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SOPA - American Corporate Censorhip of the Internet Bill

Discussion in 'Alley of Dangerous Angles' started by Taluntain, Dec 31, 2011.

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  1. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Remove all ads!
    [​IMG]
    This is being universally recognized as a backdoor for US corporations to effectively kill off any competition with impunity, or in fact anything whatsoever that they don't particularly like and as such is obviously a Very Bad Thing.

    John "TotalBiscuit" Bain is a UK Law graduate, professional gaming commentator and journalist - he's got this to say about it:

     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2015
    Taluntain, Dec 31, 2011
    #1
  2. joacqin

    joacqin Confused Jerk Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Sopa means trash in Swedish.
     
    joacqin, Dec 31, 2011
    #2
  3. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    How appropriate... I just read that Google, Facebook, Amazon and many other big sites are preparing for protest shut-downs to oppose this bill.
     
    Taluntain, Dec 31, 2011
    #3
  4. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    What does Amazon have to fear? It doesn't provide services where users can upload stuff do they? I suppose it's just protesting on principle...

    This is what I really hate about our system: They word laws in such a way that they sound like a good thing (like stop piracy), but the real, hidden intent is much different.
     
    Blackthorne TA, Dec 31, 2011
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  5. Ragusa

    Ragusa Eternal Halfling Paladin Veteran

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    It was inevitable since there is so much money to be made with censorship i.e., hobbling competition.

    Laws like that is what direct corporate lobbying in pursuit of profit interests (by bodies like ALEC. I fully expect them to have been involved in this.) gets you - industry wish list bills that are written by industry and proposed by, shall we charitable say, persuaded, lawmakers.

    Now the practice of pay to play (read: Do my bills and I'll do yours) suggests a nastier reading, but it is Sylvester today, so I won't really go there. I hope that bill goes down in flames, but I seriously doubt it.

    But then, censorship in the land of the free and the brave is from a conservative point of view only bad when the government does it. Which suggests that if in, say China, it would be, like in America, private companies doing the (self?) censoring, then there would be nothing wrong with that.
     
    Ragusa, Dec 31, 2011
    #5
  6. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    There's lots of user-generated content on Amazon. Users can post their own product pictures (possibly even video reviews), there are textual user reviews... if this bill became law, a copyright holder could literally take the whole Amazon down because somebody posted a picture of their product without authorization for instance, or a picture of a competitor's product in comparison, things like that.

    And with user reviews, a user could post a review where they might have lifted parts of from some other source and didn't credit for instance - copyright violation and reason enough to shut down Amazon. Total insanity. You can imagine how many thousands of instances of UGC Amazon processes a day and how easy it would be to miss something like that.
     
    Taluntain, Dec 31, 2011
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  7. Balle Gems: 19/31
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    as far as i understand it, it would enable take down of pages with SUSPICION of copyright infringement.

    so if a company saw a product review they did not like, claim copyright infringement, and *poof* site gone.
     
    Balle, Jan 4, 2012
    #7
  8. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I don't think so. At least from the Wikipedia description in the original post, it would require a court order. So, the courts would have to agree with the claimant.
     
    Blackthorne TA, Jan 4, 2012
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  9. damedog Gems: 15/31
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    Court order or not, I still think this is an overreach of judicial power. Websites are international, who are we to deny access to those sites to those people not within our borders? A forced take-down of the suspected material would be okay, but the entire website is going too far. Also, 5 years per ten pieces of music? That is absolutely ridiculous. That is a mockery of justice, just make them pay for what they stole. Hell, make them pay ten times what they stole. Don't clog up our jails with people who wanted a free Miley Cyrus CD and make it harder for the real, violent criminals to serve their entire sentence.
     
    damedog, Jan 4, 2012
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    The Great Snook likes this.

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    The Great Snook, Jan 4, 2012
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    The Great Snook, Jan 12, 2012
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  12. damedog Gems: 15/31
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    damedog, Jan 15, 2012
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  13. Montresor

    Montresor Mostly Harmless Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder

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    Wikipedia to shut down on Wednesday in protest against SOPA:

     
    Montresor, Jan 17, 2012
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  14. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    This is absolutely ridiculous. Surely this can't be allowed to go through? Terrifying repercussions if so.
     
    Barmy Army, Jan 18, 2012
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  15. Darion

    Darion Resident Dissident Veteran BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Scarry is not a big enough word for it.

    But since Drone-Bama singed the NDAA which is a ***** slap to the constitution.
    I have no doubt he will sing the SOPA. That man turned out to be the bitterest disappointment of the last two decades.
     
    Darion, Jan 18, 2012
    #15
  16. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    The US already have far too much power over the internet, with the ability to extradite people to the US. This bill would allow DNS entry changes and blocks? It has to be stopped.
     
    Barmy Army, Jan 18, 2012
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  17. LKD Gems: 31/31
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    I thought I read somewhere that Obama was going to refuse to sign it. Or was that just a dream?
     
    LKD, Jan 18, 2012
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  18. The Great Snook Gems: 31/31
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    I'm already annoyed at Wikipedia's blackout.
     
    The Great Snook, Jan 18, 2012
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  19. Ragusa

    Ragusa Eternal Halfling Paladin Veteran

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    Do something productive: Lay that annoyance at the feet of the miscreants who cooked up the abominations that are PIPA and SOFA, lay it at the feet of the representatives who sponsored it. Call your congressman. Don't blame Wikipedia.
     
    Ragusa, Jan 18, 2012
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  20. The Great Snook Gems: 31/31
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    Oh, I'm not blaming them at all and yes both of my senators and my rep have heard from me.
     
    The Great Snook, Jan 19, 2012
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