Just another example how this country is turning into a fascist hellhole. This SOPA law is unconstitutional and violates the first amendment. It will allow censorship of the internet under the guise of stopping piracy. If this passes, we'll be just like China with their crazy firewall and censorship. And it probably will pass. The RIAA and MPAA are lobbying (legally bribing politicians for you Brits) heavily for it. Don't you just love living in a sham Democracy run by rich people and corporations? http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/at-web-censorship-hearing-congress-guns-for-pro-pirate-google.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/register-of-copyrights-without-sopa-copyright-will-ultimately-fail.ars
Well this could be the start of a downhill slide for the internet, I know trying to find out anything in china online is a nightmare. Plus there's always the chance they'll come beat you up for posting anything negative.
I think another part of it is that governments are a bit terrified by the kind of power the internet gives ordinary people. This isn't just about helping out their buddies in the music and movie industries. It's about crushing dissent.
Sure. If you're one of the wealthiest 1%. You can do anything you want in the US if you have enough money. Even bribe politicians to pass unconstitutional laws.
Censoring already exist. Site that deal in the totally illegal often have their domain removed. It's not enforced by law but the DNS and web hosters will get pressured to take action.
lol anything you want as long as it doesn't destroy your reputation. ayway I doubt this bill will pass... and if it does I doubt I'd care much anyway. Ppl'd find a way around it, it's not like their gonna shoot you.
I'm becoming increasingly concerned about this SOPA business. I remember having this same uneasy feeling before NAFTA passed in 1994 and the Telecommunications Act in 1996, as well as of course the madness of the Patriot Act/ Homeland Security changes after 9/11. Big business will massively abuse this measure. It's going to be very difficult to stop it from being rammed through.
Apparently there are internet security protocols in the process of being rolled out like DNSSEC that could be negatively effected by SOPA being passed. That's one of the things that could potentially derail Congress from passing this...more so than the fact that it probably wouldn't be very effective against the most abusive forms of internet piracy.
@AKS It's especially scary because under this law they can take down websites without any kind of due process. Say something the government doesn't like and your website is history. The more I read about this law, the more I think it has very little to do with piracy, and everything to do with ending free speech on the internet and cracking down on dissenters like the Occupy movement. I think deep down, our government hates the fact that the average Joe now has as much power at his fingertips as newpapers once had. Just look at the revolutions that are springing up in the Middle East using the internet. I think they see that kind of thing and it scares them.
Free Speach does include the right to feed everybody pure bullshit. This all sounds like a joke. Than again I often wonder if the world would just be better off without all this reliance on digital media. As I said before, I wouldn't care either way.
People are calling this video Reefer Madness for a new generation. It's hilarious how out of touch the geezers in our government are with reality: No one buys pirated movies. They download them for free off the internet. And it has nothing to do with organized crime or lost jobs.
nothing? really? you can buy pirated movies, ppl in 3rd world countrys do it all the time. dumbasses who do business in alyways might be duped into buying a pirated movie, if you've ever bought a home made vhs or a vcd you've bought a pirated movie remixed videos put to music are basically pirated movies, ppl sell them at cons sometimes. But more importantly this has nothing to do with the mob/ communist oppression?? really??? I'd like to hear your reasoning there. Buying international/ dvd 'unlocked' movies over ebay is pirating... not to mention the amount of pirated games (which may or may not include movie scenes). Even if your not buying, by association your exposing your computer to mobster/ communist organization crime. I think this was gone over before. Crime by association is enough, possesion is 9/10ths of the law. That being said it's fine not to care, but acting like your doing nothing wrong is just insane.
I don't buy anything pirated. I get it off torrent sites for free. The people distributing it aren't terrorists or mobsters. They're geeks who like to share stuff. And no one in Hollywood is losing their job. It's one of the few industries that's still doing well even in a bad economy. Hollywood continues to crap out bad movies and rake in billions, often by cooking the books when producing movies. That poster showing the crying camera woman who lost her job to piracy is laughable. It's something that would never happen on this planet. It's reminds me of the billionaires in the US who piss and moan because they have to pay taxes. The government is acting like piracy is done in shady back alleys by mobsters. Yeah, maybe it was back in the 1970s or 1980s. These days it's normal people sharing stuff they probably never would have bought anyway over the internet. By downloading stuff you aren't harming anyone. You aren't supporting terrorism. You aren't costing anyone their job. The video is just stupid propaganda so they can pass the SOPA bill and start censoring the internet.
Nothing you said made any sense. And you seem to be the one who's apathetic, which is sad. Apathy is what has allowed the US to slowly turn into a fascist country. Fascist, unconstitutional laws like SOPA get passed when no one gives a crap. I'm sorry that you don't care about freedom of speech. Maybe you should go live in communist China where freedom is illegal.
this is America though. the average citizen has the means to download stuff on their own. angry geeks are the ones distributing the videos. reading the nfo files is proof enough that its all raging geeks in the scene and not some organized crime outfit. hell I even know clueless girls who know how to download movies here and not know how to delete a file. this isn't china where selling pirated DVDs is the norm. triads probably have a big hand in such black markets over there.
If you want your own rights respected, you need to respect other people's rights. SOPA is a very bad piece of legislation, but that doesn't mean torrents don't raise their own awkward questions about people's willingness to violate rights at will.
Corporations aren't people. And SOPA is a law that puts the intellectual property rights of corporations above peoples' right to freedom of speech. I don't care about the movie industry. They can go choke on a dick and die for all I care. But I do care about the First Amendment.
Cherry picking the rights you respect based on personal preference or convenience is where the abuse of rights always starts. Doesn't matter if it's individuals, the police, the government, or business.