The Stop Online Piracy Act, and how it effects all of US!

[user_name]

In case you have yet to hear about, congress is currently debating weather to pass the Stop Online Piracy Act, (SOPA), and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), bills which have the potential to end up greatly censoring and destroying many websites such as Aquariacentral, Facebook, Twitter, and MANY more. bills are designed to stop online piracy, but in actuality will do little to stop this growing problem. Moreover, it will create an unstable and censored internet which will discourage things like online communities, businesses, and shopping. While the bill is intended to only be applied to the USA, it will surely spread eventually to Europe and other parts of the world due to our influence on global politics.

I've given a very basic summery of the bill and it's problems, so hopefully everyone at the forum can be aware of the dangers of this. I also propose that we try to spread awareness, perhaps by participating in a blackout, in which we could join many other large communities and websites in protesting this bill.

Here's a link to some information on SOPA/PIPA, I personally found it VERY insightful/helpful. http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/sopa

I encourage anyone and everyone to post about this not only in this thread, but in all of the other forums or sites you guys may be a part of. Thank you all for taking the time to read this mountain of text, hopefully with enough public outcry the house of representatives and the senate will stop this bill from being written into law.

 

[IceH2O]

They can say its for whatever they want, I know that its actually for stopping the American people from being able to rally together against the government if and when the time is right.

 

[Lab_Rat]

They can say its for whatever they want, I know that its actually for stopping the American people from being able to rally together against the government if and when the time is right.

This.


I've already written both my senators and my house representative to encourage them to vote against censorship and the horrible pieces of legislation that are SOPA and PIPA. I really don't want the US to be on par with China and Iran in terms of internet censorship. Reddit is going to black out their site on the 18th and post a message instead to spread the word about SOPA/PIPA. I hope other sites do the same, like Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

 

[SubRosa]

This legislation is just about what I've come to expect lately. I've written my reps as well, but I have little doubt this will pass and be signed into law.

 

[Fishfriend1]

I knew of this, some buddies of mine brought it up (they from Europe) saying, basically, that the US has fallen pretty low at this point. They also noted it was a very scary idea, that a government would do that. I personally think that anyone who votes that in won't be part of the government next voting cycle... and failure to undo it will result in new people the cycle after that... and so on.

Imagine if they shut down facebook... the outrage! All those angry people who's farms just starved to death because no one took care of them

 

[SubRosa]

I knew of this, some buddies of mine brought it up (they from Europe) saying, basically, that the US has fallen pretty low at this point. They also noted it was a very scary idea, that a government would do that. I personally think that anyone who votes that in won't be part of the government next voting cycle... and failure to undo it will result in new people the cycle after that... and so on.

Imagine if they shut down facebook... the outrage! All those angry people who's farms just starved to death because no one took care of them

Really? What about the President's newfound "authority" to indefinitely detain American citizens without trial? The world didn't stop when that little tidbit came along, or when the Patriot Act was passed and renewed. A concept as difficult to understand as "liberty within the framework of a legal system" requires too much thought. As long as the politicians keep giving away the good stuff there are more than enough content to take what's offered and keep the whole thing running.

 

[Cheech]

This.


I've already written both my senators and my house representative to encourage them to vote against censorship and the horrible pieces of legislation that are SOPA and PIPA. I really don't want the US to be on par with China and Iran in terms of internet censorship. Reddit is going to black out their site on the 18th and post a message instead to spread the word about SOPA/PIPA. I hope other sites do the same, like Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

I'm hoping Google and faceboook follow Reddit's lead. It would make for an interesting day to have those sites blacked out.

Have you seen what Godaddy's been going through? Thousands of websites moved their hosting from Godaddy to competitors because of Godaddy's support for SOPA. Wiki has threatened to move their servers from godaddy as well.

Hopefully it will work, but sadly I think SOPA will still go through...

 

[stephcps]

Really? What about the President's newfound "authority" to indefinitely detain American citizens without trial? The world didn't stop when that little tidbit came along, or when the Patriot Act was passed and renewed. A concept as difficult to understand as "liberty within the framework of a legal system" requires too much thought. As long as the politicians keep giving away the good stuff there are more than enough content to take what's offered and keep the whole thing running.

Unfortunately, not everyone took the time to read and realize what the "patriot" act was and how it could potentially effect U.S. citizens. But impact facebook and the world may actually stop...sad but true.

 

[Fishfriend1]

Really? What about the President's newfound "authority" to indefinitely detain American citizens without trial? The world didn't stop when that little tidbit came along, or when the Patriot Act was passed and renewed. A concept as difficult to understand as "liberty within the framework of a legal system" requires too much thought. As long as the politicians keep giving away the good stuff there are more than enough content to take what's offered and keep the whole thing running.

Facebook is bigger across the world then the Patriot act was. Think about it, if they shut down Aquaria Central, what would your reaction be? Now multiply by however many people use facebook, and then multiply that by the twitter users of the world. It's the single largest site on the web (AFAIK) so a great deal of people would be directly affected by it. I did explain this to my mom when I heard about it, saying it was basically an internet version of the Patriot Act... but she just didn't get the concept or how they could get away with it. I think that if they were to even touch facebook it would cause hell for them.

 

[dundadundun]

FF... i hate to say it, but you're completely lost, here. i get your point about the whole "in your face/at the tip of your keyboard" aspect of this bill, but you're forgetting how people are still rolling over in lieu of reading and understanding the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act. people complain about red light cameras and airport security every day, but do nothing about it. if only they knew the powers they handed over to the government when they didn't oppose it to begin with. as far as i'm concerned, that bill was and always has been one long violation of our constitutional rights separated in part and by subsection/article/etc. into handfuls of smaller violations of our constitution. in summary, our constitutional "rights" and the patriot act are polar opposites in many ways.

you should set aside about a month of spare time to read over it and reference the articles and subsections in the context they're written into the act. it's a real eye opener if you take the time to fully understand it.

not to mention the countless bills that have gone before congress in the recent past since the act was signed in. i vaguely recall H.H.R. 669 and countless attempts to turn over the lacey act for the worse for example.