And before those of us not in America become smug – it has consequences for us all given a significant portion of the internet’s hardware and hosting is location within the US. Should SOPA pass, as it is very likely to do so, the internet of the entire world will become policed by America.

The bill is backed by the MPAA, most major pharmaceutical companies, the American Federation of Musicians, the Screen Actors Guild, and a host more.

Opposition

But despite the inevitability of the bill passing into statute, opposition is becoming more vocal ahead of the vote.

Mozilla, the makers of Firefox, and social-sharing site REddit both blacked out the logos of their hompages in protest at the bill.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, Wikimedia and a long list of other technology companies expressed concern over the bill in an open letter delivered to ranking members of the US congress.
…the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding U.S. Internet and technology companies to new uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring of web sites. We are concerned that these measures pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job-creation, as well as to our Nation’s cybersecurity. We cannot support these bills as written…

The online campaign group Aavaz have an online petition which people from all over the world are invited to sign. It will be delivered to the US senate before the bill is voted on later this month.

[MainStAffs]

Heres a great video about this and lots of information with links to help you be heard.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/

Jason

[davemerry]

Heres a great video about this and lots of information with links to help you be heard.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/

Jason

That really does sum it all up, I hope this doesn't get passed.

[Anthony]

Unbelievable. Thanks for posting this, I had no idea this was sneaking its way through congress.

[Louis - Income Access]

Have signed my name on all the petitions. Scary stuff.

[Anthony]

Why wait for the law...

http://news.yahoo.com/us-seizes-doma...082403400.html

US authorities have shut down a number of websites in the latest crackdown on online trafficking in counterfeit goods.
Torrent Freak, a website about the popular BitTorrent file-sharing protocol, said Friday that more than 130 domain names had been seized in an operation it described as the largest yet.

[slotplayer]

I don't like the part about sites linking to material but I have no problem with it. Someone has to fix it.

I have ebayers and other thieves stealing images from my retail site and when confronted they think its nothing. Granted I'm not Walmart but they wern't the one that spent $300 on a digital camera and took over 500 pictures and spend upteen hours dicking around with photoshop. Not to mention paying a graphic artist for the watermark.


Its a no brainer, if you didn't make it, create it or think it up, ask for permission to use it.

[Caruso]

Its a no brainer, if you didn't make it, create it or think it up, ask for permission to use it.

I think you'll find yourself in a minority of about 100,000 to one on that one. This would destroy YouTube in one fell swoop. But I guess if it saves you a few bucks, it's good to go.

I mean, what's information and democracy in the face of my wallet?

Today is apparently a day of protest against your fascist admin's attempts to censor the internet, with many sites becoming inoperative for the day.

[Caruso]

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...rous-gimmick/1

[online-casino]

It all looks like a plot for some disaster movie.

I have ebayers and other thieves stealing images from my retail site and when confronted they think its nothing. Granted I'm not Walmart but they wern't the one that spent $300 on a digital camera and took over 500 pictures and spend upteen hours dicking around with photoshop. Not to mention paying a graphic artist for the watermark.

It is annoying when others pass off your work as their own, but hey imagine having no access to all the sites whose existence you took for granted

[slotplayer]

I think you'll find yourself in a minority of about 100,000 to one on that one. This would destroy YouTube in one fell swoop. But I guess if it saves you a few bucks, it's good to go.

I mean, what's information and democracy in the face of my wallet?

Today is apparently a day of protest against your fascist admin's attempts to censor the internet, with many sites becoming inoperative for the day.

are you kidding me affiliates are first to come in here and bitch, moan and throw hissy fits when someone scrapes or copies their site. Why is that?

[Caruso]

are you kidding me affiliates are first to come in here and bitch, moan and throw hissy fits when someone scrapes or copies their site. Why is that?

A few crappy sites on the bottom rung of the internet ladder getting scraped is nothing to the potential loss of YouTube, Wiki etc. Nothing. It doesn't register.

[AmCan]

I bet everybody who thinks stealing intellectual property, whether scrapping websites or using a pirated copy of Office, to build their business is ok, would be pissed off if i stole their lawnmower to run my lawn business. Just because it's easy to steal doesn't make it right.

On the other hand, current US copyright, patent and trademark laws already provide means for suing, getting a restraining order, etc. against businesses violating IP rights. SOPA, PIPA and other similar laws seem designed to give the most powerful IP owners to a way to short circuit a smaller business' right to due process.

[rak]

Great Article on what the blackout did to get peoples attention, and its results

For opponents of SOPA and PIPA, Wednesday’s internet blackout and Google’s was a huge success. Eighteen Senators changed their position on PIPA, Paul Tassi reports; and 4.5 million people signed Google’s anti-censorship petition, according to the LA Times.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain...sopa-petition/

[HodgeyBoy]

Anyone remember that 'Home Taping is Killing Music'?

What about when the president of the Motion Picture Association of America said that the VCR would destroy the Movie business?

At its worst, these bills are just a way for large corporate content owners to protect an outdated and inflexible business model. Innovators in content delivery will just move elsewhere if this goes through, I think.

The same demands have been rolled out at every single technological leap forward - from the Printing Press to the VCR and now the Internet.

Interestingly, it has been the Pornography industry that has innovated and successfully exploited many new technologies and modes of delivery through history before the corporates even realise they might be on the way to becoming dinosaurs! Perhaps staying on the fringes of acceptable mainstream makes you better placed to see the solutions to these things

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/the_...nnovators.html

[MainStAffs]

Here we go.... Feds shut down Megaupload. Annonymous strike back by shuttin down DOJ and record label sites.

story here: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...oj_others.html

Jason

[Anthony]

Using the laws that were already in place... So why do the feds need SOPA or PIPA. Guess the DOJ got pissed the people spoke up....

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...y-by-feds.html

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/busine...own/?hpt=us_c2