SHARING THIS WITH YOU GUYS SO YOU ARE INFORMED. SORRY IF THERE ARE ALREADY A TON OF THREADS ON THIS.


***Protest the PIPA and SOPA Act! Link to Take Action Inside***



These will destroy the internet as we know it and censor its information. Craigslist and Wikipedia are shutting down in protest and here are links to contact your representatives. The vote is in less than a week so ACT NOW!




Pre-written e-mail to send to reps: https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/...ction_KEY=8173 (takes 2 seconds)

Other Important action links: http://www.craigslist.org/about/SOPA


Video on the issue: http://vimeo.com/31100268

If you're not a pirate, this stuff shouldn't be a problem. Right?

Ummm... No.

Let's say you run a discussion forum. It wouldn't matter how many posts or pages your forum contained. If a copyright holder could make the case that your site was "encouraging or facilitating" piracy or counterfeiting of products, you could potentially be blocked from the view of most US residents.

The exceptions would be the ones with the technical savvy to circumvent the blocks, which would be illegal under the bills as currently written. Hardly the lion's share of visitors in most cases.

The same could happen to blogs, social networking sites, photo and video sharing sites, shareware libraries, and any other online system that allowed for user-posted content.

Yes, those sites could probably be removed from the blocklist, if they had the resources to fight it and could show they actively worked to keep that stuff out. But that's all after having been blocked, removed from US-based search engines, and lost access to their payment processing.

Problem 1: Most site operators don't have the resources (financial, emotional, or endurance) to go up against a federal action. And most interactive sites wouldn't survive that kind of down-time. Whatever portion of their market was blocked from visiting would likely end up being lost for good.

That alone would kill many sites. And many more would simply close up shop, unwilling or unable to submit to the hassles of the fight.

Problem 2: Payment processors would not, under this legislation, be required to re-accept sites which had been blacklisted. Anyone who's dealt with these folks knows, they very likely would not allow the operators to re-active their accounts, even after having been cleared.

It wouldn't be surprising to see payment processors creating new categories of sites they wouldn't accept. The main one being "Sites which allow posting of user-generated content."

Problem 3: Unless the blacklist is operated in the same way as spam-fighting DNSBLs (updated and checked from a central database using a software daemon), it's easy to imagine sites staying on those local lists forever, even once the government removed the mandate for blocking them.

A mistaken listing would be a death sentence for most sites. And a reprieve wouldn't matter. You'd still be dead.




“And What If You Use Sites That Accept User-Generated Content?”

If one of them is listed, it's simple: You're out of luck.

Doesn't take a lot of explanation to make that concept clear.

Here's where it gets really nasty, though. What will sites that currently allow users to post do in order to prevent these problems?

Well, many of them will go to harsh moderation policies, allowing posts and comments only from known and trusted players. Random visitors won't be allowed to leave their insights, ask questions, or poke holes in flawed arguments.

Many blogs will simply turn off the ability to comment at all. Photo and video sites will probably require much stricter registration procedures, if they don't just shut down entirely.

And a ton of people will just decide that it's not worth the effort of building a site if it can be shut down over the careless or malicious actions of a single user.

The trend will be toward an ever more "Read-Only" web.




Which brings us to the biggest problem with this legislation: To slightly more than 95% of the world's population, WE are the "foreigners."

Does anyone really think that if we start blocking offshore sites arbitrarily, other countries won't follow suit?

The thing that makes the Internet work is that, so far, it has largely been exempt from the geographical boundaries of "realspace." Sure, there are exceptions. Import and currency regulation, and anomalies like the Great Firewall of China. Still, for the most part, people "here" can speak with people "there" without a huge amount of interference.

It works because it's a huge global "commons." As soon as we start parceling it into local fiefdoms, the advantages we all currently enjoy are gone.

If we start this ball rolling downhill, Sisyphus wouldn't touch the job of pushing it back up again.

How many of the leaders of the world's 196 countries would be likely to have their own views about what is and is not appropriate within their borders? How many of them would love to block out inconvenient ideas or media channels? Or to protect their own markets from digital incursion by other countries?

TED talks, extremely well articulated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LEb_D2SD3k&feature=g-all-lik&context=G2f5fac7FAAAAAAAAJAA

There are gonna' be a couple oBummernites who say it's a good thang Barry wants to control the internet.

I already sent my voice into Congress. Hearing they may back off it and the authors took their names off the bill.

After this, we need to gang up on BB and let them know their NWO won't fit in this world.

I would love to have someone who supports it watch the ted talks and respond to the concepts there, and the history of censorship, AND the motivations of major media outlets.

That was a great video. I'm glad he emphasized that these two pieces of legislation are just stepping stones.

Now that we've all seen the horrible ideas that they think are 'just fine', hopefully more of us will be ready to respond to their coming attacks against free speech.

QFT

Someone on reddit just made a good statement.

They asked if a bill such as sopa passed, and any site with links to questionable material can get that site taken down . . .

What happens when poeple start posting links to pirating web sites on the companies that support sopas websites?

This illustrates that the ramifications are far reaching. It illustrates how companies will have to respond by removing users abilities to post links.

That ultimately the capabilities that are special that only the internet brings to share, and create would be destroyed.

It could take practically every Forum Off-Line!

Yes Yes it could...These bills really need to be stopped.

Great vid you posted btw

I dont support or oppose it as the government could already 'abuse' authority it already has to shut down sites, but hasnt seemed to on any scale worth panicking over,, in my opinion

but, and its usually the case, Id like to see those who oppose the bill talk about solutions

other ways to combat piracy and copyright infringement in the new GLOBAL age of world wide web (emphasis on global, much harder to contain and regulate with mere STATE laws and courts)

Yes, exactly. This bill is an attack on freedom of speech. Its attack on communities.

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This is a false comparison. Our current legislation does not make is so easy to censor, without consequence.

The government does abuse its authority, and its something we struggle with. One way is through the court system. This legislation would legalize the government abuse of power.

of course it does, we have current legislation to stop both child porn and reproduction of artistic creations

that alone could target just about ANY website that foreign piracy legislation could,,,

there is no law explicitly forbidding it before, nor is there now,,,thus, it really hasnt changed the authority that was already there,,

lack of legislation would put an unbearable burden on the 'court systems' which are already overwhelmed

in a GLOBAL venue with billions of websites and domains, operating across state and global lines, there is no way a mere court could deal with the multiple issues of 'legal authority' that would arise

its a FEDERAL problem because its a GLOBAL venue,, state courts wont do it,,

of course it does, we have current legislation to stop both child porn and reproduction of artistic creations

that alone could target just about ANY website that foreign piracy legislation could,,,

there is no law explicitly forbidding it before, nor is there now,,,thus, it really hasnt changed the authority that was already there,,

lack of legislation would put an unbearable burden on the 'court systems' which are already overwhelmed

in a GLOBAL venue with billions of websites and domains, operating across state and global lines, there is no way a courts alone could deal with the multiple issues of 'legal authority' that would arise

its a FEDERAL problem because its a GLOBAL venue,, state courts wont do it,,

http://www.craigslist.org/about/SOPA


Pretty amazing what they have done!
Purpose: to be proactive on this issue.


Thanks for this posting.

Looks like the battle may be over.

One of the sponsors of PIPA just threw in the towel.
SOPA proponents can't be too far behind. Keep those
cards and letters comin' though folks!



http://news.yahoo.com/sen-marco-rubio-drops-support-pipa-bill-co-171016128.html

"We need the capacity for the president to say, Internet service provider, we’ve got to disconnect the American Internet from all traffic coming in from another foreign country… Right now, China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in a case of war. We need to have that here, too."

Senator Lieberman June 20, 2010



http://www.forbes.com/sites/firewall/2011/02/11/is-america-really-building-an-internet-kill-switch/


Lieberman wants the US to be just like China...

Really, Senator? China?

https://rt.com/usa/news/hollywood-obama-sopa-support-229/

So now Hollywood is threatening to pull back on campaign monies cause Obama isn't pushing their agenda.

We should all be asking our candidates .."what are your supporters expecting from you for all that money?"

Screw the entertainment industry. Over rated, and over payed royalty!!
We the people, not we are Hollywood!!!

good job for those speaking up, for no other reason than thats how things are done


of course, I still think its picking and choosing WHO can censor or WHO has authority, more than it is stopping censorship

but if people distrust the government so much more than the private industry,,,,,,,