Stop Internet Censorship!

[Farlo]

If you don't know, Congress here in the US is holding talks over SOPA, a bill introduced that gives the government and private corporations, particularly the entertainment industry, the right to regulate the internet and sue anyone who may even possibly have any material that is copywritten. Obviously this has huge implications for the entire internet, even outside the US, and threatens the current internet platform, which will not only have a massive impact on the online economy, but also eliminate the internet as an international free-speech communication technology. A huge movement has sprung up in opposition of this bill and has gotten support from millions of people, Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Tumblr, 4chan, and many others including numerous representatives in both parties. A lot more information can be found at AmericanCensorship.org, including a "Censor" bar logo for websites to show opposition in the bill and spread the word. The Nexus is obviously a very large website with millions of users from around the world, and stepping up against censorship in such a public way can help gain a lot of support and (hopefully) get a lot more people interested.

 

In short: don't sit idly by as this bill is still may pass, it's time to make your voice heard! Thank you very much for reading and I hope the Nexus staff will stand up and show their support.

[Arthmoor]

The first half of this legislation addresses foreign infringing websites, and would make unauthorized streaming a felony. It would remove the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and make social websites that host user content, such as YouTube, Tumblr and Facebook, responsible for ensuring that their users do not post infringing material.

 

Well that's not cool. Not cool at all. Safe Harbor has saved the hides of plenty of providers over the years, and it's utterly ridiculous to hold site owners responsible for the content their users post.

 

I don't normally care about legislation like this because 99% of the time only the pirates are complaining, but that one paragraph alone is cause for serious concern for the internet in general.

[Fonger]

shouldn't this be moved to the debate forum instead

 

BTW the Nexus is not a US company

Edited November 18, 2011 by Fonger

[Farlo]

shouldn't this be moved to the debate forum instead

 

BTW the Nexus is not a US company

 

I didn't know we had a debate forum :woot:

[Fonger]

I didn't know we had a debate forum :woot:

http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/forum/47-debates/

[bben46]

Moved to debate forums :thumbsup:

Bben46, Moderator

[marharth]

Well so far there has been three topics on this here. Not much is happening with it. If it gets passed I am sure quite a few people will be mad enough to change it.

 

I doubt it will even pass.

[Wyrdfire]

At least it looks like SOPA is facing opposition from the European parliament.

 

Oh and interestingly Google - the same Google that adhered to the Internet censorship policies of China, and that applies its filtering bubble to our search results - opposes SOPA (they own YouTube, a potential hotbed of copyright violations in the form of "illegal" cover songs).

[Beriallord]

I don't think it will pass in the US, it would be unconstitutional. If they do, it will turn into a big law suit, with 10s of millions of people signing the petition which will end up going to the supreme court. I think the bill would be very unpopular across political lines.

[McMuffin]

This bill would likely be a direct threat to the Nexus sites, as there is almost certainly unreported ripped content on here at any given time. At the very least, re-textures and re-model mods which alter copyrighted assets, while tolerated currently, are strictly speaking not legal. If someone gets mad and complains, the Nexus' traffic and funds could be cut off from the United States if I understand correctly.

 

Shutting down sites for users' postings would be like shutting down the bus system because someone traded a ripped Finding Nemo while riding to work. Would every city then have to hire copyright police to make sure all media on the bus are lawfully purchased?

 

It probably isn't constitutional, since it makes sites guilty until proven innocent. The thing that nags me is that I have this feeling that if big moneyed companies like Google weren't opposing it, there would hardly be a debate and congress would fast-track it right into law and worry about all that bothersome free speech stuff later.