SOPA/ Protect IP, whatcha think?

Sorra · Otaku Joined: 12 May 2006 Posts: 440 Location: San Jose

Anybody hear about it yet?

Gonna be interesting huh...
XD It's like they tried to break the internet.

Dread_Knight^Samurai · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:23 am Post subject:

I am technologically mildly illiterate......I abandoned my attempt to understand technological stuff thing loooong time ago....
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Sorra · Otaku Joined: 12 May 2006 Posts: 440 Location: San Jose

It's actually a law thingy the US has in debate Dread XD

Basically if it passes...
American social networking sites and companies will have to read ALL your private messages and forum posts and such, to make sure you're not posting links to streaming sites and copy righted content Blue_PDT_01_10

Which can be anything from a 12 year old singing karaoke to video game review videos.

swollenlymphnodes · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 7:42 am Post subject:

Well that's good to hear.

What I mean is that I've only looked at it from the "piracy" side. I live off of download sites and torrents. And that would be "the suck" if I couldn't get all this wonderful media... like anime.

I never considered how it invades privacy. That's a good point. And a very powerful ally. I don't have a SN where my privacy can be invaded, but I'm sure there should be an uproar over letting the government look at private stuff.
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Sorra · Otaku Joined: 12 May 2006 Posts: 440 Location: San Jose

I am actually a staff member for a social networking company now so I have particular interest in it and feel like ranting here >>;. I can add that the level of requirements under SOPA are far beyond anything being even being formally enforced for serious offenses like Child Pornography.

Basically trafficing child pornography online or stalking kids and threatening someone's physical safety would probably be about as bad as it would be to constantly link to copyright infringement stuff like any torrent site or maybe even youtube and etsy.
If users post too many bad links and stuff, the company could get in trouble under SOPA, so the the internet companies will probably have little to no choice. Wikipedia is avidly against it along with Google.
It'd actually be them being forced to read your all stuff, probably not the government themselves. Gov is too lazy for that.

I proved that by writing my congressman and pointing it out that he can't read all his letters himself to make sure nobody sent him pirate links....then he or some staff member of his using his email sent me a generalized stock reply in response without mentioning anything I wrote xD.

And yeah I know I love anime too and it's not like I *CAN* get all the fan-subtitled anime I want to watch in English in America where I can buy the DVD.
I would if I could but it's not like I can purchase one that doesn't have an English version in America yet. And that's not hurting anybody. :C

So if you are in America I highly advice you bitch to your congressman or at least try to Google it every now and then since everybody will be effected if it passes.
And if America passes something, the chances of other countries following suit are high unfortunately.
Why are people so stupid to make laws about things they cannot understand? Blue_PDT_01_26

MidNightBlue · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:02 pm Post subject:

I think the biggest problems with laws like this is enforcement. On most sites there is generally a button which says something along the lines of "objectionable material" under posts so you can report anything that is fishy and also for private messaging there is a button which allows you to flag spam or to report abuse. I actually have reported people maybe 3 times total on various sites. Generally the case was people just sending me spam.

swollenlymphnodes · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 5:30 pm Post subject:

Related companies like the MPAA & RIAA have a lot more power than before based on my personal experience... so I think if the SOPA stuff passes, we are definitely going to feel it.

Eg. My cousin downloaded an episode of Charlie's Angels the tv show from a torrent site. And the MPAA filed a complaint to our provider. After sending a viewable warning twice, they sent a third and shut down our internet. They even tracked it to the exact mac address of my router. Now, I don't know at what point it could be tracked... maybe because she left the torrent running and didn't shut it down after completing it... and that may have allowed them to trace it to my computer... I don't know. At any rate, I try to avoid US produced copyrighted material as much as possible now.

My point I guess is that if anything we do is deemed illegal, then there are companies that have the power and technology to actually do something about it. What I ultimately don't want is them to shut down some sharing sites.... kind of like how the RIAA killed Audio Galaxy for us.

So I do have a question if you know Sorra, would they only be able to block traffic? Or will they be able to shut down actual sites, like btbaka.com for example? I don't really use a SN like I said to link youtube clips so the privacy doesn't directly impact me... but I do believe privacy is very important, and am all for it... especially if prevents the IP/SOPA act.
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jjjynx · Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:53 am Post subject:

SOPA, disapproved. I have no clue what they're trying to achieve...

And as far as I'm aware Telcos have proven that they're able to track every single one of us down regardless of what we do. There is no privacy the moment your ISP wants to leak your information out, unless you use a proxy.

As for taking down sites, that responsibility will fall under whoever the site is using as a host. So if someone went ahead and wrote a letter to China and Malaysia, where your host is, its up to them to shut it down if they decide to do so. But Laws are different in every country, so usually they won't give a hoot, maybe a warning letter.

Blocking traffic is probably what will happen. But I guess people will just proxy through it anyways.

GrinfilledCelt · Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 5:03 am Post subject:

This topic brings to my mind one of my favorite Frank Zappa quotes, "The United States is a nation of laws, badly written and randomly enforced." SOPA is much more insidious than anyone realizes. It will turn most of the internet into what this place was like a week ago. It will eliminate the reasons most people use it.

Enforcement, MNB? SOPA will allow copyright holders to enforce their own copyrights, so no unpleasant bending for the government. Most providers will be so scared of lawsuits that they will shutdown all but the most insipid websites. It is a threat to internet security, business and innovation.

Look into it. This thing is the Recording Industry Asshole's Association's wet dream and the worst threat to the internet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOPA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_IP
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/

The current news is more heartening:

http://tinyurl.com/72ozavo

Wikipedia is going to temporarily shut down to protest it,
The Prez-o-dent said he would veto it (Wow! He finally did something right!),
Because of the massive controversy it has generated, Congress has shelved SOPA for now (But Protect IP is alive and well)

These are just the latest in a long line of proposed and/or passed legislation to regulate the internet and stop "Piracy". I'm afraid the buffoons in Washington won't stop until they break the internet.
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swollenlymphnodes · Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:48 pm Post subject:

Blackout!

wikipedia among others are offline today.

More info here:

http://theoatmeal.com/
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PDT_Zamourai_11

eh?
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GrinfilledCelt · Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:49 pm Post subject:

This just in:

Why ANN Is Against SOPA/PIPA

GrinfilledCelt · Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:00 pm Post subject:

Ha! Even the excellent web comic for nerds and academic types that everyone here should be reading called Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is jumping off the bandwagon.
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Dread_Knight^Samurai · Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:15 am Post subject:

And the first victim.....Mega Upload.
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GrinfilledCelt · Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:05 pm Post subject:

Neither bill has passed yet, but you're right, those types of sites will be the first to go. It won't stop at file sharing sites, though.
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MidNightBlue · Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:35 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I was definitely affected on Wednesday when Wiki went down. Do you think people actually called their representatives? I didn't.

The only time I thought about contacting my representatives was when I first moved into the area and found out they don't do recycling here but when I heard about how long it could take to get any kind of change and the number of people needed to back me up it just seemed pointless before I even begun.