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View Full Version : SOPA and PIPA and what you think


RecQuery
18-Jan-12, 09:02
I'm going to guess most of you don't know what these are beyond the odd news story and possibly the Wikipedia blackout (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) will raise awareness. Basically SOPA and PIPA are bills before the US congress to censor the Internet, they were pushed forward by $94 million in lobbying money from certain unsavoury interests in the US. They are in no way democratic.

Rupert Murdock is in favour of SOPA/PIPA and he's thrown his toys out the pram with regards to Google opposing it, so I expect a lot of the media in the UK to do their usualy hatchet job. So with that in mind I'm going to post some links. These links probably explain the situation better than I can:


How PIPA and SOPA Violate Free Speech and Innovation (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/how-pipa-and-sopa-violate-white-house-principles-supporting-free-speech) (article)
Understanding SOPA (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/dec/23/sopa-stop-online-piracy-act) (video/animation) - this is a bit out of date as it was done back in mid December and the opposition was more than they expected, but it's the only UK view point I could find on it. Also has a couple of technical inaccuracies.
What's wrong with SOPA (http://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/One-Page-SOPA_0.pdf) (PDF)
List of companies and organisations against SOPA/PIPA (https://www.cdt.org/report/list-organizations-and-individuals-opposing-sopa) (article)
List of companies and organisations in favour of SOPA/PIPA (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xjisu18X6s7lPtAsIQg5Ol3KJjymPT2az1kasQVwGiw/preview?pli=1&sle=true&pli=1) (article)
PIPA breaks the Internet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDX8Lyl16Qs&feature=youtu.be) (video)
WTF is SOPA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM) (video)

There we do, discuss and give opinions I suppose
ducati
18-Jan-12, 09:16
I thought you have said in a previous thread that it is impossible to censor the internet?

My view, I don't care, it's not that important to me.

Just had a look at the link for the companies that support, expecting somekind of dark conspiracy, what do you know? They are the sort of companies that like to protect their copyrights and brands.
RecQuery
18-Jan-12, 09:53
I thought you have said in a previous thread that it is impossible to censor the internet?

My view, I don't care, it's not that important to me.

Just had a look at the link for the companies that support, expecting somekind of dark conspiracy, what do you know? They are the sort of companies that like to protect their copyrights and brands.

Oh well reading between the lines guess I know where you stand. It's impossible - let's say extremely unlikely, just to be safe and future proof that statement - to censor the Internet for people like me, but I still care about the average user and therefore I'm against this.

Here's an example say someone posted a link to an image or video on this forum that a company later claimed a copyright to, then the entire domain could be take down. That's everything here over that one image posted by one person who may have even been ignorant to the fact it was copyrighted.

I'm sometimes amazed that people don't get worked about this sort of stuff but will shout and scream over crap.
ducati
18-Jan-12, 10:14
Oh well reading between the lines guess I know where you stand. It's impossible - let's say extremely unlikely, just to be safe and future proof that statement - to censor the Internet for people like me, but I still care about the average user and therefore I'm against this.

Here's an example say someone posted a link to an image or video on this forum that a company later claimed a copyright to, then the entire domain could be take down. That's everything here over that one image posted by one person who may have even been ignorant to the fact it was copyrighted.

I'm sometimes amazed that people don't get worked about this sort of stuff but will shout and scream over crap.

One person's crap is another's evangelical calling. :lol:
lightchipster
18-Jan-12, 10:39
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM
RecQuery
18-Jan-12, 10:47
BTW if you really need to look something up Wikipedia should still work if you're using a mobile device or if you disable JavaScript or use a text only browser (lynx, elinks or w3m). Their own FAQ says something similar but people may not read it.
RecQuery
18-Jan-12, 15:07
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM

+1 that's probably one of the best videos. It's 20 minutes long, told from a UK point of view and raises most points. Direct link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM
RecQuery
19-Jan-12, 11:18
Bit of an after action report but regarding the SOPA/PIPA blackouts: I overheard some people discussing it yesterday and one of them said "Yeah, they're going to be like that for about a month. Maybe more. It's to stop illegal piracy."

Sometimes the stupid hurts and what's even more concerning is that such ill-informed people are allowed to vote.
John Little
19-Jan-12, 13:00
Dean Acheson's phrase about the McCarthyite purges of the late 1940's being 'the attack of the primitives' keeps coming into my head.

They find plausible reason to connive at the curtailing of their own freedoms and the undermining of their own Constitution.