Index ⇒ General Topics ⇒ Stop Online Piracy Act

[Old_Schooler]

You're going to have to excuse the length of this post, but this concerns the well-being of this site.

I don't know how many of you keep up with the news, but, here in America, there is a very scary piece of legislation that is being debated that literally amounts to internet censorship here in the U.S. in its current form. It's called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act).

Gamespot has a good summary of the bill: http://www.gamespot.com/features/sopa-t ... t-6346561/

So does this Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM

In a nutshell: the internet over here in America looks like its going to be bedfellows with the internet they have in China. The only difference is, this censorship is in the guise of laws that "protect" copyright.

Though we do already have some very authoritative internet legislation here in the U.S., If this bill passes, Legends World, and many other sites like ours, are officially going to be put on the endangered list. If a company or some loser tattletale sees fit, they could have this site removed from search engines, have its funding cut off, and, ultimately, prevent users from accessing it at all.

If you think that this is going to just affect sites like ours, tech experts have been saying that, given the broad and open language the act currently has, it could be used to shut down practically any website that so much as mentions or uses just one piece of copyrighted content. So that means sites like Youtube, Google, Reedit, and Wikipedia could be shut down.

What's scary is that this bill could've passed at its markup day last week. Despite the knowledge spouted by many tech experts, letters, petitions, thousands of calls to congress men and women, and even a letter from engineers who are credited with creating the internet, they're just not listening. It would apparently seem that, once again, money given by big interest groups (namely the MPAA, RIAA, and numerous unions) have made our representatives here in the U.S. willing to abandon common sense and ethics... again.

Thankfully, a vote wasn't taken. However, the house judiciary is going to possibly take a vote this Wednesday (December 21). So me and the other U.S. based Legends World users could see the beginning of the end for our internet if a vote is taken.

I want to see Legends World survive as much as you guys, but if this bill passes then we here in the U.S. are going to have to wave goodbye to coming here anymore. Of course, we could find other non-traditional ways to get here, but then we're not only putting ourselves at risk with the law, we're putting our computers at risk because of how risky it is to use things like alternate servers and proxies.

Just for the heck of it, I tried putting in the IP address for Legends World since that's a method for accessing sites that the act neglected to fight against. But I'm merely redirected to the main site of the server Legends World is hosted on. So that means that, while such a method may work for other sites, it's not going to work for Legends World and that means me and other U.S. users are going to have to take riskier measures to come here should the law be passed.

I think that we need to brace for the worst should this bill pass. Granted, it would still need to pass congress and be signed into law by our "great" president before it can take effect, which does give us the people who oppose it some more time to combat it. But, given the horrendously corrupt government we have over here in America (they're signing the NDAA into law without the people's consent for god's sake), I wouldn't be surprised if they take yet another privilege we little people have over here.

Plus, if SOPA is prevented from being codified into law, there's the E-Parasite act to worry about, which is pretty much round 2 of possible American internet censorship.

[Old_Schooler]

I should also add that it's been said that, if any of the two pieces of internet legislation over here are passed, it's going to have a domino effect on the world. Considering America has long claimed to be for a "free and open internet" the bills would utterly destroy any credibility our nation has in that regard.

Not to mention that it's been predicted that other countries that are toying with the idea of internet censorship will see us adopting the laws as a sign to implement them as well. Britain's been especially notable for thinking of implementing it recently and may choose to do so should SOPA and/or the E-Parasite bills pass.

So don't think this bill isn't just going to affect us Americans, you guys who are living in other countries are going to be hurt as well if you don't already have heavy internet censorship already.

[zobraks]

This guy can help.

[Scaryfun]

We had a bill that was going to be passed here in Canada by regulatory agency for cable/internet this year that was basically sponsored by the 3 major communication companies. They wanted to change internet flat fee prices to ones where you pay for how much you use...which would make it more expensive for users and more profitable for them. We already have quite expensive internet and cell phone fees compared to most modern countries and this was just an outrage. The people in this government-appointed regulatory agency are mostly former employees of these big communication companies so they do things that benefit corporations more than normal people. So, an online petition against this was started and hundreds of thousands of people signed it and sent letters to their members of parliament and the government forced the agency to stop this plan (so far). That's the only way to stop these things...that if they pass, then the people who pass it will be out of a job.

[Old_Schooler]

It seems very, very likely that this bill is going to pass the house. Having done some reading about what happened at the recent hearing, the adamant, unrelenting attitude the members of the house showed despite all the knowledge, letters, and petitions given to them was damn scary. It's incredible how green pieces of paper with artificial value can do to make leaders even more ignorant and deaf to its people.

As I said, the bill would still need to go through some other steps before it would become law. It would have to go through the senate, congress, and signed into law by Obama. Even if it does become law, there's no way something like this is not going to brought by the supporters before the supreme court. And even if the supreme court says its legal, I can guarantee that there would be a great deal of defiance to it. I might have to risk breaking the law if I want to keep visiting if Legends World is blocked in America.

At this point, my frustration will now be represented by head banging smiley.

[rastan saga]

"...if you don't already have heavy internet censorship already"

Yeah, already we have...
... welcome to our club, you "freeworld" citizens.

[3dslUserLoad]

This guy can help.

And this guy too..

[Delacroix]

WTF does Karl Marx have to do with Michael Moore?

[Trey]

Uhm... they both make delicious chocolate?

[Delacroix]

I find it hard to understand why you compare Moore to that communist fella.

[Mister_Headcrab]

Uhm... they both make delicious chocolate?

LOLZ





Back on topic, where's freedom of speech anyways? We, Internet users must stand for our rights... There's gotta be something we can do.

[Old_Schooler]

Well, good news, the hearing that was scheduled for this Wednesday on the bill has been cancelled. The lazy representatives wanted to go on holiday than vote on draconian measures.

It's not dead yet as its going to resume hearing sometime next year. But this development means the internet is safe, for now.

[freakboy]

Dont worry, they will do what corporations want them to do. Just relax and enjoy it.

[Sikk]

This guy can help.

Holy hell he's clean shaven!

[Shattered]

Talking about SOPA: it looks like the first internet censorship is about to happen here in Holland. Check out this article on torrentfreak:

Code: Select all

http://torrentfreak.com/dutch-isps-ordered-to-block-the-pirate-bay-120111/

Today, two major ISP's have been ordered to block access to The Pirate Bay within ten working days. They were already summoned to court by BREIN in 2010. Then, the judge ruled in favor of the providers. As a result, BREIN launched a full trail which they have won today. Their next step will be to ask other Dutch providers to do the same. The latest news is that at least one of the two ISP's is going to appeal the verdict.

As some of you may (or may not) know, BREIN is a private Dutch anti-piracy organisation. The organisation is known for bringing down Oink's Pink Palace (a music tracker) and ShareConnector.com. Famous also is their case against mininova.

Last year, BREIN won a lawsuit against a Dutch usenet portal called FTD. FTD was a forum were users would share information about content posted to usenet. BREIN claims that this is illegal and the judge acknowledged this. The judge also said that communities like FTD stimulate people to upload illegal content. FTD had to remove all posts related to copyrighted material from parties associated with BREIN. Instead, FTD closed its doors less than one month later. Disturbing is that the fact that while downloading movies and music is allowed (more about this in the next paragraph), to facilitate a forum for discussion about those things apparently is not. For me, this makes no sense at all.

Currently, downloading copyright protected music and movies is legal in the Netherlands due to an article in the copyright law. The articles states that making a copy for personal use does not infringe copyright: this includes downloading a copy from the internet even if you don't own the original source. This does not apply to copyrighted software (applications and games), downloading those (without permission) is always illegal. Uploading copyrighted material (without permission) is always illegal too.

But it's not only BREIN that's turning up the heat. In 2011, one of the leading parties in the government made a proposition to prohibit downloading from illicit sources. The minister in question said that the reason for this proposition was to be able to prosecute the big fish: mostly sites who offer illegal content, not the people who upload/download small amounts. Also, the download prohibition would make it easier for copyright holders to force ISP's to block certain sites. Luckily, most parties didn't agree; they said a prohibition would damage the privacy of users, that it contradicts a free and open internet and that it would turn ISP's into cops. A motion was filed against it and it was accepted just before Christmas. That means we are "safe" for the moment.

The strange thing is that the government doesn't want that copyright holders get the power to force ISP's to block sites, yet BREIN (a private organization) just won a case regarding that. I sure hope the ISP's will appeal and win.

I'll keep you posted.