SOPA & ACTA

Started by The Void January 17th, 2012 7:15 AM
  • 10156 views
  • 157 replies
  • Public Poll

Should the SOPA Bill be passed?

The Void

hiiiii

Male
MOTHA RUSSIA
Seen May 29th, 2019
Posted August 9th, 2015
1,416 posts
13 Years


"To promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes."

Most of you know this already. It's quite old.
But for those of you who don't know, SOPA (or Stop Online Piracy Act) is a bill introduced last October. Basically here's what it does:

The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.

The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators, such as PayPal, from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.

I knew of this only when I saw that Wikipedia was shutting itself down to go on strike against SOPA and PIPA, since if this bill were to be passed as a law, then it would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia itself. Other sites such as Tumblr, Mozilla, and Techdirt have taken action against the bill as well.

So I just wanted to know what are everyone's opinions about the bill, if it should be passed or not... feel free to openly discuss about your opinions about the bill and express your thoughts and feelings about it here. Also, so you can be up-to-date with the current discussions about the bill, current news and updates concerning the bill shall be placed below.

Current Events and Updates Regarding S.O.P.A. (edited and updated regularly):

Spoiler:
January 18, 2012 - the English Wikipedia, Reddit, and an estimated 7,000 other smaller websites coordinated a service blackout or posted links and images in protest against SOPA and the Senate bill, the Protect IP Act, or PIPA, in an effort to raise awareness. In excess of 160 million people saw Wikipedia's banner. A number of other protest actions were organized, including petition drives, with Google saying it collected over 7 million signatures, boycotts of companies that support the legislation, and a rally held in New York City.

In response to the protest actions, RIAA stated, "It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users and arm them with misinformation," and "it’s very difficult to counter the misinformation when the disseminators also own the platform."

January 20, 2012 - Rep. Lamar Smith postponed plans to draft the bill, saying "The committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation ... The House Judiciary Committee will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution." More info about it could be found here.


Extra Stuff:

Spoiler:
LOLCats Anti-SOPA Video:

Spoiler:


A list of companies in favor of SOPA:

Spoiler:
1-800 Contacts, Inc.
1-800-PetMeds
2b1 Inc
3M Company
ABRO Industries, Inc.
Acushnet Company
adidas America
Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed)
Allen Russell Photography
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
Alliance of Visual Artists (AVA)
Altria Client Services
American Apparel and Footwear Association
American Association of Independent Music (A2IM)
American Board of Internal Medicine
American Federation of Musicians
American Gramaphone LLC
American Made Alliance
American Mental Health Counselors Association
American Photographic Artists
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
American Society of Media Photographers
American Society of Picture Professionals
American Watch Association
Anatoly Pronin Photography
Andrea Rugg Photography
Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Initiative (ACAPI)
Applied DNA Sciences
Art Holeman Photography
Association of American Publishers (AAP)
Association of Equipment Manufacturers
Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP)
Association of Test Publishers
AstraZeneca plc
Australian Medical Council
Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association
Baker & Taylor Ent.
Bay State Psychological Associates
Beachbody, LLC
Beam Global Spirits & Wine
Blue Sky Studios, Inc.
Bose Corporation
Braasch Biotech LLC
Brian Stevenson Photography
Brigid Collins Family Support Center
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)
Burberry
C. F. Martin & Co., Inc.
Callaway Golf Company
Cascade Designs Incorporated
Caterpillar Inc.
Caveon, LLC
CBS Corporation
Cengage Learning
Center for Credentialing & Education
Center Stage Photography
CFA Institute
Chanel USA
Christopher Semmes Photography
Church Music Publishers Association
CMH Images
Coach
Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP)
Columbia Sportswear Company
Comcast Corporation
Commercial Photo Design
Commercial Photographers International
Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System
Consumer Healthcare Products Association
Copyright Alliance
Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)
Coty Inc.
Council of Fashion Designers of America
Country Music Association
CropLife America
Cross-Entertainment LLC
CSA Group
CVS Caremark
Dan Sherwood Photography
Danita Delimont Stock Photography
Dayco Products, LLC
Deluxe Entertainment Services Group
Dennyfoto
Derek DiLuzio Photography
DeVaul Photography
Direct Selling Association (DSA)
Directional Insight
Distefano Enterprises Inc.
Doriguzzi Photographic Artistry
Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
Dolce & Gabbana USA, INC.
Dollar General Corporation
Don Grall Photography
Dunford Architectural Photography
Eagle Rock Entertainment
Ed McDonald Photography
Educational & Industrial Testing Service
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA)
Eli Lilly and Company
Englebert Photography
Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
ERAI, Inc.
Eric Meola Studio Inc
Evidence Photographers International Council
Exxel Outdoors
FAME Publishing Co., LLC.
FAME Recording Studios
Far Bank Enterprises
Fashion Business Incorporated
Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy
Fender Musical Instrument Company
Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America (FDRA)
Ford Motor Company
Fortune Brands, Inc.
Fred J. Lord Photography
GAR Associates
Gelderland Productions, L.L.C.
Gemvision Corporation
Gibson Guitar Corp.
GlaxoSmithKline
Gospel Music Association
Governors America Corp.
Graphic Artists Guild
Greeting Card Association (GCA)
Greg Nikas Photography
Guru Denim
H.S. Marketing & Design, Inc.
Harley-Davidson Motor Company
HarperCollins Publishers
Harry Fox Agency
Hastings Entertainment, Inc.
ICM Distributing Company, Inc.
IDS Publishing
IEC Electronics corp.
Images Plus
Imaging Supplies Coalition (ISC)
Independent Distributors of Electronics Association (IDEA)
INgrooves
Innate-gear
International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC)
International Trademark Association (INTA)
IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries
Ira Montgomery Photography
J.S. Grove Photography
James Drug Inc.
Jaynes Gallery
JCPage Photography
Jean Poland Photography
Jeff Stevensen Photography
John Fulton Photography
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Johnson & Johnson
Juicy Couture, Inc
Julien McRoberts Photography
K&R Photographics
kate spade
Kekepana International Services
Kenneth Garrett, photographer for National Geographic
Killing Jar Productions LLC
Lacoste USA
Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.
Lexmark International, Inc.
Light Perspectives
Linda Olsen Photography
Little Dog Records
Liz Claiborne, Inc
L’Oréal USA
Lucky Brand Jeans
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton
Macmillan
Major League Baseball
Marcia Andberg Associates LLC
Mark Niederman Photography
Marmot
Marona Photography
McLain Photography Inc
Merck & Co., Inc.
Messy Face Designs, Inc.
Michael Stern Photography
MicroRam Electronics, Inc.
Minter Works of Art
Mira Images
Monster Cable Products, Inc.
Moose’s Photos
Morningstar Films LLC
Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA)
MotionMasters
Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association
MPA – The Association of Magazine Media
Mr. Theodor Feibel (sole proprietor)
Music Managers Forum-U.S.
Nashville Songwriters Association International
Natalie Neckyfarow Actor/Dancer/Singer
National Association of Broadcasters
National Association of Manufacturers
National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM)
National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO)
National Basketball Association (NBA)
National Board for Certified Counselors
National Board for Certified Counselors Foundation
National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA)
National Football League (NFL)
National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA)
National Retail Federation (NRF)
NBCUniversal
Nervous Tattoo Inc., dba Ed Hardy
New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.
New Era Cap Co Inc
New Levels Ent. Co. LLC
News Corporation
Next Decade Entertainment, Inc.
NHL Enterprises, L.P.
Nicholas Petrucci, Artist, LLC
Nike, Inc.
Nintendo of America Inc.
Nissle Fine Art Photography
North Dakota Pharmacists Association
North Dakota Pharmacy Service Corporation
Oakley, Inc.
One Voice Recordings
OpSec Security, Inc.
Outdoor Industry Association
Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI)
Outdoor Research, Inc
Pacific Component Xchange, Inc.
Party Killer Films LLC
Pearson Clinical Assessment
Peavey Electronics Corporation
Perry Ellis International
Personal Care Products Council
Peter C. Brandt, Architectural and Fine Art Photography
Peter Hawkins Photography, Inc.
Petzl America
Pfizer Inc.
PGA of America
Philip Morris International
Photojournalist Dave Bartruff
Picture Archive Council of America (PACA)
Pigfactory Music
PING
PNW Images
Premier League
Production Music Association (PMA)
Professional Photographers of America
Quality Float Works, Inc.
Raging Waters Music
Ralph Lauren Corporation
Ramsay Corporation
Rebel Photo
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Red4 Music/Doogs Rock Inc
Red Wing Shoe Company
Reebok International Ltd.
Reed Elsevier Inc.
Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA)
Revlon
Richard Flutie Photography
Rite Aid
Robin Davis Photography, Inc.
Rodger Scott Craig, a member of Liverpool Express, The Merseybeats, Fortune, Harlan
Cage, 101 South, and Mtunz Media
Roger Smith Photography Services
Rolex Watch USA Inc.
Romance Writers of America (RWA)
Rosetta Stone Inc.
Saddle Creek
Sage Studios LLC
Sam D’Amico Photography
Schneider Electric
Sean McGinty Photography
Secret Sea Visions (Photography)
SESAC, Inc.
SG Industries, Inc.
Shure Incorporated
SIGMA Assessment Systems
Six Degrees Records
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
SMC Entertainment
SMT Corp.
SoBe Entertainment
Society of Sport & Event Photographers
Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA)
Sony Electronics Inc.
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Soul Appeal Records and Music
SoundExchange
Southern Gothic LLC
Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA)
SPI (The Plastics Industry Trade Association)
Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association
Sports Rights Owners Coalition
Spring Fever Productions LLC
Spyder Active Sports, Inc
Stenbakken Photography
Stephen Dantzig Photography
Stock Artist Alliance
Stuart Weitzman Holdings, LLC
Student Photographic Society
Studio 404
SunRise Solar Inc.
Taylor Glenn Photographs
Taylor Made Golf Company, Inc.
Tednologies, Inc.
The Cambridge Don
The Collegiate Licensing Company/IMG College
The Donath Group, Inc.
The Dow Chemical Company
The Estee Lauder Companies
The McGraw-Hill Companies
The Music People! Inc.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
The Recording Academy (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences)
The Timberland Company
The Walt Disney Company
Tiffany & Co.
Time Warner Inc.
Tony Bullard Photography
Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc.
TRA Global
Tricoast Worldwide
Trio Productions, Inc. / Songscape Music,
Twist & Shout, Inc.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
Universal Music Group
Uniweld Products Inc.
VF Corporation
Viacom
Vibram USA, Inc
Virtual Chip Exchange USA, Inc.
Voltage Pictures, LLC
W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co.
Walcott Studio, LLC
Wal-Mart
Warner Music Group
Wendy Kaveney Photography
Western Psychological Services
Westmorland Images, LLC
Wild & Associates, Inc.
Wild Eye Photos LLC
William Sutton Photography
Willis Music
WindLegends Ink LLC
Winestem Company
Winslow Research Institute
Wolfe Video
Wolverine World Wide, Inc.
Woolrich, Inc.
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
Xerox Corporation
Zippo Manufacturing Company
Zumba Fitness, LLC
Όφις ην μη φάγη όφιν, δράκων ου γενήσεται.

Captain Fabio

Age 33
London, UK
Seen November 4th, 2021
Posted November 2nd, 2021
12,193 posts
17.1 Years

The English language Wikipedia is going on a 24 hour blackout tomorrow and if they keep pushing for this bill, bigger sites like Google are going to follow.

It will kill so many sites and will have a negative.

In the end, I don't think it will fully get into effect.

Mr. X

It's... kinda effective?

Age 30
Male
London
Seen July 1st, 2022
Posted June 12th, 2019
2,389 posts
16.6 Years
Everyone is going on and on about how this bill is going to kill everything.

In wording it will, but in implementation? It's going to be focused on warez, torrentz, usenetz, and maglinkz. Basically, illegal downloads in general. And sites selling fakes of items... which would most likely hit the Chinese economy hard.

If it passes, the people will ensure that they only go as far as they said the law was going to allow them to, no matter how poorly worded the law is. If they do beyond that, although the law would allow it, you'll without a doubt be seeing massive riots from the people and a mass amount of websites doing temp shutdowns in response.

Do I support this law? No.
Do I support the ideals behind this law? Yes.
Can I see how bad this law could screw things up? Yes.
Do I see that the people will enforce limits on the law, despite its wording? Yes, and this question is one that most are ignoring.

donavannj

Age 32
Male
'cause it get cold like Minnesota
Seen 5 Days Ago
Posted 2 Weeks Ago
22,513 posts
18.2 Years
Do I see that the people will enforce limits on the law, despite its wording? Yes, and this question is one that most are ignoring.
You and I must not have the same trust in authority, then. I can see bureaucrats and politicians being manipulated by those with money and influence to allow shutdowns that go beyond the supposed limits you see people enforcing simply because the letter of the law lets them get away with it.

All this considering that, at the beginning of the current millennium, these corporations, whether it was willingly or inadvertently, showed people how to pirate their stuff and even aided them in doing so through their various websites (though I'm sure many of these companies didn't exactly have as strict of control of these websites as they do now). What I see by these corporations wanting this to be passed is an unwillingness to adapt to their self-inflicted wounds and trying to force the enforcement of their copyright onto corporations who have their own copyrights and intellectual properties to worry about, and onto file-hosting companies who already do considerable work keeping their sites clean of such materials and will remove the IP of a company at its request. The current model allows those who see piracy as a viral marketing tool to spread word about their product, while allowing those who don't want piracy of their products to use legal processes for its removal.

However, SOPA has stalled for the short term. Chances are it will reemerge later on after the uproar over it has died down considerably.
whoops
Male
In the depths of space...
Seen March 19th, 2023
Posted July 24th, 2013
134 posts
11.5 Years
I am greatly against SOPA in all ways. It would take away the freedom of many to just generally have fun. We are not committing any actions on this website or many others in which we are being unfair to companies such as Nintendo and Game Freak. If anything we are promoting there business farther.

And yes I have to agree with Team Fail. If this Act was in place the PokeCommunity would lose many of its sections and would most likely lose many, many followers.

.:Aegis:.
~coming soon~

Mr. X

It's... kinda effective?

Age 30
Male
London
Seen July 1st, 2022
Posted June 12th, 2019
2,389 posts
16.6 Years
You and I must not have the same trust in authority, then. I can see bureaucrats and politicians being manipulated by those with money and influence to allow shutdowns that go beyond the supposed limits you see people enforcing simply because the letter of the law lets them get away with it.
My opinion has nothing to do with those in power. It depends on the average person, not a person who is paid 6 figures just to wear a suit and sit at a desk all day.

Also, they only have the money (Which gives them power and influence.) because the people give it to them. To break their power, everyone would have to abstain from products that give them that power. And guess what? No. One. Wants. Is the bill a power-grab? Yes. Are the people *****ing complaining about it the ones that are helping to funding it? Yes.

Throughout the past 20 years, everytime a law/ruling comes down against piracy you'll immediately have large groups of people start clamoring that 'Dis iz gonna killz teh int3rn3tz!'

Some (older) reading material from a couple months ago.

http://blog.mpaa.org/BlogOS/post/2011/11/02/Predictions-of-Internet’s-Demise-Have-Been-Greatly-Exaggerated-.aspx

http://www.copyhype.com/2011/11/dispatches-from-the-sopacolypse/

I have another story that I want to post that takes the other side but I can't remember the name. It was a list of all the actions and copyright laws that the corporations pushed through and its tone was pretty much that they are going to keep pushing tougher and tougher laws through even though they are not needed. (But, as current laws have failed, newer and stronger laws ARE needed.)

I'm just going to say again that I'm against SOPA.
As much as supporters are clamoring about how this proposal will be "necessary" to combat "rampant" online piracy, let's be clear about one thing-it won't do a single thing to stop piracy (much like how the egregiously misnamed "Border Security and Immigration Improvement Act" does not do anything to secure our borders from illegal immigrants or terrorists.) Instead, as many are saying, it will do everything to censor the Internet and shut down many legitimate sites.
Bottom line: this must be stopped at all costs (although it is likely to be rammed through by our rubber-stamping Congress).
Age 32
Male
Seen October 6th, 2022
Posted February 23rd, 2021
2,016 posts
11.7 Years
For those of you who do think that SOPA will not be abused, let me share a story. Last year near November I believe the popular site Megaupload was taken down for a day. For those who don't know Megaupload is a site where users can upload any kind of document, video, and whatever else you want to share with the world. When it was taken down singers such as P. Diddy, Kanye West, and Chris Brown branded together and created a song called the Mega Song and can be viewed here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Wvn-9BXVc.

Universal Music Group pulled the video claiming that the singers were violating their copyright contracts. They didn't. YouTube later reposted the video and UMG said that they could take down videos from YouTube because of some agreements they had made a few years together.

With even stricter laws on internet censorships what could other corporations do? What could movie and music corporations do if you upload something that they disagree with? You can find a link on the youtube page for more on the story.

Mercurybro

Age 31
Male
The Future
Seen February 11th, 2023
Posted January 19th, 2023
623 posts
11.6 Years
Personally I don't see reason to worry. There are too many big players on both sides for there to be any horrible impact on the users.

And if there is a horrible impact, there is always a way around it. The "problem" this act is trying to fix can always be made more complicated, which can either cause copyright holders to forget about enforcing the law or cause groups of cyber police to form.

Either way, looks like fun. :)

jpp8

Producer

Seen September 19th, 2013
Posted May 18th, 2013
187 posts
13.9 Years
Well, from what I have now heard, even if Congress passes the bill, Obama won't sign it as he too is against it, but I have read that the bill was shelved (I'm waiting on complete confirmation on both). So it seems that SOPA could now be the least of our worries, now we have to turn to PIPA.
Obama not signing anything would be meaningless if a bill receives so much support from both parties. Remember, the checks and balances system in this country works in a way so that a 2/3rds support in Congress can overturn a presidential veto.

Instead of crying because they're losing profit to the internet, why not find a new way to profit off this information super highway (like DLC and HD movie rentals)? Oh wait...

Mr. X

It's... kinda effective?

Age 30
Male
London
Seen July 1st, 2022
Posted June 12th, 2019
2,389 posts
16.6 Years
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/204725-unbowed-by-protests-smith-to-move-ahead-on-piracy-bill

Newer story.

“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.”
Truth. Instead of blacking out service in protest, they should be actively combating online piracy. If they did that, this bill would have never been made, and if it was never made then they wouldn't have had anything to protest about.

Is the government's solution to piracy a good one? No.
Have these protesting websites come up with better plans? Doubt it.

But still, Wikipedia has just lost my support. They say they want to remain unbiased. This stunt is so blatantly biased that you can't see anything but the bias.

The Void

hiiiii

Male
MOTHA RUSSIA
Seen May 29th, 2019
Posted August 9th, 2015
1,416 posts
13 Years
So I see there are a few people here supporting the SOPA Bill. Please, before anyone else starts supporting it as well, please know what it will do to the internet world. It will no longer be a place of fun. It will no longer be the place as we know it. If this bill gets passed, a lot of sites, even Google itself will be greatly destroyed and will lose its profits, and then many other sites will follow. Help us protect the internet world. Or else it will be a disaster.
Όφις ην μη φάγη όφιν, δράκων ου γενήσεται.

Mr. X

It's... kinda effective?

Age 30
Male
London
Seen July 1st, 2022
Posted June 12th, 2019
2,389 posts
16.6 Years
(Don't support it)

In the same sence, before you start believing in all the 'internet gonna die when this passes' talk, remember. The same words have been said pretty much every time when a new copyright law is being voted on.

Same words. said many times before. And guess what? Wrong every time.

Netto Azure

Kiel

Age 30
Male
Alistel, Vainqueur
Seen November 17th, 2021
Posted September 29th, 2021
9,467 posts
15 Years
To me SOPA is just creating the same powers and tactics over the Internet that oppressive regimes use.

Except they're being handed over to the Entertainment Industry. >_>

Also I am surprised that I went from Rep. Janice Hahn's (CA-36) District to Rep. Henry Waxman's (CA-30) District and that his position on SOPA/PIPA is unknown considering he represents West Hollywood, Malibu and where some of the Entertainment industries people live.

The Void

hiiiii

Male
MOTHA RUSSIA
Seen May 29th, 2019
Posted August 9th, 2015
1,416 posts
13 Years
(Don't support it)

In the same sence, before you start believing in all the 'internet gonna die when this passes' talk, remember. The same words have been said pretty much every time when a new copyright law is being voted on.

Same words. said many times before. And guess what? Wrong every time.
The Internet won't die. It will just change dramatically. People will stop doing all these illegal things just because they have no choice. So if you're not against SOPA because the internet will somehow be destroyed, why exactly are you against it?
Όφις ην μη φάγη όφιν, δράκων ου γενήσεται.

CapricornPsyche

Psychic Trainer of Capricorn

Age 33
Female
NY
Seen October 11th, 2012
Posted October 10th, 2012
60 posts
11.4 Years
I am severely against this bill... It's the same kind of system they use in NORTH KOREA... What's to say if PIPA passes it will be any different... The only way to even remotely combat piracy is to encourage people to buy all the products that suffer under piracy theft. and even then it's not going to stop it all together...
I herped my Derp!

-CapricornPsyche

Platinum Lucario

The Legendary Master of Light!

Age 30
Male
Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia.
Seen April 2nd, 2023
Posted April 1st, 2021
1,605 posts
15.4 Years
Those bills... oh my goodness. They are just absolutely terrible! What can I say about it? Oh plenty of things. Those bills will threaten many web-based companies, which does indeed mean the social networking websites, and they won't end up surviving if those bills became law. So many new websites would be crippled from it, so many websites dedicated to copyright infringement would end up getting shut down without even allowing the website owner to defend themselves in court.

The world wide web is free and open to everyone, anyone can express themselves and share content in so many ways. We all want the world wide web to stay open and free to everyone. We don't want the world wide web under government control, but if these bills pass... many other countries would end up following suit, even here in my country of Australia would. And just the description of it is devastating.

I have been against those bills right from when I heard about those bills way back in November 2011 on the American Censorship Day. The bills are supported by nearly every single Hollywood entertainment company, because they desperately want to stop online piracy, but... to be perfectly honest, I support piracy because I'm a ROM Hacker who actually downloads ROMs and ISOs from websites to create my ROM Hack or even play the games on my Emulator. I don't support what the companies do to try and stop piracy. There is a difference between counterfeiting and piracy, piracy is when you share the digital content and give it other people (such as sharing ROMs, ISOs and ROM hacks), and counterfeiting is when someone makes a copy of something and sells it to a second-hand place to make money out of it. And of course... I am against counterfeiting, and I really believe that companies really shouldn't be trying to stop their content from being distributed, 'cause everyone has the right to share content to other people, once it's on the world wide web... it's available to everyone and everyone can enjoy the content for free, and what better way it should be with allowing digital content to be free? The only things that should only be payed for... is the structures (such as optical disks, cards ect).

What better way to settle it... is by having the digital content free and only to pay for the structures made? I would like to see a future of such things, and everyone able to distribute ROMs, ISOs and software. Because all the digital would become available for people to research and find out about the ancient software and stuff. If we still continued to stop piracy and become stricter about it for the next 100 years, then we won't be able to find out about the old software that used to exist today. The very old WildTangent games that I have on my old computer will become heritage games, and many of those games have been lost, because that company removes the old games that used to exist because of the new hardware for the computers come in. So just imagine if companies continued to hinder people from distributing content and remove every single access to being able to upload, extract from the optical disk and stuff... by lobbying the government to bring in those stricter laws? Then those games and such would become lost, gone... and won't be able to find out what those games are about... just like an animal becoming extinct.

If those bills ended up passing, then the whole of the US won't be able to have free speech, and on top of that... using the same method as what China uses, and the US would become just as bad as those countries in regards to how there's no freedom, and just imagine how bad that would be if it spreads worldwide? Websites would be all dedicated to the entertainment industry, and YouTube would become a place where no one would be able to create an account, and become a place where there are only trailers of movies, games and such of what companies submit to YouTube. The world wide web would become a place only for movie or gaming websites.

So which path should we take? A path that leads to stopping piracy which would threaten free speech? Or a path that supports piracy and sharing content to everyone and having free speech? We can't have it both ways (eg. free speech and stopping piracy), 'cause it's all going to come down to either one of them. The path I chose was the path that supports piracy and sharing content to everyone and having free speech.

EDIT: And just to also add that most of the entertainment industry wastes alot of their money on lobbying the government to bring in stricter laws, and not to also mention holidays as well as the most expensive things. Most of their shareholders are spent on lobbying the government, which they shouldn't be doing, instead they should just use it on buying the material used for making the structures (eg. optical disks).
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Age 32
Male
Seen October 6th, 2022
Posted February 23rd, 2021
2,016 posts
11.7 Years
The bad thing is that Lamar Smith still thinks that the opposition is in the minority. Really? Does he really think that Wikipedia was made by only a few hundred people? Did he forget about Vint Cerf, THE FATHER OF THE INTERNET, coming together with 82 other inventors coming together to send a open letter to Congress pretty much saying this legislation is a bad idea http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9472301-vinton-cerf-other-internet-gurus-protest-piracy-bill? How about companies like Facebook and Google that are huge and millions of people use each day, are those just the minority? The guy seriously needs to get the wax out of those ears and listen!

TRIFORCE89

Guide of Darkness

Age 33
Male
Temple of Light
Seen November 25th, 2017
Posted October 21st, 2016
8,122 posts
19.1 Years
I support the blackouts and other forms of protest happening today, but here's the problem... The audiences of those sites are already largely aware of this legislation.

Do non-Internet-savvy people visit Reddit? Probably not. For the layman who the point of these protests should actually be to educate, they won't notice. Yeah, Google US changed their logo (doesn't actually say anything at all about why though, as far as I can tell. I'm in Canada, I can't see it). Wikipedia is down... but again, nerdy Internet-heavy users actually sit there and read it all day. Others just access it as needed, and shutting down to those people just shows how the site isn't all that necessary to them and they can go find alternatives.

Seriously, lolcats is down. Oh the humanity. I think a lot more good would have happened if sites accessed by other audiences than the Internet-heavy community who is already aware and educated on the legislation took part, then there would be a greater impact.

Like CNN. If that went down, others would notice. But, it can't because its owned by a media company. So... :|

Awesome.

Gotta go fast!!!

Age 27
Male
Currently hanging from the cross
Seen December 26th, 2017
Posted July 28th, 2012
390 posts
14.3 Years

The English language Wikipedia is going on a 24 hour blackout tomorrow and if they keep pushing for this bill, bigger sites like Google are going to follow.

It will kill so many sites and will have a negative.

In the end, I don't think it will fully get into effect.

Technically speaking it is not a blackout if one can still access it. Wikipedia's blackout can be bypassed by copying and pasting "?banner=none" at the end of the url.

In my opinion it was a dumb idea for Jimmy to "blackout" Wikipedia if it could be be bypassed so easily
Age 31
Female
Partyin' wit Segata Sanshiro
Seen March 1st, 2013
Posted November 23rd, 2012
532 posts
12.1 Years
I'm on the fence about this bill. Yes, piracy is horrible but there are other ways to do it. I mean, for one they shut down Limewire which was a smart move on their part but you still have sites like Napster and all that still there. I think if they really wanted to stop piracy, they should shut down the sites that offer free downloads of music/movies and what not, you know the ones that you originally are supposed to pay 99 cents to $2 on. I'm mean, even youtube is cracking down. People (especially kids) are going to have to learn that if they want to download a song or movie that copyrighted, then they have to pay for it.

Unfortunately with today's generation, there's always going to be a loophole around it.

Mew~

THE HOST IS BROKEN

Seen April 13th, 2016
Posted April 12th, 2016
4,163 posts
14.2 Years
Haha. I don't see much of a problem with using Wikipedia. All you really have to do is stop the page from loading before that notice shows up.

I honestly don't think this whole act is going to be successful at all anyway though. There are way too many people against it.
There was nothing. Followed by everything. Swirling, burning specks of creation that circled life-giving suns. And then we reached to the light.

HaloSonic

Male
The Great White North
Seen 2 Weeks Ago
Posted December 16th, 2019
579 posts
13.5 Years
honestly, I support the spirit of the bill, in a sense to stop people from rampantly pirating whatever they please. however, it's written so badly that It will affect many things not even vaguely related to piracy or copywringht, and hence I don't support it.

Its either real or its a dream, there's nothing that is inbetween, Twiiiiiliiiiiight