SOPA & ACTA

[TRIFORCE89]

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.]

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

 

[Gothitelle.]

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~]

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.

 

[HaloSonic]

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.

 

[Oryx]

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.

 

[Gothitelle.]

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.

 

[Netto Azure]

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™]

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.

 

[Blue Nocturne]

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...

 

[2Cool4Mewtwo]

It's a really rare occasion that I say things with absolute certainty, but I'm 100% against this.

This site has a good explanation and a video about what this rubbish is all about.

 

[Gothitelle.]

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

 

[Nakuzami]

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.

 

[Cordelia]

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...

 

[Blade_of_darkness]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Akio123]

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.

 

[U.Flame]

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.

 

[SS01]

[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]