Stop Online Piracy Act & Protect IP Act

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Holy shit!

the blackout did some serious damage to the senate's PIPA support.18 senators; of which 15 were cosponsors have switched sides due to either pressure from the blackout yesterday or a combo of that and being swamped wioth phone calls. read it here:

http://arstechnica.c...s-in-senate.ars

[Milo]

Holy shit!

the blackout did some serious damage to the senate's PIPA support.18 senators; of which 15 were cosponsors have switched sides due to either pressure from the blackout yesterday or a combo of that and being swamped wioth phone calls. read it here:

http://arstechnica.c...s-in-senate.ars

[Delta Starfire]

Does Obama saying he will not support SOPA automatically mean he will veto it? Or does it mean that, should it pass, he will vocally oppose it, but begrundgingly sign it into law anyway, so as not to circumvent the powers of Congress and abuse presidential authority? Sadly, given Obama's record, the latter seems more likely. He's not the veto-happy tyrant that Bush was, even when it comes to issues where he really should be.

How pathetic is it that these proposals made it all the way to this point? At least President Obama has the sense to stop this nonsense. I was hoping we could revise and heavily weaken the Healthcare bill which is already driving up costs for doctors and patients alike. Instead we get this bullshit.

I know! Damn those Republicans in Congress for wasting time trying to take away freedoms you enjoy, when they could be busy focussing their efforts on taking away freedoms you don't think other people should have. Seriously, where are their priorities?

Edited January 19, 2012 by Eon

[Candescence]

Here's an absolutely fabulous video from TED explaining how hilariously ineffective the DNS thing SOPA and PIPA had would've been, and the reasons behind the creation of the bills - because they want to keep the status quo that they liked back in the 20th century, and the internet more or less threatens to render old business models irrelevant in the long term. SOPA and PIPA are just another attempt at trying to do so, despite measures in the past being complete failures (including the DMCA).

[Neon]

Mike Mozart has made another video in protest of SOPA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzS5rSvZXe8

[Candescence]

Heads up, people: there's word of, of all things, SOPA support adds on TV. At least one, I think. Not sure who's actually making 'em, but it seems the big media companies are trying to sway public opinion now that information on SOPA and PIPA is now in the open, with Wikipedia and other big sites destroying what attempts there were to keep the general public in the dark. Naturally, the ads are trying to attack "foreigners stealing american ideas and products".

[Dark Qiviut]

^ I haven't seen the SOPA support ads yet, but I did hear that they're coming up.

The SOPA ads remind me a lot of the high-fructose corn syrup campaign: the Corn Refiners Association created their campaign to desperately sell GMO-contaminated goods. Although it's too soon to tell, I hope that SOPA commercial will be like the HFCS campaign and backfire big time!

[Chaos Warp]

Mike Mozart has made another video in protest of SOPA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzS5rSvZXe8

Edited January 19, 2012 by Chaos Warp

[Delta Starfire]

So, there are support ads now? I guess that explains why they've put the vote back a month. They want enough time to persuade the ignorant masses that it's in everyone's best interests to hand the internet over to the corporations.

[-Robin-]

MPAA's Chris Dodd calls the blackout "an abuse of power":

It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today. It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.

A so-called “blackout” is yet another gimmick, albeit a dangerous one, designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals. It is our hope that the White House and the Congress will call on those who intend to stage this “blackout” to stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy.”

Edited January 19, 2012 by Icy Wind

[Carbo]

"wah wah wah eat our shit".

[Meow]

Trying to force soup and pipes onto the entire internet is a bigger abuse of power.

[Spooky Mulder]

"Abuse of power" "Punish users" "Corporate pawns"

Christopher Dodd has a serious problem with lack of self-awareness.

[Axl.EXE]

Government agents have taken down MegaUpload, and Megavideo with it.

The h-vids... Oh, God the h-vids...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8_GVfPuw4M&feature=related

Edited January 19, 2012 by Axl

[Cobalt_Bolt]

Government agents have taken down MegaUpload, and Megavideo with it.

The h-vids... Oh, God the h-vids...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8_GVfPuw4M&feature=related

And chalk up another loss due to the government. Time to kick it up another notch.

[#EndyGate]

Megaupload is down :0?

All of my file sharing, ruined...

alright boys, it's time to

[Johnny Boy]

Megaupload is down? Chris Dodd, you just cranked our determination to kill this bill up to 11.

[SuperStingray]

Any of you guys remember Maddox? That hard-ass pirate with the black-background blog? He posted his take on SOPA. He's obviously being facetious about wanting it to go through, that's what he does, but he, along with the TED speech from a page or two ago, bring up an important point: it's not going to stop here, and it certainly hasn't in the past. When Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal blacked out, it brought up how they even tried the same thing for comics in the 50s (I forget the bill name, though). Even if they're unpassable, media companies will find a way to try and make it so it is.

What scares me the most about SOPA and PIPA isn't that they might pass, it's that they could pass- that such bills prioritizing the tracking of a few legitimate offenders over human rights actually stands a chance in the US today. If you want to kill a rat, you don't level the entire fucking house. Not that issues are automatically settled after a bill passes or fails and no one ever questions it again, but anti-piracy legislation is particularly persistent; it's like a hydra- we cut off its head and another will just grow back. No, it needs to be stabbed right in the heart. Let's face it- our economy and legal system weren't exactly tailor made to work with something as dynamic and abstract as the internet. It really astonishes me that we hasn't had an amendment to our Constitution in 20 years considering how massively the internet has warped the playing field. In fact, considering the global accessibility and presence of the internet, it should treated as an international entity. The servers may be on our soil, but the satellites that spread their contents are way out there; it isn't right that other nations will be so dramatically affected by this bill yet have no say in it. If nothing else, this whole affair shows me how unprepared we really are mentally for this kind of technology. I sincerely doubt when writing their manefestos, the concept of the internet, file sharing, let alone piracy crossed the minds of any of history's socioeconomic philosophers, not even pivotal ones like James Madison, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson or Karl Marx. Someday, it's going to be the bane of Capitalism. Copy and Paste will kill Supply and Demand. That much is inevitable so long as every country on Earth is NOT willing to kill the purpose of the internet as a way of communicating, sharing and creating. And since that's the case, the companies that will survive the 21st century won't be the ones that push legislators to destroy piracy but the ones who learn to turn it into a business model. The day will come when piracy is no longer piracy, but a legitimate exchange that a new kind of economy allows media companies to benefit from. God knows what the specifics might be, but it's either that or SOPA and PIPA.

Edited January 20, 2012 by SuperStingray

[Nitwit_Speed]

So what DOES stabbing this in the heart mean? This is the nastiest head yet apparently, nasty enough that people who managed to ignore it this late in the game are still getting sucked in (heh heh heh...). I'm all for chopping this head, but i also want to stab it in the heart before it grows back. I don't think whoever it was ho conceptualized this thought that the internet would go kicking and screaming, and yet we're still in quite the struggle. The next iteration of this could not only see the backlash coming but antagonize it and turn it into the de facto reason to have such a bill passed.

So stabbing. Perhaps a bill that does just the inverse and, like you said, declares the internet an international entity? Or protects it? Or at least defines it from a legal standpoint? I wonder how many politicians would get on board for something like that.

[Burnt Ash]

Not sure if this is completely related to SOPA, but Anonymous just did this:

http://www.webpronews.com/anonymous-takes-down-universal-music-site-2012-01

[Delta Starfire]

"Abuse of power" "Punish users" "Corporate pawns"

Christopher Dodd has a serious problem with lack of self-awareness.

Projection really seems to be the modus operandi of many people in politics these days. That and newspeak, but that's nothing new.

[SuperStingray]

EDIT: Misread a word, never mind.

Edited January 20, 2012 by SuperStingray

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Government agents have taken down MegaUpload, and Megavideo with it.

The h-vids... Oh, God the h-vids...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8_GVfPuw4M&feature=related

Fucccck! I was watching an anime over there just 6 hours ago! Why, why?! Luckily I got an alternative but how long will that stay up before it gets taken down?

Let me tell ya "US Department of Justice", you are being no justice to the internet! And you are going to do more terrible things if SOPA/PIPA goes through. Shit.

[Emmett L. Brown]

Wow. Youtube comments, blogs, blackouts and streetside warnings can't have been anywhere near as effective as shutting down Megaupload for getting the couch cozy internet crowd to stand up and start taking action against SOPA/PIPA.

Sleeping giant, your wake up call is due.

[SuperStingray]

KA-BAM!!!

Edited January 20, 2012 by SuperStingray