Stop Internet Censorship!

[myrmaad]

Are we still on SOPA?

 

I'm pretty sure the entire legislature has moved past it.

 

There is a bipartisan effort to adopt something more in line with the OPEN Act.

 

PDF Text of OPEN.

 

SOPA has been difficult for me to take seriously, from the beginning it has had very little chance of passing.

[psychohampster]

Lutkin

All your points basically are valid. Yes piracy is bad, yes it shouldn't be allowed, yes due process should be and can be followed. Unfortunately most people don't view, to put it idiomatically "The Powers That Be" and those they allow control to, to be in a term "Just" (with a capital J). They see rampant corruption in government, big media, big business, and any where there is money. This bill isn't just about "laws" which frankly lawyers will discuss till the cows come home, but about mass perception of those implementing and enforcing said laws. As far as the general public is concerned, any time Large corporations with a gigantic interest in said law becomes involved, corruption is nearly inevitable.

While I agree that they have every right to protect what is theirs and what they have spent many hard weeks, months or years to create, there is far too much risk of being able to over-step bounds.

If we as a people had more trust in these institutions then this bill would not be so frightening.

It is not about the law, it is about how we see what has begun to become a corporate state.

And I know you will respond with some scathing comment about how I have not read nor understand the bill. That is besides the point even were it true.

Perception is powerful and people who have been burned over and over will form a solid opinion of distrust.

[HeyYou]

The latest and greatest version that I read had more to do with search engines NOT showing various sites in their search results, that were determined to be in violation of some nebulous, (and some not-so-nebulous) law. It also wants to hold the SEARCH ENGINES responsible for the results they turn up, and fine them for returning results of sites that are "bad".

 

Who determines which sites are bad???

 

Obama doesn't like the current bill in any event, has has hinted at a veto, should it make it to his desk.

 

As for extraditing a person from one country, to another, for doing something that ISN'T illegal where he lives...... starts getting sticky.... We should be able to extradite half the population of china for copyright violations.....

[Ghogiel]

Search results are already omitted, at least on google, if they get a DMCA notice against a result.

[HeyYou]

Search results are already omitted, at least on google, if they get a DMCA notice against a result.

 

Pirate sites still come up quite well though.....

[Ghogiel]

I bet a lot of what you are just seeing are just torrent or link sites, not sites which are hosting copyright material.

[marharth]

Fun fact, torrent sites don't host copyrighted materiel. Ever.

[HeyYou]

I bet a lot of what you are just seeing are just torrent or link sites, not sites which are hosting copyright material.

 

 

Fun fact, torrent sites don't host copyrighted materiel. Ever.

 

True, on both counts. But, with a site with a name like "*not allowed*"...... the torrents that they DO host are most certainly not legally attained. So, is it technically legal to host the torrent file, just not the copyrighted material itself? Kinda splitting hairs there.... but, I suppose that's what lawyers are for.

[Lutine]

I bet a lot of what you are just seeing are just torrent or link sites, not sites which are hosting copyright material.

 

 

Fun fact, torrent sites don't host copyrighted materiel. Ever.

 

True, on both counts. But, with a site with a name like "*not allowed*"...... the torrents that they DO host are most certainly not legally attained. So, is it technically legal to host the torrent file, just not the copyrighted material itself? Kinda splitting hairs there.... but, I suppose that's what lawyers are for.

 

The torrent file itself doesn't contain copyrighted material, just pointers to computers that have it. So basically torrent sites host these files, and these files by extension link to the copyrighted material.

[Aurielius]

Let us pose an analogy, you want to steal a gemstone owned by a business, so you go to someone who provides you with the plans to the business premises in question, locating just where it is. You get caught in the aftermath of the heist and during interrogation you give up your plan provider. That person will be arrested and charged with being an assessory before the fact of a felony. When time comes for a trial he can plead that the plans were on file for all to see at the county planning office but the odds are he will do time. You can dress up stealing all you want with the clothes of free speech but putting lipstick on a pig doesn't make it any less a porker.