SOPA - Fight Against Internet Censorship

Smashgoom202

Smashgoom202

Dry Bowser
Retired Wiki Staff
...What is SOPA? Well, it stands for the "Stop Online Piracy Act". As to what it is, SOPA will be used to block websites that have any link at all to any type of copyright content. The IP address will straight up be unavailable and blacklisted. This isn't limited to the actual site creator though. If someone throws a link to a piece of pirated material on this forum, for example, it gives the government the ability to add it to the list of "rogue websites". An AMV, or any form of music that hasn't been paid for would be grounds for shutdown.

Streaming copywritten work will now be a felony. Things like "Let's Play Minecraft" or anything at all involving music in the background that isn't free use will suddenly come with the chance at jailtime. Though these are already technically illegal, the punishment will be vastly increased.

And if you're thinking "this won't effect me", it will, trust me. Pretty much every website on the internet will be effected by this in some way. Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, they will all be 100% liable for what their users post. The current system works off of take down notices and reports. SOPA will just straight up block the IP address.

The massive outcry against this bill on internet has hopefully influenced it's demise somewhat, but you can help by tossing your two cents. Hit up this website and fill out the submission form:

http://americancensorship.org/

I sent my letter to Congress using this link. Be sure to look over the letter to see if it's to you're liking.

Remember: The internet IS freedom . Anyone can speak their mind to the masses. Get out there and make it known!
 
I'm pretty sure it won't pass. But it's scary that they'd even consider making this a law. It's stupid and would limit everything we can do on the internet.

The good news is that even if somehow it passes for some weird reason, Obama I heard has said he'd veto it.
 
Even if he vetoes it, Congress could override a presidential veto if 2/3 of them are for it.

I think...

But still, I doubt they'd go that far.
 
Smashgoom202 said:
Even if he vetoes it, Congress could override a presidential veto if 2/3 of them are for it.

I think...

But still, I doubt they'd go that far.
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A veto is rarely overrided. I don't know the percentage is but typically based on history the bill is dead if the President vetos it.
 
Support and opposition to SOPA and PROTECT IP are both strong. Honestly, they do have a chance at being passed. But I do believe that if they are passed, some shit is gonna go down. People won't appreciate it at all, and especially with the Occupy protests making more and more people politically motivated, the wrong decision (them being passed, of course) will be met with tremendous rallying and stuff.
 
If they shut down Facebook or Twitter, then they'd easily have, like, a billion or so people against them (or however many have accounts there). The White House has official Facebook and Twitter accounts (IIRC), so I doubt they'd shut them down.
 
They're not even allowing opponents at the hearings!

http://www.yousaytoo.com/congressional-sopa-hearings-no-opponents-of-the-bill-allowed/1434936

We can't let them do that!

http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/sopa_testimony/?akid=1018.606560.JTkqV4&rd=1&t=2

Before anyone goes "what good will it do?", EVERY SINGLE VOICE COUNTS!!!
 
why is this a thing

The way I understand this is that Hollywood and the like are losing money by us using the internet to watch shit on Youtube or whatever?

Oh boo-fuckity-hoo. Cry moar you rich bastards. Canada's looking better all the time.
 
Smashgoom202 said:
...What is SOPA? Well, it stands for the "Stop Online Piracy Act". As to what it is, SOPA will be used to block websites that have any link at all to any type of copyright content. The IP address will straight up be unavailable and blacklisted. This isn't limited to the actual site creator though. If someone throws a link to a piece of pirated material on this forum, for example, it gives the government the ability to add it to the list of "rogue websites". An AMV, or any form of music that hasn't been paid for would be grounds for shutdown.

Streaming copywritten work will now be a felony. Things like "Let's Play Minecraft" or anything at all involving music in the background that isn't free use will suddenly come with the chance at jailtime. Though these are already technically illegal, the punishment will be vastly increased.

And if you're thinking "this won't effect me", it will, trust me. Pretty much every website on the internet will be effected by this in some way. Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, they will all be 100% liable for what their users post. The current system works off of take down notices and reports. SOPA will just straight up block the IP address.

The massive outcry against this bill on internet has hopefully influenced it's demise somewhat, but you can help by tossing your two cents. Hit up this website and fill out the submission form:

http://americancensorship.org/

I sent my letter to Congress using this link. Be sure to look over the letter to see if it's to you're liking.

Remember: The internet IS freedom . Anyone can speak their mind to the masses. Get out there and make it known!
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This is all blown so much out of proportion I am gonna give myself the liberty to call this post pure propaganda.

If you read an actual news site about the matter, rather than listen to paranoid internet pirates, you'll see it isn't what all the paranoids make it out to be.
 
I just got an e-mail from one of the petitioners against SOPA:

It's do-or-die time: The House Judiciary Committee will likely pass the Stop Online Piracy Act THIS Thursday. Once the bill moves out of committee, the House can pass it at any time.

BUT, if we're able to kill it at this stage it'll probably never recover.

That's why we need your help this week: We want to make sure people understand what the Internet could be like if SOPA passes, so we're asking millions of people to protest censorship as part of our #CensorshipEverywhere campaign -- use our tool to censor parts of your own posts to Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and anything and everything else.

Click here to use our #CensorshipEverywhere tool to send a "censored" message to your friends -- to "uncensor" it, they'll need to contact Congress too.


The most important thing this week is that EVERYONE join the protests in some way. If all of us drive our audiences to make phonecalls, we're unstoppable. We need to jam Congress's inboxes and melt their phone lines if we're going to stop SOPA.

Our goals for the week are one call per congressmember per minute -- and one million emails: Please click here to censor your posts and then make a call or send an email, or do both right away -- it'll really only take a couple of minutes.

SOPA threatens the livelihood of the best parts of the Internet, and the best companies that use the Internet. More than 70 representatives from leading tech firms -- like Tumblr, Foursquare, Etsy, Kickstarter and Reddit -- and advocacy groups from across the political spectrum participated in a meeting to coordinate action against SOPA.

It was an inspirational meeting, and we're all going all-in to kill this legislation. We need to do everything we can to stop it in committee -- and everything we do this week sends a strong message to lawmakers: voters do not want this bill.

Please be part of the effort: Click here to call or email your member of the House of Reps right away. We need to flood them with contacts well before the vote this week.

Join us and be a hero for Internet freedom and free speech.

We need you,

- David, Holmes, Tiffiniy, other David, and the rest of the team.
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This doesn't mean anything for me, since I don't live in the States. ;D (sorry if that came across as apathetic).
 
A lot of your favorite sites are based in the States. It will affect you whether you think it will or not.

OT: I've done all I can do. Called, e-mailed, and sent some snail mail. All there is to do now is wait.
 
Ultraluigi said:
This doesn't mean anything for me, since I don't live in the States. ;D (sorry if that came across as apathetic).
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No, it came off as dickish.

"LOLOLOLOLOLO SORRY THAT THE ENTIRE INTERNET COMMUNITY OF THE US WILL BE DECIMATED BUT I DONT LIVE THERE LOLOLOl smiley FACE :D :D :D :D :LDDHGJ"
 
Ultraluigi can be "dickish" all he wants, but 3K's correct. In fact, Ultraluigi (presumably) and a lot of non-US internet users aren't seeming to realize how many websites (based in the US) would go down as a result of this. It would affect the entire planet.

Mijzelffan said:
This is all blown so much out of proportion I am gonna give myself the liberty to call this post pure propaganda.

If you read an actual news site about the matter, rather than listen to paranoid internet pirates, you'll see it isn't what all the paranoids make it out to be.
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Where, pray tell, are any "actual news sites" on this? A few troubling things I see besides the laws themselves are how hush-hush and rushed these bills seem to be. They're in an awful hurry to get them passed under our noses so we can't fight back. And then opponents not being allowed at hearings? I thought this was the United States!
 
Mason said:
Ultraluigi can be "dickish" all he wants, but 3K's correct. In fact, Ultraluigi (presumably) and a lot of non-US internet users aren't seeming to realize how many websites (based in the US) would go down as a result of this. It would affect the entire planet.
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How does it feel, wearing a tin foil hat? Something you'd recommend?

Do you really think the US government would be stupid enough to ban sites that would cause a worldwide uproar when closed? If they were to close stuff like facebook the white house would probably experience an Egypt-like revolution, just saying.


Mijzelffan said:
This is all blown so much out of proportion I am gonna give myself the liberty to call this post pure propaganda.

If you read an actual news site about the matter, rather than listen to paranoid internet pirates, you'll see it isn't what all the paranoids make it out to be.
Click to expand...
Where, pray tell, are any "actual news sites" on this? A few troubling things I see besides the laws themselves are how hush-hush and rushed these bills seem to be. They're in an awful hurry to get them passed under our noses so we can't fight back. And then opponents not being allowed at hearings? I thought this was the United States!
[/quote]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15757282

"The bill aims to block sites linking to illegal content by having their domain names delisted from the internet's address books.

The bill also contains clauses that would force search engines to stop listing infringing sites in their indexes."

Use a proxy and you evaded the bill.

'3K said:
A lot of your favorite sites are based in the States. It will affect you whether you think it will or not.
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Assuming your end-of-the-free-internet-theory is true (and I say it's not), it would, but not much. A lot of sites can easily be replaced (i.e. Facebook), and otherwise servers can be moved to other countries. Google has an entire district for Europe, so I don't see why theoretically they just couldn't move their entire company there if they'd want to. The US can't do squat to what's not in their terrotory (Except for block it for Americans, which doesn't affect us). If it's going bankrupt or moving away, the latter would still be the smarter choice for any company, no matter what the initial costs might be.

So yeah, so what if I can't access certain webcomics or forums any more, they're all just as replaceable as well.

OT: I've done all I can do. Called, e-mailed, and sent some snail mail. All there is to do now is wait.
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Yes, because that will totally help.

GalacticPetey said:
If this passes, I believe the wiki and possibly this forum will be closed down.
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How is the wiki infringing copyright? That would be like saying a wikipedia entry on any song is copyright infringement as well.

Seriously, worst case scenario they'd have to remove the music and ripped sprites.
 
Mason said:
Ultraluigi can be *bleep*ish" all he wants, but 3K's correct. In fact, Ultraluigi (presumably) and a lot of non-US internet users aren't seeming to realize how many websites (based in the US) would go down as a result of this. It would affect the entire planet.
You're right Mason I shouldn't be *bleep*ish. I'm worried about this bill and the fact that tons of stuff will get shut down.
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Another horrible proposal? I remember another one concerning video game copyright infringement for videos a few months back, and now this?

This is indeed a serious issue. No hearings either? Who is making up these proposed laws (I am aware of which companies and enterprises, but seriously)?! Shouldn't the American citizens choose their own rights (I'm not American; however, I am aware of how much damage this can do)? Things can become extremely serious around the world if this passes.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/12/14/sopa-critics-ready-for-showdown/

Seems like a lot of people are prepared. Hopefully, this law won't pass.

Also has there been any news of when the fate of this law will be decided?
 
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