Stop SOPA/PIPA!

[Cairenn]

SOPA and PIPA are two bills being considered by the US government which could have far reaching and powerful negative effects on the Internet as we know it and free speech. Along with millions of others we say that these and similar censorship bills are not right.
Join us in taking action!

[Coote]

Official MPAA statement on Blackouts: http://t.co/Gu9wbixF a hilarious read indeed.


EDIT: heh, 2 co sponsors down, 28 to go.

[Cairenn]

"stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns"
"an abuse of power"
Along with other choice tidbits ...

Lol, hypocrisy much?

[Coote]

Originally Posted by Cairenn "stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns" "an abuse of power" Along with other choice tidbits ... Lol, hypocrisy much?

Well, in their defense, I do believe they've copyrighted those kinds of tactics.

[Cairenn]

http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/

Not looking very promising. =/

[TheGeek]

Of course--they're being paid BIG money by companies to support it.

It's politics, I think?

I don't know much about American politics--we have the same crap in Europe tho.

I know this much, they sensor the internet and I will need to find a new job since my excessive salary is supplemented by the interwebs.

I see it now -- seasoned technology executive now flipping burgers for McDonalds.

*GASP*

[Coote]

Yeah, even worse, my rep here in NY refuses to even meet with constituents, or accept any calls regarding SOPA or PIPA. His office even issues a statement that they don't care what we think about the issue, and that they're prepared to go full steam in support of them no matter what.

[TheGeek]

The world is coming to an end--the Mayans were right!

[Cairenn]

Originally Posted by TMcMahon51 Yeah, even worse, my rep here in NY refuses to even meet with constituents, or accept any calls regarding SOPA or PIPA. His office even issues a statement that they don't care what we think about the issue, and that they're prepared to go full steam in support of them no matter what.

Guess who should be voted out of office? Saying out-right that you don't care what your constituents think?

[Petrah]

Here's an avatar I made, if anyone wishes to use it.

Right click and save to your hard drive:




Check out the statement Wikipedia made. http://en.wikipedia.org

[Dolby]

Really good video that goes through some of the bill text.

!

[Vlad]

Even if you vote them out of office, the damage would already have been made, wouldn't it? It's much harder to revoke a law after it passes, instead it seems people just build on top of already passed laws... at least laws that are recent.

Anyway, I am concerned that if this passes I am really baffled what on earth those that supported it had to say. I mean, do they even state specific reasons why they support the bill? Do they even answer questions that many ask, I see many underlining lines in the bills saying how easily these can be interpret, how ambiguous they are, do the senators even debate that or learn anything from people that obviously are much more involved in computers and the internet?

I don't live in US but I think they don't really discuss openly, they just say "trust us" or the standard "ok we see you don't like it" then they maybe ask some guys around, maybe they don't, not like they ever keep a diary of any sort... then suddenly changes happen, they support a bill, no deep explanation to why, bom... too late to revert the damage. Even with so much protesting it's sad to see that they don't really rethink their support, it's like they almost don't need to worry about loosing their seat... I mean, can't people vote them out after? The only situation when I wouldn't worry about my job is when I don't need a job anymore, and we know the only way that could happen right... sigh

A good bill would at least let those being affected to talk back and try defend themselves, so innocent people can get off the hook, with the bill as it is they don't get a chance to say anything back once flagged as illegal, blocked they go.

Anyway, lots of frustration, not sure how to say it, I tried.

I really love khan academy, helped me trough math and many other things. Imagine it getting blocked because someone wrote something and the companies that owned that material filed a lawsuit. Or just something like linking to someplace that has affiliation with illegal (viewed in their eyes) activity, would get it shut down too since it is enabling illegal activity. The internet would end up as it was back in the 1990s, static pages and censorship of all comments and content... back to the stone age we go.
World of Warcraft would have to be monitored all the time, in case someone decided to talk about something that is viewed illegal in someones eyes... even WowI could get blocked because some random guy posted an addon viewed illegal by someone. Those corporations really surpass standard human rights now, they can do nearly anything because they got the lawyers, and others, in their right pocket. First the economic crisis, the bailouts, the abuse of the peoples trust, now asking the government/people to pay back with interests the money originally borrowed, then this comes on top... really, I am curious how no one has yet burnt down something in protest, seems like words just don't cut it, they still do what they want.

Ok I'll shut up.

[EWOlson]

Originally Posted by Cairenn "stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns" "an abuse of power" Along with other choice tidbits ... Lol, hypocrisy much?

Sounds like something WoWInterface would do.

[Lyrebyrd]

Obvious troll is obvious. If you're sore over something, take it up with WoWInterface staff.

On topic, though: it's looking like the House has a strong opposition whereas Senate has strong support of the bill. As I'm not an American, how does that work? Does it need to pass the House first?

[TheGeek]

Originally Posted by Lyrebyrd Obvious troll is obvious. If you're sore over something, take it up with WoWInterface staff. On topic, though: it's looking like the House has a strong opposition whereas Senate has strong support of the bill. As I'm not an American, how does that work? Does it need to pass the House first?

I did a google search and it says that if the bill was written by house, it goes to house first, and if it was written by senate, it goes to senate first.

[Seerah]

SOPA is in the House (though I believe it is currently shelved until there is more support for it) and PIPA is in the Senate - doing well, as you pointed out. The Obama administration has come out against the bills in the past week.

[haylie]

It's really sad how out of tune the politicians in the US are with the general population. I bet half the people voting on these bills don't even know what the internet is. "Internet... that's the facebook thing my secretary is always on, right?"

[Coote]

Originally Posted by Seerah SOPA is in the House (though I believe it is currently shelved until there is more support for it) and PIPA is in the Senate - doing well, as you pointed out.

On a sort of bright note, 13 Senators dropped support of PIPA yesterday and 10 Representatives dropped support of SOPA. Still doesn't do much, but it's better than everything leading up to this point.

Originally Posted by haylie It's really sad how out of tune the politicians in the US are with the general population.

They're more in tune with their corporate masters than anything.

[OmegaExtreme]

[tinyu]

The bill is indefinitely postponed