SOPA Strike?

[Arthmoor]

That being said, a bill like this is simply going to threaten freedom on the internet needlessly while being completely meaningless to pirates.

They said the same about the DMCA too. The doomsday that was implied for free speech and free content never materialized. It simply became a tool for content creators to use to protect their work. That's all SOPA is. I will grant that there's probably a better way to implement the provisions, but none of this would be necessary in the first place if movie and music piracy wasn't rampant. Games aren't so much of an issue, but I'm sure they still factor in.

 

Reading the Bill makes it clear that it is pirate sites and sites selling counterfeit trademarked goods that it is aimed at.

Yes, and reading the bill should also lead you to the procedure in place. It's basically a mirror of the DMCA notice and takedown system. A system which works quite well.

 

Since I am not a pirate, and the Nexus is not a pirate site, that's why I am not personally too worried about it.

Which is why I'm convinced most of the opposition to this isn't coming from legitimate web enterprises, but from pirate websites dealing in warez or counterfeit products.

 

As far as that British guy, I agree, we shouldn't have a basis to extradite him for infringement since he's never been to the US and his crime was not committed on US soil abroad either. The stupidity of extraditing for a copyright case is facepalm worthy.

[NorthWolf]

They said the same about the DMCA too. The doomsday that was implied for free speech and free content never materialized. It simply became a tool for content creators to use to protect their work. That's all SOPA is. I will grant that there's probably a better way to implement the provisions, but none of this would be necessary in the first place if movie and music piracy wasn't rampant. Games aren't so much of an issue, but I'm sure they still factor in.

I'm not trying to imply it will be a doomsday of free speech. I'm trying to say it has a high potential to be harmful. Why allow something with the potential to harm when it will do little to help the problem it's created to solve?

 

Which is why I'm convinced most of the opposition to this isn't coming from legitimate web enterprises, but from pirate websites dealing in warez or counterfeit products.

Inevitably some, but not as much as you seem to think. I could be misinterpreting, of course, and don't look to put words in your mouth. There are already publicly available means around the types of restrictions SOPA intends to enact, which you're likely aware of. No links as I don't want to offend Nexus since it is a piracy related issue, but someone sufficiently well-read on SOPA is most likely aware of this.

 

This is a speed bump to pirates, it won't really hurt or stop them. Of course it's inconveniencing, but these are already people willing to spend 20 hours trying to get their warez to work instead of paying $4.99 for the legitimate copy. :confused: They're not going to care.

 

As far as that British guy, I agree, we shouldn't have a basis to extradite him for infringement since he's never been to the US and his crime was not committed on US soil abroad either. The stupidity of extraditing for a copyright case is facepalm worthy.

Well, we can all agree on this, regardless. But the legal system tends to do derpy things every so often, so... yeah. :sad:

[Ghogiel]

! On the other hand, the attempt to impose restrictions on pirates is unlikely to be successful, which largely defeats the bill's purpose.

You are assuming this bill is to defeat pirates.

 

Why would I think the writers of the bill don't know all this potential for abuse? It's probably the intent. I'm pretty sure they didn't construct it in such a way as to not be effective against these boogeyman pirates if that was actually what it was for..

[NorthWolf]

You are assuming this bill is to defeat pirates.

 

Why would I think the writers of the bill don't know all this potential for abuse? It's probably the intent. I'm pretty sure they didn't construct it in such a way as to not be effective against these boogeyman pirates if that was actually what it was for..

I'm mostly of the opinion that the bill's major sponsors are just ignorant. Hollywood wants a quick fix that doesn't exist and they assume sufficient legal power will be enough to crush piracy. Unfortunately by the time it was enough power we'd be living in an Orwellian police state where piracy was punished by firing squad, I'd bet.

 

They should make a movie about that. I'd watch it. :laugh:

 

That being said, I'm not sure I'd subscribe to the believe of a shadowy agenda behind the bill, either. The potential for abuse is high, but that's what you get when you let Hollywood try to write the rules.

[Vagrant0]

That being said, a bill like this is simply going to threaten freedom on the internet needlessly while being completely meaningless to pirates.

They said the same about the DMCA too. The doomsday that was implied for free speech and free content never materialized. It simply became a tool for content creators to use to protect their work. That's all SOPA is. I will grant that there's probably a better way to implement the provisions, but none of this would be necessary in the first place if movie and music piracy wasn't rampant. Games aren't so much of an issue, but I'm sure they still factor in.

Not quite...

 

The problem with this bill isn't what it does so much as how broad it is, and what powers it grants. Under this bill, there is no due process, no way to petition for being cleared of charges, and pretty much allows anyone to shut down any site for any reason. Under this law, the internet would essentially go back to the state it was in back in the early 90s, with the only active sites being related to (government approved) education and information, or corporate sites... Which is in many ways worse than the content filters in some dictatorships.

 

Piracy, atleast most of the piracy which leads to actual loss of sales actually doesn't occur because of online behavior. This form of piracy is actually in the form of bootlegged movies and software, sold out of the backs of cars or in the alleys. Anyone who has been to a foreign country could tell you that such shops selling bootleg DvDs are quite common, and in many cases, the people running these operations don't even use the internet or piracy sites to get the digital copy to start with. This sort of thing happens primarily because the companies who own these things do not have a practical market strategy for these countries (applying American cost structure) who have a much lower daily wage, or are not active at all. The world at large is hungry for Western media, but simply cannot afford what American companies are expecting to get from it (which is ironic since they often have production plants in these countries, ship the DvDs over to America, then ship them back passing the cost to the consumer).

 

Even a million people downloading a song or two doesn't really equate to any loss of sales, or even any costs on the company since there are usually 3-4+ million more who buy the song legally, or go and see that band in concert. Same basic thing applies to game piracy. It's a witch hunt as companies try to blame piracy for declining sales due to a dying economy or just gross incompetence (staring at you Ubisoft). It's still not good, and still isn't something that needs to be encouraged, but a bill like this isn't going to make it go away, and instead it will only severely cripple the free web or force people to become more savoy with illegal methods in order to express themselves or learn something that isn't Government Approved. And yeah... That never ends well.

[dazzerfong]

So, Vagrant, in other words, you're saying that the US Government is using the bill under the facade of preventing piracy? While it's true what you said about 'bootleg' products (if you've been to Mongkok in HK..........), I don't know the quantity or share of the market, or even its significance. That's the problem right now.

 

A lot of bootleg DVD's and Blu-Ray DVD's are distributed via 'inside-men': people who work for companies that distributes DVD's. They siphon a few under the pretense of 'lost' then redistribute them out for profit. Of course, because they acquire them without charge, they can afford to sell them out for a lot less money. My father was a customs officer, that's what usually happened, according to him. However, he never fully acquired accurate statistics as to how many bootlegs there are out there.

[NorthWolf]

But I like Assassin's Creed. :ohdear:

 

That being said, I still think that SOPA would end up shredded in the supreme court before it became a serious threat to free internet for Americans. :unsure: That being said I think Vagrant0 makes some good points. I don't think you would see the level of regression you describe but I do believe in honesty that there would be at least some noticeable regression on the web, which is, as I said earlier, harmful to a free internet.

 

And, yes, companies often forget that most pirated copies aren't even actual sales. In fact, the vast majority are not. I wouldn't be surprised if companies spent more combating piracy then they would lose in legitimate sales if they just let it run rampant. :confused: Unfortunately that doesn't really stop SOPA from passing, even if it makes sense and is... you know... logical.

[nosisab]

To confirm you, Vagrant0, I can say in my country (Brazil) these CDs/DVDs are sold in open sky and notably they are even "legalized" with "shopping" specialized in this kind of business, sometimes these are even built by the City Hall (or the equivalent to us) so to remove them being scattered by the streets.

 

And are not only Movies, Music and PC games, consoles too are target of that kind of piracy. The "positive" point is only need to resource to online piracy (download) are those too cheap to pay even for a small fraction of the legal price tag.

 

What brings another subject... the price tag here is outraging.

 

When the immense majority of users will understand the target never "in fact" was piracy (pirates don't even need to validate in some server to play a game, let alone watch a movie). The keyword is as always was "CONTROL".

 

PS in small source: I let to you all to imagine "who" (more than what) they wish to control.

Edited January 18, 2012 by nosisab

[CapnLilNemo]

It is incredibly wrong anyone who says that the only websites against SOPA are piracy websites. What about Wikipedia or Google?

 

For me and a lot of other people it comes down to basic principles. The same reason I continue to oppose the DCMA to this very day despite the fact that that crappy bit of legislation is still on the books.

 

The DCMA makes it illegal to circumvent DRMs in anyway for any reason. It is no one's damned business if I want to use a crack on my legal copy of Fallout: Tactics so I can play it on my netbook without lugging a portable DVD drive around. It should be said I have never found a crack of Fallout: Tactics that actually worked, but that is completely beside the point.

 

Now we have SOPA, which is way worse that DCMA. SOPA grants the government powers to simply turn off websites with little to no provisions as to which websites they can and can not use this power against. Sure, the first websites gone will be Torrent websites and the like which are mostly used for piracy, but there are no direct barriers in the legislation to stop it from affecting so many other sites, and even if such barriers were put in place I cannot condone any legislation which gives the government any ability to simply block IPs. That is not how the internet should work, that is not how America should work.

 

And really when it comes right down to it this will do little to nothing to stop pirates. They will just find a way around it, it probably won't even be that hard.

[NorthWolf]

And really when it comes right down to it this will do little to nothing to stop pirates. They will just find a way around it, it probably won't even be that hard.

They've already done so before SOPA has even had a chance to come into action. :pirate: 'Dem pirates is sneaky, which is why it is so utterly pointless to try this with the goal of combating piracy.