Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

[Matty]

Just because SOPA was shot down, that doesn't give people the right to pirate at will.

Some people will do as they wish.

And SOPA is still going to happen unless something major happens.

 

[Northstar]

Some people will do as they wish...

Doesn't mean it's ok, or legal.

Frankly, all Anon is doing is stoking the fire leading SOPIPA to gain traction again. I swear, for a bunch of people with nothing to do, they sure don't spend any of it thinking about their actions. If/when SOPIPA gets passed, I will be blaming Anon.

Whoa, where is anyone saying or indicating that? All I've seen are complaints towards the fact that this bill threatens the internet as a whole.

The fact this whole thing today is a result of a file sharing site get shuttered, not SOPA.

 

[Matty]

Doesn't mean it's ok, or legal.

Frankly, all Anon is doing is stoking the fire leading SOPIPA to gain traction again. I swear, for a bunch of people with nothing to do, they sure don't spend any of it thinking about their actions. If/when SOPIPA gets passed, I will be blaming Anon.

The fact this whole thing today is a result of a file sharing site get shuttered, not SOPA.

I never said it was. Just that people will do as they wish.

Also a PSN strike would be a good thing IMO. I'm not supporting it or wanting it but I sure wouldn't be against it as all I would get is positives out of it. (free stuff from Sony, time for PD to fix there servers, I could go on.)

So as far as I'm concerned nothing will change and people from Anon will get caught because of this as well as they are making themselves to public

 

[1241Penguin]

I never said it was. Just that people will do as they wish.

Also a PSN strike would be a good thing IMO. I'm not supporting it or wanting it but I sure wouldn't be against it as all I would get is positives out of it. (free stuff from Sony, time for PD to fix there servers, I could go on.)

So as far as I'm concerned nothing will change and people from Anon will get caught because of this as well as they are making themselves to public

What? The ability of obtain free stuff from Sony using your method is downright theft. If you managed to get free stuff from them, that'll leave the developers with a downsized profit; there is a higher chance that they will go bankrupt. So the free stuff you are trying to get will also be the only free stuff you'll get from Sony.

 

[Northstar]

I never said it was. Just that people will do as they wish.

Sorry, misinterpreted your post.

So as far as I'm concerned nothing will change and people from Anon will get caught because of this as well as they are making themselves to public

The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned.

Personally, I think they should form a new branch of Interpol tasked with taking down sites that do actually encourage piracy(if they don't have something like that already).

 

[Matty]

What? The ability of obtain free stuff from Sony using your method is downright theft. If you managed to get free stuff from them, that'll leave the developers with a downsized profit; there is a higher chance that they will go bankrupt. So the free stuff you are trying to get will also be the only free stuff you'll get from Sony.

The way I see your saying it is as if I'm the one doing the hacking?

And it wouldn't be theft from me per se cause I wouldn't be the one doing the hacking nor have any involvement in it.

Look I may have been wrong in what I said but what I want IF (not wanting it too, but cant see the personal downside) it goes down is for PD to get some time to properly fix there servers so we can race glitch free.

 

[RACECAR]

What? The ability of obtain free stuff from Sony using your method is downright theft. If you managed to get free stuff from them, that'll leave the developers with a downsized profit; there is a higher chance that they will go bankrupt. So the free stuff you are trying to get will also be the only free stuff you'll get from Sony.

I think he means like what they did after the first time Anon hacked them, he just didn't word it that way.

 

[Matty]

I think he means like what they did after the first time Anon hacked them, he just didn't word it that way.

Exactly what I meant. I didn't mean actually hacking into PSN Store and stealing stuff.

 

[1241Penguin]

Exactly what I meant. I didn't mean actually hacking into PSN Store and stealing stuff.

In that case, my apologies for the misunderstanding. 👍

 

[Joey D]

I'm just explaining away some of the ignorance I've heard about why this bill exists in the first place; someone people on this forum are genuinely worried about things changing that aren't actually going to happen...one members was honestly worried he'd have to blur out car manufacturer logos from now on.

I am providing a little more rationale than "this bill is stupid and dumb" for its existence; it ultimately sounds like some people here are worried that the Internet Police are going to bash down their door and take their stash of crap they didn't pay for. I'm against the bill(s) because the means of fighting piracy in these ways sets an extremely dangerous precedent for the way the web might be monitored, censored, or blocking out by access to all types of content, not just illegal content. Last thing I need is more hoops to jump through, because Brand X competes with Brand Y internet service provider.

Under SOPA you could very well have to blur out car badges if they are posted on your site since the Feds could use them to shut your site down. The definition they need to fit is incredibly broad and fits almost anything. There are grey areas everywhere rich for exploiting and could be extremely damaging and dangerous to anyone that uses the Internet.

The threat of law enforcement is very real too. I pulled this from another site because I think it illustrates the point quite nicely:

Section 201(b)(1) expands criminal copyright infringement to include:

…At least 10 copies or phonorecords, or of at least 10 public performances by means of digital transmission, of 1 or more copyrighted works, during any 180-day period, which have a total retail value of more than $2,500.

Now, the way that the value of a work can be computed in court is the very crude (value of the work times number of views).

…Total retail value may be shown by evidence of the total retail price that persons receiving the reproductions, distributions, or public performances constituting the offense would have paid to receive such reproductions, distributions, or public performances lawfully.

This means, for example, if you upload a video to YouTube of you singing a popular song, and that song might sell for $1, and your video gets 2,500 views, you are guilty of felony copyright infringement. Furthermore, you can tack on “willful infringement for commercial gain or valued at more than $1,000.”

This would make you a felon, and if a copyright holder were to bring a suit against you, would give you a criminal record that would make it virtually impossible to gain future employment, and may subject you to up to three years in prison for singing a song. You don’t have to receive any money. You don’t have to gain anything from your video. Simply receiving 2,500 views on a song you sung, which happens to have copyright held by someone else, makes you a felon.

Section 201(c) of SOPA includes a new rule of construction: a person with “a good faith reasonable basis in law to believe that the person’s conduct is lawful shall not be considered to have acted willfully for purposes of the amendments made by this section.” By implication, a person who believed her conduct was protected (e.g., fair use) might be found to have acted “willfully,” if her belief about the law is held to be unreasonable.

SOPA expands “willful infringement” to include those who don’t understand the law, not just those who understand it and choose to ignore it.

Actually the entire article is worth a read: http://mashable.com/2012/01/17/sopa-dangerous-opinion/

Hope my annual hosting fee doesn't go up now...

This will come across as a jerk move, and I don't mean it to but there's no other way I can phrase it, I honestly hope your hosting fees do go up if you are using GoDaddy.com. It might encourage you to look elsewhere to host your websites to a company that does not have questionable ethics and business practices. I mean GoDaddy was pretty poor before SOPA was washed up with it, their support just happen to nail the coffin shut.

 

[AOS-]

Well, megaupload is shut down now.... hope this stupid thing dies soon.

 

[White & Nerdy]

Having to blur out badges... what are they going to do about the hundreds of people who will see that badge every day in real life?

 

[Azuremen]

Having to blur out badges... what are they going to do about the hundreds of people who will see that badge every day in real life?

That is an entirely different issue, you understand that?

 

[Dmarc_Atl]

Well, megaupload is shut down now.... hope this stupid thing dies soon.

I dont think megaupload shutting down have anything to do with it.If anything it shows that the bill is even more useless because they can already do what the bill was suppose to be stopping,which is piracy.But I think there are ulterior motives with these bills.

 

[YSSMAN]

Well, megaupload is shut down now.... hope this stupid thing dies soon.

The MegaUpload situation has nothing to do with SOPA/PIPA. The fun part is that, as it seems, the Federal government already has the power to seize and shut down domains with significant claims of copyright infringement. There are some significant claims that can be made in either direction that what MegaUpload was doing was, in fact, illegal. Issues with its structure (server ownership and maintenance), the pay-to-upload thingamajig, and a few other things have them in hot water.

At the same time, they were doing legitimate things with legitimate file shares. It also sounds like they were starting their own record label, and with a distribution system like that, it posed a serious threat to the recording industry. If there is anything worrisome to be taken out of this, it is that it pretty much serves as a prescient to take down other one-click hosting services.

Either way, with Anon involved, things are bound to get interesting. Doing so a day after the SOPA/PIPA protests is pretty significant. It'll keep the internet people interested, but it may give fodder to those who are in favor of SOPA/PIPA to begin with.

 

[Grayfox]

SOPA struck its first win yesterday by getting Megaupload.com shut down.

 

[niky]

Shut down with current laws. No SOPA involved.

Google Docs next? Dropbox? (yes, they're for office documents, but you can load media files into them...)

 

[Azuremen]

SOPA struck its first win yesterday by getting Megaupload.com shut down.

Way to not read the post immediately above yours

 

[dxm8975]

I suppose clumping down on non-copyrighted illegal products prevalent on internet is a good thing in terms of preventing the acts being conducted to a certain degree, but it doesn't mean it can totally dissuade or discourage people from illegally downloading products without permission of the author, or else they might begin doing the same thing beyond observation on internet as the passage of time...

Also it can involve other websites which have nothing to do with piracy, forcing them to shut down or regulate their activity hereafter, and end up contradicting the (individual's) right of freedom of speech which most people are yearning after.

 

[White & Nerdy]

If only the previous vague comments about SOPA getting shut down were correct...

 

[niky]

Right now, Obama promises to veto any SOPA/PIPA that isn't edited to remove the generalities, so we're reasonably safe.

 

[White & Nerdy]

Reasonably being the operative word. The crimes and punishments still need to be toned down. A lot. And the whole thing is completely useless anyway, we already have what we need to stop piracy.

It's like gun control. The criminals will just find new & innovative ways around the law while the law abiding citizens suffer the brunt of the regulation.

 

[McLaren]

If only the previous vague comments about SOPA getting shut down were correct...

I don't think anyone here thought SOPA was gone for good. It's already been shown it'll be back next month.

 

[Matty]

I don't think anyone here thought SOPA was gone for good. It's already been shown it'll be back next month.

*Cringes..*

I think it's pointless really..

Everyone was already happy..

 

[Sharky.]

Everyone was already happy..

Except the RIAA, MPAA and other bigwig copyright holders, which is why SOPA was written up...

 

[JohnBM01]

I signed that Google petition against SOPA. I would be so screwed both as a blogger and YouTuber if SOPA and/or PIPA were passed. Politics and such are NOT my strong points. However, I do know that in blogging and YouTube, both SOPA and PIPA surely affect me and what I do online. I'm actually concerned about all of this, as should lots of other people who do their user-generated stuff online.

 

[axletramp]

Just because SOPA was shot down, that doesn't give people the right to pirate at will.

I don't agree with SOPA but I also can't agree with this tactic. If anything the hardline politicians and industry leaders behind the bill will see this as saving them some campaigning time.

 

[PAPPACLART]

Quite interesting, sorry if it has been posted already. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJIuYgIvKsc

 

[Pupik]

Under SOPA you could very well have to blur out car badges if they are posted on your site since the Feds could use them to shut your site down. The definition they need to fit is incredibly broad and fits almost anything.

From how I interpret it,

- Stealing/copying their promotional images: Illegal

- Modifying images from either site: Illegal

- Taking or creating your own images, without the potential for slander, especially those in a public place: Permitted by law, freedom of expression, freedom of panorama, et cetera.

I think some people are becoming nervous nellies on this issue.

 

[Sam48]

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the funny pic thread (Nor do know if it has already been posted here yet)

http://www.twitpic.com/88ueqz