SOPA & ACTA Page 2

Started by The Void January 17th, 2012 7:15 AM
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Should the SOPA Bill be passed?

Oryx

CoquettishCat

Age 30
Female
Seen January 30th, 2015
Posted December 27th, 2014
13,184 posts
12.2 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... :|
The point is that SOPA is not generally covered by the average media outlet. However, with huge sites like Reddit and Wikipedia and Google making big statements on it, the news pretty much has to report on it. Plus Wikipedia is used much more widely than you seem to think; although the people that use it very heavily will also be affected and probably already knew, there are plenty of people that will Google something and then click on Wikipedia as their first link. Wikipedia is used by casual users as well.


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Kiel

Age 30
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15 Years
I'd want to ask, how would Google be affected? I mean even if you made a new site or what not it automatically its put on Google. And it has over 80 million if I am correct.
That's one of the main things why people oppose this. Google and other search engines would be forced to proactively self-censor "links to pirating sites" or risk being sued regularly.

Elite Overlord LeSabre™

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I don't think our government officials fully understand the full scope of the internet. And that's what makes this bill especially scary... it's being voted on by people who don't know the ramifications of the bill if it happens to pass. It has the potential to affect everyone who goes online, even just to check email, and I don't think Congress understands that. And yet they're voting on this bill anyway. Terrifying.

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if the SOPA passes, the United States have failed. They have failed as a country founded on peoples rights to the most fundamental freedoms. I think Overlord hit the nail in the head with the idea that Congress don't fully understand the implications of what Lamar Smith is suggesting with this Act.

This is an image a good friend of mine brought to my attention on Twitter. Even the Curator of the act seems to be a little confused about this...


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It can't protect. It only destroys."

Nakuzami

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12.7 Years
I think . . . my brain melted halfway into that video.

Well, rather than writing a wall of text (if I could even think of that much to write) I'm just going to say: if this were passed and it maade as much as an impact as it sounds like it will, I will personally walk up to everyone in the Senate/House of Representatives/US government/et cetera that supported this and slap them in the face with an angry Magikarp.
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Seen November 21st, 2014
Posted June 21st, 2014
9,522 posts
11.8 Years
Not sure if you guys have seen this:

Web Protests Piracy Bills, and Senators Change Course

WASHINGTON — Online protests on Wednesday quickly cut into Congressional support for online antipiracy measures as lawmakers abandoned and rethought their backing for legislation that pitted new media interests against some of the most powerful old-line commercial interests in Washington.
Now this is an exciting turn of events...
Male
Seen March 29th, 2015
Posted March 27th, 2015
589 posts
11.6 Years
It most certainly is, Mac. Also, I've heard from YouTube that the White House stood against internet censorship as well. Thus, they gave out the ultimatim that, if anyone brings up a bill that discerns anything regarding internet censorship, it will be vetoed on the spot the instant that it hits the president's desk.

This was more than enough for whomever that started SOPA in the first place to drop it altogether. Even so, the PIPA is still going underway, & I'm praying that it, too, gets shot down in flames.

TRIFORCE89

Guide of Darkness

Age 33
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Posted October 21st, 2016
8,122 posts
19.1 Years
It's piracy. Yet you can understand where they are coming from. Companies are tired of not getting the money because people want get stuff from other sites :p
Then they should start selling stuff that the public wants at prices they want.

A digital file that can be used in multiple ways across multiple devices. Cheap and easy in an iTunes-like distribution. If I buy a DVD, I should be able to rip and watch it on other media playing devices. Technically I can, but the media companies don't want me to. I'll buy a high resolution version, but why can't I use what I already bought? Now, that in itself isn't piracy but anti-piracy measures end up limiting the use of media for legitimate purposes.

Also, things like fan edits of movies or rom hacks are sometimes better than official versions that are up for sale. Star Wars has numerous edits that you can find online. Extensive colour corrections, rebuilt sound fields, improved special effects - improvements that aren't on the official DVDs and Blurays. Old games see new life with improvements and bug fixes on the emulation scene. The Beatles catalog was remastered and released in 2009 for sale, but online you can find even better remasters. Why pay for an inferior product?

Capitalism and the open-markets is based on competition. You're not supposed to ban the competition, you're supposed to learn from it and adapt. Offer better products at a better price.

U.Flame

Maker of Short Games

Age 27
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Posted January 17th, 2023
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15 Years
Stop piracy but give up ROM hacking? No way. As Koolboyman pointed pointed out on Youtube, this bill threatens the entire ROM hacking community. I hate piracy but there's a difference between stealing and ROM hacking. Especially since hacks have to be free and give credit to the right people and original game. SOPA doesn't clarify that, and that's why I'm against it. Sonic Retro (A popular Sonic hacking site) has pointed out that without us ROM hackers and our freedom to work in ways companies can't, companies wouldn't be where they are now. Even Sega admits that.
The more you learn about something, the more you realize just how much you don't know. I've shelved my more ambitious ideas in favor of smaller, more feasible projects and contributions. While I still have an ongoing project, and still intend to experiment with improving Gen 3's multiplayer, it's been much less stressful doing smaller things, like entries for Anthroyd's MAGM contests.

Of which you can check out here:
Naillevaihcam
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Age 33
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18.6 Years
Stop piracy but give up ROM hacking? No way. As Koolboyman pointed pointed out on Youtube, this bill threatens the entire ROM hacking community. I hate piracy but there's a difference between stealing and ROM hacking. Especially since hacks have to be free and give credit to the right people and original game. SOPA doesn't clarify that, and that's why I'm against it. Sonic Retro (A popular Sonic hacking site) has pointed out that without us ROM hackers and our freedom to work in ways companies can't, companies wouldn't be where they are now. Even Sega admits that.
You're aware you needed pirated ROM to ROMHack right? Just pointing it out there that you still need to patch it to a ROM and use a ROM as a Base....

Anyway, I'm against SOPA for the sole reason that it is a step backwards in the Digital media age. I mean, Email, texting, downloading have become so much apart of our lives that infringing on that at all brings us back a step.

The real reaon that SOPA seems to exist is for the music and move industry. THe former of the two has tried to adapt to the media age (I mean you can't really pirate a concert and get the full experience...). Also merchandising and all that...

With movies it's a little trickier because you can't use the internet in the same way music can to promote itself. Think about it: Bands can use Myspace and actual filesharing sites to leak music and promote new bands. You can't really do that with movies.
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U.Flame

Maker of Short Games

Age 27
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Unknown
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Posted January 17th, 2023
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15 Years
You're aware you needed pirated ROM to ROMHack right? Just pointing it out there that you still need to patch it to a ROM and use a ROM as a Base....

Anyway, I'm against SOPA for the sole reason that it is a step backwards in the Digital media age. I mean, Email, texting, downloading have become so much apart of our lives that infringing on that at all brings us back a step.

The real reaon that SOPA seems to exist is for the music and move industry. THe former of the two has tried to adapt to the media age (I mean you can't really pirate a concert and get the full experience...). Also merchandising and all that...

With movies it's a little trickier because you can't use the internet in the same way music can to promote itself. Think about it: Bands can use Myspace and actual filesharing sites to leak music and promote new bands. You can't really do that with movies.
How the ROM is obtained doesn't have to be illigal. You need the official game in order to legally own a ROM. Like I said, there's a difference between hacking and piracy.
The more you learn about something, the more you realize just how much you don't know. I've shelved my more ambitious ideas in favor of smaller, more feasible projects and contributions. While I still have an ongoing project, and still intend to experiment with improving Gen 3's multiplayer, it's been much less stressful doing smaller things, like entries for Anthroyd's MAGM contests.

Of which you can check out here:
Naillevaihcam
Magical Altering Gym Menagerie
Age 31
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Seen July 18th, 2016
Posted May 26th, 2014
343 posts
11.5 Years
[SIZE="a"]I Am totally against SOPA and PIPA,
as you can see from my sig. I mean, I
Believe in copyright and all that, but SOPA goes way overboard. Like, if I upload a song to YouTube, I could get arrested. That's crazy! And, as has been noted before, it would nearly eliminate ROM hacking from PC.
We must stop this.[/SIZE]
Age 30
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Posted May 16th, 2016
3,597 posts
15.9 Years
I think SOPA is a perfectly fine thing.
I don't get what the problem is.
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2Cool4Mewtwo

Pwning in Ubers since 1996.

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Posted February 13th, 2012
1,182 posts
12.1 Years
[SIZE="a"]I Am totally against SOPA and PIPA,
as you can see from my sig. I mean, I
Believe in copyright and all that, but SOPA goes way overboard. Like, if I upload a song to YouTube, I could get arrested. That's crazy! And, as has been noted before, it would nearly eliminate ROM hacking from PC.
We must stop this.[/SIZE]
Agreed. Farcical way to "solve" copyright problem. (Also, current 2:58 like to dislike ratio basically sums up how many are against this piece of junk)

If SOPA was in "full swing," I would've been arrested and put into jail for 5 years for putting up that link to lifehacker website on my previous post and PC would have to shut down. Scary... in a completely ludicrous way.


I think SOPA is a perfectly fine thing.
I don't get what the problem is.
I hope you're trolling. :cheeky:


Age 33
Brittania
Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted September 15th, 2022
5,094 posts
18.6 Years
How the ROM is obtained doesn't have to be illigal. You need the official game in order to legally own a ROM. Like I said, there's a difference between hacking and piracy.
I just want to point out, I love how that's the ONLY thing in my post you tried to argue (btw it's illegal >_>).

Let me ask you a question:
How many people do you think own have the ROMs they hack?
A good number probably do, but the vast majority probably don't own it (or are just saying they do). Anyone can say "I own (insert game here)," No one is really going to check.

Yes there is a difference between hacking and piracy, but people still pirate the ROMs they hack. You sort of missed my point there.
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Mr. X

It's... kinda effective?

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Posted June 12th, 2019
2,389 posts
16.6 Years
You can, but can you guarentee that rom hackers and people who play rom hacks can?


Your the minority. The overwhelming majority must pirate the roms.

Besides, the backup is only legal if you still own the original gamecart. And if you dumped to rom yourself. (Even though you own the game, your not legally allowed to download a rom version.)

2Cool4Mewtwo

Pwning in Ubers since 1996.

Age 29
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Posted February 13th, 2012
1,182 posts
12.1 Years
Threaten the ROM hacking community? That's an understatement.

If SOPA passes, I guarantee that it'll be near impossible to make a ROM hack without bypassing SOPA, maybe even if you're savvy on this subject. You'd need your own game cartridge (and maybe even program a game boy emulator program and program that converts files in cartridge to .gba files, all from scratch!)... it'd be hundreds, if not thousands of times harder to make a ROM hack if you plan to hack it from the scratch. Even if you manage to make a ROM hack, how will you be able to distribute it without uploading/downloading websites?

Good luck, though. Not saying it's impossible, but you'd have to be extremely dedicated to continue ROM hacking if this passes.


SOPA is the best thing for the internet and our society. Without these controls, piracy will continue to run rampant, and everyone knows that criminal gangs, and terrorists, make a large amount of profit from piracy to further their criminal activities.

If you oppose SOPA you are a thief, pirate, terrorist sympathiser and a paedophile (we all know they love to share illegal files).
It sounds like you don't actually know what this law does... It sounds good on paper, but the proposed implementation of it is rubbish at the very least. (If you want to know what this actually does, then go to my very first post in this thread, find the link to lifehacker on the issue, then get informed about it.


Age 33
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SOPA is the best thing for the internet and our society. Without these controls, piracy will continue to run rampant, and everyone knows that criminal gangs, and terrorists, make a large amount of profit from piracy to further their criminal activities.

If you oppose SOPA you are a thief, pirate, terrorist sympathiser and a paedophile (we all know they love to share illegal files).
I'm sure you're trolling right? No SANE person, or someone over the age of 14, would support SOPA.
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psyanic

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Age 26
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Seen April 10th, 2023
Posted June 30th, 2018
1,284 posts
12 Years
SOPA would bring a lot of trouble to taxpayers too, and we're not even counting how much money companies would have to use to properly censor their websites so that they abide with the law. Especially big ones like Youtube or Facebook. I also heard that if someone posted a video of them singing a cover to some pop song, then the whole website could be in trouble. The liability is on the website now instead of an individual...

2Cool4Mewtwo

Pwning in Ubers since 1996.

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Posted February 13th, 2012
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12.1 Years
I also heard that if someone posted a video of them singing a cover to some pop song, then the whole website could be in trouble. The liability is on the website now instead of an individual...
Yup, it's true, except the person who posted the video may face around 5 years in prison.


U.Flame

Maker of Short Games

Age 27
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Unknown
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Posted January 17th, 2023
1,322 posts
15 Years
SOPA is the best thing for the internet and our society. Without these controls, piracy will continue to run rampant, and everyone knows that criminal gangs, and terrorists, make a large amount of profit from piracy to further their criminal activities.

If you oppose SOPA you are a thief, pirate, terrorist sympathiser and a paedophile (we all know they love to share illegal files).
It's one thing to haveva differing opinion, but it's unnesessary to insult people. We didn't say SOPA isn't good, we're saying it does a lot more bad than good. Just because we oppose it doesn't mean we're all thieves, I'm sure none of us have to do with terrorism, and don't you EVER call me or anyone else a pedophile! That is an empty accusation and it ****ing pisses me off! I suggest you look at everything SOPA does, not just the good.
The more you learn about something, the more you realize just how much you don't know. I've shelved my more ambitious ideas in favor of smaller, more feasible projects and contributions. While I still have an ongoing project, and still intend to experiment with improving Gen 3's multiplayer, it's been much less stressful doing smaller things, like entries for Anthroyd's MAGM contests.

Of which you can check out here:
Naillevaihcam
Magical Altering Gym Menagerie

Mercurybro

Age 31
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Seen February 11th, 2023
Posted January 19th, 2023
623 posts
11.6 Years
Threaten the ROM hacking community? That's an understatement.

If SOPA passes, I guarantee that it'll be near impossible to make a ROM hack without bypassing SOPA, maybe even if you're savvy on this subject. You'd need your own game cartridge, and you'd need to make your own script editor, your own AdvanceMap (or whatever map editor)... it'd be hundreds, if not thousands of times harder to make a ROM hack if you plan to hack it from the scratch. Even if you manage to make a ROM hack, how will you be able to distribute it without downloading websites?

Good luck, though. You'd have to be extremely dedicated to continue ROM hacking if this passes
I'm pretty sure you won't need to recreate a script editor and map editor to make a ROM hack if SOPA passes. After all, they're only making the 'pirated software', or the ROM, more illegal than it is now to distribute.

These laws have more or less already been in place, they're just being re-emphasized along with laws against distributing prescription drugs without a prescription and transmitting harmful classified documents to terrorists. If you're complaining about this bill because it brings the legality of distributing commericial roms into question, you might as well rethink the whole "using and distributing commerical ROMs to make new ROM versions" mentality, because it technically is still illegal, you're just getting away with it.