Save the 'Net

[The Man]

For my fellow Android owners, I strongly recommend downloading and using this. If companies receive the message that supporting vile shit like this will hurt their bottom line, maybe one day they'll finally get the message and stop doing it.

[ImGod]

They probably had websites full of Flags, Quotes from Famous Americans, Songs by Bruce Springsteen playing the background, links to gay porn sites; etc. and got shut down for violating copyrights.

Could the DNC copyright all the President's speeches then shut down any website or group using them in making political ads?

[Megatron]

Originally Posted by Demimonde

Christopher Dodd says stupid shit:

Here is a nice collection of articles that take Dodd to task for his lobbying for this bill.

Sooooo, a 24 hour blackout as a protest is irresponsible and a disservice, but allowing the same websites to be shut down at will by (insert corporate lobby - they're the ones who will be painting the targets, after all) is just fine... mmmmkay...

[ImGod]

Originally Posted by Megatron

Sooooo, a 24 hour blackout as a protest is irresponsible and a disservice, but allowing the same websites to be shut down at will by (insert corporate lobby - they're the ones who will be painting the targets, after all) is just fine... mmmmkay...

Corporations have profits to look after. But places like google, wikipedia, and reddit are run by hippies piggybacking on the freedoms they were given by the marketplace that developed the tubes they use. Them no longer using those tubes is as irresponsible a chain store closing it's doors on Christmas eve and not raking in the extra cash. It all makes sense if everything in life is a function of money.

[Escapegoat]

Piggybacking on freedoms? Does that mean anything?

I think the blackout is annoying. That is why it was a good idea.

[livius drusus]

[chunksmediocrites]

Oregon's Senator Wyden has already stated opposition. I haven't finished reading the alternate bill he's shilling along with Darryl Issa (OPEN), though, and am a little leery since he recently got together with Paul Ryan for a Medicare Reform bill that mostly sucks ass.

I contacted my other Senator and my Representative and urged them to publicly state opposition to SOPA and PIPA

[Stephen Maturin]

Our rep apparently supports OPEN as well. The required reading on this issue just never ends.

[Megatron]

You know, I'm actually curious about something.

All the studies I remember reading, while now dated, pointed toward piracy actually having little to no effect on the entertainment industry's revenue.

I'm a little behind on my reading but has that even changed?

I say this because this whole shit still reeks to me of the same crap before: it seems to have more to do with the big corporations wanting to control your means of access to the media, and choke independents and the like out of the loop.

[lisarea]

Here is my big core problem with that. The DMCA and other IP protection measures are currently, regularly being used by big media to take down non-infringing content. Like it's almost some kind of obscure trivia that 'fair use' even still exists, because it hasn't been respected or defended in forever; and there's no reasonable means to hold anyone accountable for fraudulent infringement claims.

So seriously, go fuck any kind of escalation of IP protections until we go back and fix the ridiculously broken laws and implementations we already have.

[Megatron]

That's along the same lines - they want to control every aspect they can about how you access media, and the internet is a thorn in their side even when it isn't actually breaking the law at all. Or at least, they treat it as one.

It's a logical progression considering that before the internet, they pretty much had everything on lockdown.

edit: "They" being the MPAA, RIAA, etc.

[Kael]

Who/what are you responding to? What is "that?"
ETA: @lisarea

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by Kael

Who/what are you responding to? What is "that?"
ETA: @lisarea

I too was foiled by a sneaky in-between poaster. I was responding to Matlock about Polis and OPEN.

It is all Megatron's fault that I look crazy and drunk.

[Megatron]

LIES

[ImGod]

Originally Posted by Escapegoat

Piggybacking on freedoms? Does that mean anything?

In Dodd speak it does. Freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness comes in denominations of $100, $50, and $20. Or in Larry Craig's world, $10 and an airport bathroom stall.

I'm waiting for the big boys to start swinging at each other on purpose or inadvertantly. Best case, some smuck with a really neat copyright has it used in several movies/record/entertainment/multi-media items inadvertently and they are able to take something like Disney.go.com and all subsets of it off line for a couple of months while they sort things out.

Coca-cola could potentially shutdown major studio websites for showing Coke products in their movies without permission and renumeration, then tarket Youtube, Hulu, Netflix, etc. Hilarity ensues.

[Qingdai]

I approve of that use of the word "ensues", I love that word.

[PopeyesPappy]

Lamar Smith Author of SOPA commits copyright infringement on personal website.



Lamar Smith: SOPA Author, Copyright Violator - New York News - Runnin' Scared

[Watser?]

I done did my part as a furriner and signed the Avaaz petition. They are at over 1.5 million signatures already: Avaaz - Blackout -- Save the Internet Today

[SR71]

Senate Slattern Rob Menendez, D-NJ, possibly had broken internets this morning, so I didn't get through. Then I hear on the news he is "willing to reconsider" or similar pusillanimous dithering. Oh wait, here he is now. What will he say about PIPA?

Obfuscating Politicians and Their Weasel Words to Their Constituents

Quote: Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) took to Twitter to tell followers that he heard concerns over the PROTECT IP Act “loud & clear & share in these concerns,” noting that he was “working to ensure critical changes are made to the bill.
“I’m fully committed to ensuring that any bill that passes the Senate will maintain freedom of the internet & protect intellectual property,” Menendez also tweeted. Menendez is a co-sponsor of PIPA.

Read more: SOPA blackout leads co-sponsors to defect - Jennifer Martinez and Tony Romm - POLITICO.com

Wrong answer Bob. Wrong again. Fucking assholes. Everywhere.

[LadyShea]

And you know what? I don't like people selling counterfeit NFL jerseys* and fake Louis Vuittons and shit...but this is not the way to fix that. I don't know the answer, but this ain't it

*I tried to get Kiddo a Packers jersey for XMas, when the Pack was still undefeated. LOL, The only way to get one was to buy it for like 20.00 on a site written in Engrish. They looked okay for a child, and the price was awesome, but I didn't want to give my identifying info to some guys cranking out fakes in Indonesia, because selling information is way more lucrative then selling shirts

[ImGod]

Originally Posted by ImGod

... Best case, some smuck ...

What the hell. Smuck, really. A useless piece of dick?

Probably some ignorant redneck from dumbfuckistan trying to spell schmuck. Dumbass. Shit like this happens when you give people free Wi-fi at McDonalds.

[SR71]

Who does he think he is? GOD?

[lisarea]

I don't have a problem with cracking down on actual IP infringements, either.

But the very first step they need to take there is to go after false infringement claims, including fraudulent DMCA takedowns. So if someone has someone else's content taken down based on an inaccurate claim, they should be subject to fines considerably larger than the damages the MPAA and the RIAA were suing filesharers for. (Larger because a takedown is actual theft, as opposed to sharing.) Plus like three times any actual damages.

And then, after I see commercials on TV with a lawyer dressed like Napoleon ("They said I was CRAAAAZY for taking on big media!"*) soliciting people to sue big media companies for issuing DMCA takedowns for non-infringing content, then maybe I will start to give some fucks about overseas sites that stream movies and stuff.

* Yes, my writing services are currently available.

[Crumb]

Coding Horror: Defeating SOPA and PIPA Isn't Enough

[lisarea]

BoingBoing also has lots of good coverage on it today.

In fact, Cory Doctorow has been on a huge roll lately that has made me become un-tired of him again, so there's all kinds of good stuff there these days.