Disturbing laws are being proposed in the U.S. Congress which threaten the Internet we know and love, including GTPlanet and hundreds of thousands of online communities and social networks like it. Known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), these bills grant unprecedented control over the Internet to the entertainment industry and the U.S. government while attempting to thwart online piracy.
If passed, an infringing picture, embedded video, or link posted in GTPlanet’s forums could have the entire site taken offline for weeks. The site’s advertising revenue could also be withheld, making it impossible for me to pay for the servers and technical infrastructure that keep our community online.
Any website, forum, or social network that displays user-generated content would be at the same risk. Even the web’s largest and most useful sites like Google, Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, and Twitter are gravely threatened by this legislation.
Today, January 18th, website owners are standing against SOPA and PIPA. Google has blacked-out its logo, the English version of Wikipedia has been taken offline for 24 hours, and many other sites are ensuring their visitors are aware of this issue in different ways.
If you are a U.S. citizen, contact your local representatives in Congress at AmericanCensorship.org. For more information and discussion on this issue, see the following links. If you are concerned about these bills, please help spread the word to your friends – together, we can stop it.
- Google’s SOPA/PIPA Resources, “End Piracy, Not Liberty”
- Ars Technica’s Discussion on SOPA & PIPA
- Reddit’s Technical Explanation of SOPA and PROTECT IP
See more articles on gtplanet.
I’ve been making my family & friends aware of this. We all have signed petitions. I hope all GTers do the same and educate some of their friends and or family in the process. Say NO to PIPA & SOPA, Thank you GTPlanet, stand up everybody.
can you say get a life?
You missed the big picture, governments are OWNED… like any other companies these days. Politicians are just the tool for big business’s forever greed for power and control over us.
WOW WTF!? How come there’s a bill like this!? Yeah I live in Canada but ofcourse US’s decision will affect the world but WHY o Why o Why???? Is our society becoming “1948 by GEORGE ORWELL” ??? Just like “Big Brother Society”??? Search if you guys don’t know what it is…
to all americans and any other nation in the world…
Lesson learned….Don’t ever, ever, ever, ever vote an old faggot politicians in you country. they are just jealous because during their childhood and adolescence…they have no internet. unlike us..we enjoy the beauty of internet.
Land of the free, home of the caniving, cheatin, stealin, backstabbin, shoot your own allies, blow every1’s money, sweep part of country under rug after hurricane, centre of attention LOOK AT ME, OIL hoggin, it’s my ball and your not playin GITS.
I don’t see how the Americans (as in those who support this) think they have jurisdiction over the internet. All the other internet censoring countries just block sites.
megaupload has already been shut down
13th most visited site in the world, the site used by millions around the world watch tv shows and movies
whats next?
honestly, i would not be surprised if stuff on youtube starts getting taken down
I’m in the UK, so this doesn’t really affect me, but do you know what? I’ll do it for you Americans, you deserve as much freedom as we do.
I completly agree with you. I would be pissed if GTP went down for good!
Actually it can affect you – if you use any website based in America, it can be shut down to all users from different countries… At least I THINK that can happen…
hi i’m from England, forgive me if i’m wrong but wasn’t government created for the people to stop “Kings & Queens” from extorting their people, & yet government seems to be doing the same!
This is a true coup d’etat against net neutrality and freedom… A net dictature in motion.
very good video of the consequences if passed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EBy7yooz3MM
LMAO! “Even if you trust the US Government” Good one! There are already laws in place, leave it alone.
Home of the free….
Funny tho how a country so insanely scared of communism now are following the footsteps of some of the worst communistic dictators history have seen.
Good game…
I’m confused. Dose this mean that the US Government think that they can control the internet of the whole world.
F**K you america you dont control everyone you F*****G A**HOLES!!!
Its not all of america Jonny just the Capitalist A**holes who think its fun to mess with people EVEN THE PRESIDENT IS AGAINST IT HE’LL VETO IT!!! CONGRESS DON’T REALISE IT’LL AFFECT EVERYONE IN THE WORLD!!! NO MORE ONLINE PLAY FOR PS3 OR XBOX, NO MORE ROOSTER TEETH, NO MORE GTPLANET, NO MORE ANYTHING!!!! THIS IS A TIME WE SHALL ACT AGAINST AND RETALIATE!!!
Everyone, please call your Representatives and Senators and let them know that you do not support PIPA and SOPA. I just did and it was super easy to do. All I had to was click that link on Wikipedia’s top page and after entering my zip code, I got my senators/reps contact info. Please, call them now!!! Internet cannot die and must forever be free!
good idea!!! poorly written! someone who is not net savvy shouldn’t be trying to fix it!!
read about it people it’s safeguarding theft not trying to shut people up!
most of the arguements here are just knee-jerk reactions!! DaihatsuDriver I’m with you mate
goodspeed and godbless
Stupid Yankee’s and their stupid laws trying to control EVERYTHING. They’d be stabbing theirselves in the back if they shut down any of those before mentioned websites
View from the UK:
We have had the Digital Economy Act for a couple of years and it supposedly focusses on targeting users downloading rather than websites, and that the ISPs contact suspected users as directed by the copyright owner. It would seem that the part about blocking websites is going to be repealed due to public complaints and the fact it is unenforceable.
In practice, despite the protestations at the time very little seems to have changed that I can see. Is it an example of a law that works well or is applied well, or just that we don’t hear about the examples of injustices
NWO has begun
maybe a huge list of potental website names that may close might get people to see that sites they use will be affected.
Just seeing how big this site and other sites are and complex too the people are way smarter than those pollies,
World War Web has begun
The sad and unfortunate irony here is that Sony is one of the companies SUPPORTING SOPA.
We need a video for youtube of people smashing their Sony branded stuff, phones, PS3s, stereos etc.
Never since World War 2 has their been such a big attack on freedom.
We all have to unit against anything that is a attack on Freedom.
The best way to unite is to find or set up a website and get people together to fight it with a collective voice of thousands. We have http://www.38degrees.org.uk/ in the UK that highlights issues to members and subscribers and so far it has had an effect on several pieces of legislation.
If you want to take your opposition to the companies supporting the bill name and shame them, and their brands, and their sub-divisions etc, and boycott them. Make a sacrifice for a cause you believe in. Do it with thousands of others and you will hit the corporates in their wallets, and they hate that more than anything, especially if you publicise it and give them negative pr too. See http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/home/quickguide.aspx for UK based version.
Why cant they just leave well alone……
…because big business believe they can make more millions by controlling the internet. Businesses exist to make money.
Don’t forget, the politiicians you elect (if you vote) get their campaign funds from big business. The reason they do this is to be able to influence their bankrolled officials.
If I see one person support this bill I’m gonna be forced to buy a plane ticket and kick your ass. Literally ruin the Internet if this passes. I don’t really think its possible for it to pass tho since most people even the white house is against it.
I wouldn’t risk reading very much of the comments section then. There’s a few. Might get you some frequent flyer miles out of the deal though…. ;)
There are a couple of supporters, and to his credit DaihatsuDriver has read it and formed his opinion and voiced arguments accordingly. This is the right way to go through life.
The people that blindly follow the lead of others without researching issues beyond what a single website, newspaper or tv says are a danger to themselves, everyone around them and the free world. If you haven’t done so already, read the bill legislation yourself or get a cross section of media responses to it so you can call yourself at least reasonably informed.
With regard to the buying of plane tickets, it reminds me of the scenes over the closing credits of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back when they jet around and take it out with individuals that post comments about them on the web. (Link not posted for fear of repercussion, but I’m sure if you search for “jay silent bob kicking some ass” on youtube you will be suitably rewarded)
Ah, and I thought GTP was going to ignore the issue, glad to see this, even if a little late.
This sopa is communist in my opinion
exact.
”
communism
[kom-yuh-niz-uhm]
n.
1. A theoretical economic system characterized by the collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members.
2. Communism
a. A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people.
b. The Marxist-Leninist version of Communist doctrine that advocates the overthrow of capitalism by the revolution of the proletariat.”
Ok, so as much as I don’t like SOPA, I’m pretty sure it neither ruduces the US to a single party government, nor does it give ownership of everything on the internet to the people as a whole, (or at least hoard it all for government itself under the cover of saying it’s the peoples property), so no, it’s about has far from comunist has you can get. It is however a fine example of private corporations wielding undue influence over public governing bodies through large financial contributions. Something that often goes hand in hand with:
”
capitalism
[kap-i-tl-iz-uhm]
noun
an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth. ”
That capatalism in this case also happens to exsists within a certaint state of democracy, one where public officials are subject to frequent elections, money is critical even to compete, and said politicians are more than happy to trade favor for monetary contribution, is the only reason that this bill has been presented in this form, and with such bias towards corporate company interests.
Now if they change the bill to abolish all corporate entities, transfer all related properties to the ownership of the US government (under the guise that they be held in trust for the citizens of the US), and reduce said government to a single party system, then yes, the bill would be comunist.
Well said NA, was waiting for someone to point this out as I was reading down the thread.
Funny how the US is trained to think socialism is a bad thing.
Thanks for your support
Great. We’ve already got $15.25 TRILLION in debt, increasing at around 30 THOUSAND DOLLARS PER SECOND.
What, do they think this will get us more income? NO. It will DESTROY a part of the economy, I don’t WANT to know how much debt we’ll be in after a few years with this bill passed. Not to mention how many jobs will be lost, along with people trying to get into the industry. As stated, website advertisements would go away, making website admins lose money and have to shut down their websites; this would KILL my dad’s business; he sells guitar strings online with an online store that he built HIMSELF. And those YouTubers – many will probably be banned, and people beginning their video production career will not be able to start on YouTube. Lets say someone records a game with a capture card, and records the in-game music. Will this get them banned for the Music copyright? Or will just the GAME PLAY get them banned???
There’s SO much wrong with this act, and I’m quite sure its unconstitutional. I would have liked to back this up with facts, but Wiki is down…
I wonder how college will work for me with this act in place, because my dad would be the one employing me; I’d package strings for him, but with his website gone, his business is gone.
I HOPE! Sopa passes! Ads kill the internet as it is and we all hate ads, Just like on GTplanet i hate ads but i got my own script that bocks them all!
Regardless, Obama is against it and mass companies are pulling out of SOPA, as it has been delayed till Feb. Bit of research will help you
wtf are you talking about?? so use your god damn ad blocker, who you think pays for running GTplanet..? Jordan can’t pay for everything on his own hence that’s where teh ads come into play….my god the ignorance
Advertising is what makes the modern Internet possible, neopheX. Google searches, YouTube videos, GTPlanet’s community here (all of which you can use, for free); none of these services would be possible or financially viable without advertising. If every user blocked ads here as you do, this site would not exist.
@Jordan:
I agree 100%. Ads pay for YouTube, and literally EVERY video has a comment saying “GAH! GET RID OF THOSE ANNOYING ADDS!”. They’re usually only about 10-30 seconds long, and if they’re longer, (Like for a movie trailer) then there’s a skip button that YouTube put in. I’m not sure if my dad’s website has ads on it, but this act would have the possibility of DESTROYING his internet-based store; much like how GTPlanet could go down. I feel your worry.
Jorden. Just block all those users on GTplanet that support SOPA and PIPA. That is basically what they are asking for if SOPA and PIPA pass, since it is possible for GTplanet to be shut down if SOPA and PIPA pass. give them a head start :)
Why stop this I just hope this gets passed because I hate piracy
Well, would you like Wiki, GTPlanet, and your favorite YouTubers to go away as well? That’s mighty possible.
Because the way the bill is written, one forza fanboy, posting a few bad links in the forums, on purpose, then pointing it out to M$ that we have “pirated” materials on the site, could get this whole site shut down, and it’s assets frozen.
That punnishes the site for being a victim of trolling, allows M$ to silence a competitor game’s fansite, and does absolutely nothing to fight piracy.
Is it likely to happen? Probably not, but that little example is small potatoes compared to the potential for abuse in the name of anti-piracy. The bill basically grants companies the power to shut down anything they don’t like just by accussing a site of wrong doing, even though the site itself may be found innocent at a later date.
heh heh they shut this down they shut down forzaplanet too…essentially
Booo SOPA !! ..
We have congressmen that are older than Dinosaurs that don’t know how to use a computer making internet rules. That’s like having your dog as a crew chief. SMH
Why would they try doing this if it’s a free country and they let drugees and creeps walk around with guns but they don’t let us have a simple social gaming site
I love GT5! Gtplanet is cool too lol.
Thanks Gtplanet for supporting the freedom of speech pretty much. This is just another control method. The money to be gained from doing this would support royalties for song artists and cinema companies. Censoring the net would have a dentramental impact on a huge percentage of small and medium buisiness owners. Now a days the paper, radio and internet is how a large portion of the middle class gets their business tied into the comunity. Congress would have bypassed the little steps in doing this Bill that would have given people time to adjust if something like this was absolutely necessary. It may be a revolt. I do know one thing, Theres ganna be a lot of angry teens.
Face book
myspace
whatever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscOfRu60Ms&feature=context&context=G288c52eFAAAAAAAACAA
Pay back time
And all because the rich want to get richer.
there are things more important than what we do on the interney. This is stupid our economy is in the toilet and worries about this. Yeah its more about turning us into slaves thank you gtplanet for supporting this cause
I have one thing to say: don’t let the freedoms of this country that our men and women fight and fought for go by the wayside by bereaucratic bull—-. This is how it starts, the little piddly crap is “censored”. Then our TV is pushing what our govt wants. Which is already happening to an extent. Then our property will get taken by the govt. No one in a socialism/facism/communism owns anything but everyone is either rich or struggling. The things I remember as a kid aren’t the same. Today is PC and say the right thing. Slowly everything is changing. That’s how socialism starts.
These bills are absolutely absurd. This is supposed to be a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. If congress lets this pass then it will become evident that money and corporations have a larger influence over our leaders than the say of their society. If a government does not serve the purpose of its people then the people have the right to remove the governing bodies from power. They’d be wise not to let these bills pass. They have no clue what they’re dealing with and the outrage that will result. This could indeed get very ugly. Let’s all hope it doesn’t have to come to that.
and this MOFO created PIPA —->>>>> Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)[
Whadaya know? Bipartisanship.
Finnaly.
Oh, wait.
DOH!
Facepalm……
this MOFO created this crap —->>>> House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX)
Just trying to take one step further for the government to rule your lives.
Plus america is has always been screwed up, But obama is against SOPA if u look at news carefully u will see he is against it
We can’t let SOPA pass. Good work everyone.
I wonder if the bill passes that the US will be like the ban of alcohol back in the 20’s and 30’s…
Wow, what kind of person even thinks of this.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX)
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
google: Cass Sunstien
i’m not kidding. Check this character out.
SOPA and PIPA are goin DOOOOOWN. XD Gee, I wonder how I can help?
I am 1000% all for this bill! Bring it on and clean up the internet! If you get shut down u get shut down deal with it and move on…
As for anyone else…
Support it! It’s good for us!
So your saying you want 75% of the internet blacked out because of one person who posted a link to a pirated website? Sites like Facebook and Youtube can get shut down because of this and your supporting it?
The Internet is our greatest source of information and is one of the few industries in the U.S. that continues to grow. If we censor it, then let’s wait until our economy goes even deeper into the red.
*Comment removed by US government.
LOL
Sony doesn’t agree.
what do you get when corporations have SEX with politicians you get babies like SOPA and PIPA
nice.
I just spent some time contacting my local reps politely voicing my opinion(negative) about these jokes of legislation. Went to Wikipedia for some and signed an online petition on youtube, then put something up on facebook. My daughters friend also appears to be getting the word out. If you can, DO something!
STOP SOPA
against SOPA and PIPA!! we´ve allready done protests in the internet, now lets take them to the real world show the rage!!!, its a free place to express our ideas WORLDWIDE so every1 most be with this
out all the laws that U. S. congress make, this is the most stupidest law i ever heard. we should stop this law at once
We don’t want this at all,this is an awesome site. This just another sign New world order,illumanati trying to control the world!!!
I just finished reading George Orwell’s 1984. Does anyone other than me think that the US government is heading towards this state of terrible dominance?
well i asked Jordan on the forums if he could shut down the site but any ways thanks again for listening to those of us who asked , thank you i had honestly given up yesterday. but today this brings new hope!
Well done GTP for supporting this. Even though I live in the UK this would effect me and anyone using the internet.
Count me in +1
You know what they say: “When injustice becomes law, resistance become duty”
Thank you so much for protesting against this.
From what I gather, everyone except the >100 politicians that are voting for SOPA hate it.
WAY TO GO GTPLANET! This kind of proposal is screwed up beyond belief.
I’m in the UK. But what happens in the US will effect everywhere. I don’t agree with piracy but shutting down websites like this is wrong. Most of the pictures posted are by users who paid for the game and use photomode. Its upto us if we want to share
This is just stupid. So much for living in a free world. The internet should be free for people to get together and talk about games, films and music. I
This has to be stopped.
Of course while Obama and the type of democrats he is, (not all democrats) this will continue to happen. Before long we’ll be no better than China with it’s restrictive rules on the internet.
You do realize SOPA was written and sponsored by Lamar Smith…….a republican.
This has to be averted. It’s going to reduce the internet until all that’s left is commercial banners.
+1
nice to see GTplanet in the mix……
So….
I live in EU
I have full freedom of speach
Oh… did i forget to mention USA decides what my DANISH/EU webpages is allowed to show, and can take my webpages out of buisiness, thus ruining me?
We fight your dirty wars, now you punish us with this.
One thing is you want to run your own country in somehow odd ways, but making the rest of us pay for it.. no thanks.
GREAT – USA…. -_- effing great.
godt sagt. Fuldstændig enig med dig.
I duly apologize for my governments stupidity.
I agree this is wrong guys, look I’m a proud Aussie and I will say this, the decision of SOPA/PIPA is what a small minority of the vast American population wouldn’t want. Its the power players that pull the strings
Firstly. socialism is not or equal to communism.. stop allowing fox news to tell you it is! socialism provides you with police, fire departments, trash removal, schools, roads mass transit..it is not some evil thing coming to take all your taxes and not privide somthing for you like the media says it is..
secondly this act has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with cold hard cash! these companies want to make more so they lobby both sides of the government with cash for there party in return for suporting this bill..
fight it.
+1 !!
socialism gives everyone in my country:
– Free healthcare, no matter the issue 24/7 _EVERYONE_
– You get PAID to go to university, or any other educational institution
– If you dont have a job you get almost minumimwage to make sure you can live
– If you dont have a home, you can get on from the state
Then again, we have quite a different democracy than US
+ 1
+1 – I hate FOX News. And how those idiots like O’Reilly get televised, I don’t have a clue.
You have to admit there is a BIG government control factor here.
America: World Police
An avatar a member uses that has any copyrighted material, which most users on here are using copyrighted avatars, would be enough to shut this site down under this legislation. Does it mean that they will, not necessarily, but it opens the door for a lot of censorship, and in the wrong hands could lead to a very bad world.
The internet is not owned by anyone, it would seem wrong for a goverment to try to control it considering they don’t own it.
There is no way the congress has enough balls to put this through.
Sadly they do.
I agree that they don’t have the balls to pass tough laws, but this bill is being HEAVILY-FUNDED, with BIG DOLLARS, and that’s what may help it pass, unfortunately.
some companies against SOPA:
-Youtube
-Google
-Facebook
-Yahoo
-Ebay
-gtplanet
Pretty easy to see which one of these sites is going to shock the US Congress the most.
“Google hates us? Meh. Wait what was that about gtplanet.net!!! However will I get the latest news from the photomode competition!! This act must not be passed!!!”
You forgot Wikipedia :P
Haha!
Good going guys, I support this and I’m happy to see GTPlanet is as well. Nice one Jordan.
This reminds me of the time TV went digital. The US Gov pretty much just gave cable and satelite tv companies the power to control who gets to watch tv or not. This totally infringes on the right to freedom of speech.
Already contacted my congressmen.
USA is not NORTH KOREA, thank you very much.
Internet belongs to the government, government belongs to the people – don’t allow democracy to become a fallacy.
I know I’m not an American but this affects the internet globally, so a +1 from me.
HAHAHAHHA! I just saw the little picture of the other country’s that use this “internet blocking”. Lets see, Syria, Iran, and then of course, China, that last one should be enough to say no. What a wonderful free country China is, lets do what they do. Oh wait……….NOT! The US is a free country, if we do what China does, no one will be free.
This is what I say to the Government, sorry, government (they don’t deserve a capital letter):
Jeremy Clarkson said it best: Skip to about 2:36 on the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYQQzFY7CqQ
And yes SOPA and PIPA I’m posting a link from another site, ooooohhhhhh, breaking the law, lol
Actually you’re attempt at being funny fails because you’re not breaking the law.
The provision of advertising for an offending site refers to
Sec 101 (12) INTERNET ADVERTISING SERVICE- The term `Internet advertising service’ means a service that for compensation sells, purchases, brokers, serves, inserts, verifies, clears, or otherwise facilitates the placement of an advertisement, including a paid or sponsored search result, link, or placement, that is rendered in viewable form for any period of time on an Internet site.
Sec 102 (D) INTERNET ADVERTISING SERVICES-
(i) REQUIRED ACTIONS- An Internet advertising service that contracts to provide advertising to or for the foreign infringing site, or portion thereof, that is subject to the order, or that knowingly serves advertising to or for such site or such portion thereof, shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures, as expeditiously as possible, but in any case within 5 days after being served with a copy of the order, or within such time as the court may order, designed to–
(I) prevent its service from providing advertisements to or relating to the foreign infringing site that is subject to the order or a portion of such site specified in the order;
(II) cease making available advertisements for the foreign infringing site or such portion thereof, or paid or sponsored search results, links, or other placements that provide access to such foreign infringing site or such portion thereof; and
(III) cease providing or receiving any compensation for advertising or related services to, from, or in connection with such foreign infringing site or such portion thereof.
Ahhhh but the video I posted is taking the law, so technically, I’m an accomplice :D, also, shove it you turd, I’m sorry, but get a life, loosen up, and stop being a douch. That is all.
I’m just suprised that you were too stupid to get that it was supposed to be a stupid joke, because SOPA and PIPA are a stupid joke.
this will affect the world of the internet also here in the uk
I’m all for the eradication of sites like The Pirate Bay and BitTorrent and piracy in general, but SOPA and Protect IP Act takes it a bit too far.
reach out to your local representatives. an easy way to do this is go to wikipedia.com and they actually have links embedded to search by zip code. also, post to your Facebook account.
This is OUR world!
Good work supporting the cause Jordan, the more exposure it gets the better.
I agree.
This is pure socialism/communism. Big government sucks. The GM bailout angered me, but this is insane. I’m very glad to see this protest. By the way, there is an app for idevices that notifies you of the SOPA supporting companies, such as Coca-Cola. Don’t buy the products of those that support this.
Actually Socialism and Communism mean that everything should be available to the collective whole and under those systems private and intellectual property has no meaning.
You might as well protest laws that protect brick and mortar stores and home owners from thieves and the rights to protect themselves.
Hey Daihatsu its fine if your support this bill and all. Your opinion is just that but hope you never use wiki/youtube or this site….wait you do
this is about corporate control and censorship of the internet. it has nothing to do with left wing politics.
But the down side is, coca-cola owns and controls a lot of brands.
Mercgoat In case you didn’t know Wikipedia under Wikimedia Foundation and Youtube as a subsidiary of Google are multi million dollar companies.
Jimbo Wales is a multimillionaire with a net worth over 20 million dollars and growing. Wikipedia itself is worth billions. All those donations to Wikipedia that he keeps screaming for go to line Wales pockets and his site and earnings are built with free labour. Wikipedia is worth billions Youtube is a subsidiary of Google which is worth hundreds of billions.
These sites and GT Planet are in no danger.
If you actually read the legislation. Site blocking only comes after litigation has been filed by the damaged party and offending site owners can not be contacted. An order to block a site has to be issued by the Attorney General and the blocking is the last resort after all other legal options have been exhausted. This is an online extension of already existing Lanham Act which has been in force since 1946. This is a new consequence for laws that are 66 years old.
Yes, one part reads that way. The problem is that under other parts I can file a weak lawsuit based on the bill’s wide reaching definitions of violations, get a court order to shut someone down based on said suit, use my expensive corporate lawyers to tie up the case for lengthy periods of time, and assuming my lawyers are better than thiers, keep the site closed all the while until it’s hopefully fiscaly broken.
There are actually multiple avenues that allow for shutting down of a wedsite, freezing funding, etc. At various stages it only requires a court order pending resolution of case. At times the bill allows for such action after such times has the defendant has been found, and is a notified case participant, and not all remedies require issuance by the Attorny Genneral.
What actually qualifies has a case in the first place is to say inclusive and impercise at the same time. It’s open to much interpretation as to what can claimed as “stolen property” under this law, and has a result almost any site could be found in violation if a motivated lawyer looked hard enough. That includes this one. Lamar Smith (R,TX) may not have intend the bill to be so used against GTP, or any other honest social site, and it may not be very likely in the least that it ever will, but the ability to do so is very much present.
It is the vauge, wide reaching, often exploitable, over reaching language spread throughout this bill, that is the main problem, something that has been acknowledged by the governing body itself at this point, hence it’s current state of “delayed for review”.
Boom. Roasted. …Again.
I support SOPA and PIPA. It gives recourse to those who have been victimized by those who wantonly steal and pilfer intellectual property and it protects freedom of speech by giving people safeguards against having it plagiarized.
These protests are just hysterical nonsense.
Communist
That’s right, focus on the theoretical benefits. If you think these Acts will benefit the Internet and Technology, and the victims of Online Piracy, you are grossly naive.
And it protects freedom of speech? That is utter cow pat.
Nothing communist about it, if I spend the time and money to create a piece of software and I want to sell it for $5.00 from my website and the first person that comes along and puts the software on an anonymous website for free and it gets a million downloads than I have already been damaged for 5 million dollars.
Why wouldn’t I want to the legal recourse to get it shut down or blocked. Why would I want to let a thief hide in anonymity while they financially ruin me.
I am all for protecting against piracy but you can’t shut down everything because someone gives you money to. I am a production manager and I work with Graphic Artists. This bill would potentially shut down a lot of means by which we trade off artwork and custom fonts plus freely post and download free artwork with other artist. Any file sharing website would be shut down.
Who said anything about giving money to someone to shut things down. If you want to publish something for sale or publish speech without having it plagiarized than you should have recourse and legal avenues and options available for you to punish and get those shut down who are doing harm and damage to you.
If you want to create and give away free stuff, no one is preventing you. Free Domain will always be free domain.
But free domain doesn’t mean entitlement to commercial software or intellectual property without permission or compensation to its creator.
I’m all for paying where paying is needed I do it all the time. The problem is that they want to try to lock out all of the sites that we do free business on. Adobe will want you to pay to use free filters that someone else is willing to give away and so on. Any image hosting website could be blocked out and or shut down. All mass media and social websites are at risk. It’s just a very poorly written bill.
This legislation — funded heavily by lobbyists from the entertainment industry — threatens not only rampant piracy, but legitimate websites as well. As the bills are currently written, Google would be legally required to censor sites which have been identified by rights holders to contain copyrighted content. Even if this copyrighted content is somewhat inconsequential, like a single user who uploads tons of captioned screenshots to Tumblr, they would not have protection.
Being censored by a US-based search engine like Google would mean that the site could be censored worldwide, not just in the US. Blacklisted sites could be blocked by US -based Internet service providers. No due process required. If your site has a user who posts a copyright violation, you, as the site owner, are culpable.
Your needs are valid, and I agree that we do need a stronger recourse against online piracy besides DMCA notices and the like. But SOPA and PIPA are completely ham-fisted in their approach to this problem.
“We’re Slaves To Money, Then We Die” – The Verve, Bittersweet Symphony
It’s all about the money, ain’t it?
always has been, always will be Chriz00, the route of all evil. Ect, ect, so on and so forth, yada, yada, yada…….
I really have to know, all of you who are opposing this. Are you opposing it because someone else told you its bad? Or because you actually went to the House of Representative website and read the legislation for yourself to make an informed opinion.
When you actually go read the legislation its not what everyone is hysterically making it out to be.
Yep I read it. This morning, after hearring the story about Wiki protesting with a blackout on the radio.
79 pages I believe.
Paragraph 212 specifically allows for a site to be shut down prior to a finding of guilty in a court of law, the overall standards for what constitute a violation being wide reaching and open for interpretation to begin with. Almost nothing in the bill to actually stop piracy though. Makes it a little harder to do some things, but not impossible. Doesn’t really have any real bite for those other than participating site owners. Unfortunately the same language allows abuses and dificulties that many here have expressed.
im from the UK and the US are taking control of the whole internet? what gives them the right to take control of everything on it? if i had a server and a website, i’d put whatever the heck I want on it regardless of what some americans say.
That’s a very ignorant statement. If you don’t know, Russia, North Korea, and China already have something similar, although the Russians aren’t as tough. Communist countries control the Internet. When Beijing had the Olympics, that was the first time the Internet was open for those people. They were amazed at what the Internet really was, but after the games, it was back to communist controlled internet.
If a little goes a long way, then an over sized beast like this goes to far.
I’m sick of all the pirates online, there is very little respect for original ideas, this would be the wrong way to fix it.
I would think the copyright and trademark laws need updating just for the digital world we have now, a firewall won’t help.
I really hope this doesn’t happen! I just signed the petition through google.
I hate poilitcs, but I have to give my opinion.
This is nonesense. If I understood correctly, this site could be easily taken down just because there are car pictures being displayed without the consent of their manufactures and people using the manufacturer names without permision.
Also, because this is not an offical Sony or PD site(even if PD loves us as their childs), GTPlanet could be taken down also for displaying brands like Playstation, Xbox, Sony and such.
@spikeyhairdude In a matter of speaking, yes. We would be taken back to the 80’s basically.
But seriously, I don’t think this law will prove effective if passed (which I don’t think it will). It would do more damage than benefit in the long term.
Exactly. If nobody had caught on and made it public it would have. Most of the people voting just think it’s against piracy. sponsors have been backing out all day. Just think if Google were to shut down their entire services for a day.
So Microsoft and Apple are supporting it? I hope this bill doesn’t go through. I heard we are gonna hear more about it on January 24th?
This is just one of the first steps that will ultimately depriving ordinary citizens’ freedom & rights. If this passes, what’s next??
Incorrect. The first step was the NDAA, so they can detain you “indefinitely” without charges….
Whats next?
Ohhhhhhh so that’s why the google logo was blacked out today! Yeah I don’t like the sounds of that law AT ALL!!!!!! Is this going to be something voted on or will they just pass it? What is their rational, what is the benefit suppose to be? Starting to feel a bit like China over here!
Yeah, you can click on the black box and add your name to the petition to stop SOPA. Everyone should do that. A bunch of ambulance chasing lawyers are trying to ruin the Internet by paying off old farts in congress, we need to stop this before they destroy our Internet.
Dare I go a step further and say North Koreaish……..?
I’am standing against the bills. One other thing, Sony supports SOPA. Isn’t that really weird and Microsoft is not on the list. Seems like some plot is here.
Sony is protecting gaming and movie rights. Microsoft and Apple are both on the full list.
I dont get it. are they trying to take away the internet from us.
No, but that’s what it will end up doing, because Congress doesn’t have the common sense to see the negative of something.
I am not political by any means. I vote if I feel the need to. But this Bill has changed my opinion and I plan on voting every year because of this. This bill would eventually go beyond the internet in the United States. It is co sponsored by Corporate America, I understand film and gaming companies protecting from piracy. But for example: Tiffany & Co., Ralph Lauren, Oakley, etc.; these companies over charge for goods and would try to squeeze out any online services to purchase cheaper “knock off” versions of the product.
And yes, if one of these sponsors says they don’t like Jordan, they could shut this place down.
This support is awesome, well done
Totally unacceptable!! :(
I support this bill. People act like content that does not belong to them is ok represent without consent of primary owner(s).
piracy is one thing, but this bill goes too far. It’s like trying to stop J-walking by making it illegal to travel by foot.
Haha funny, obviously you have no idea what youre supporting..
Or you’re an idiot.
It’s the monitoring of it that is the problem. Somebody posts some picture on here and we all get shut off for a long while. It’s like making sure nobody is on illegal drugs by making you get your blood checked everyday. The whole premiss of this law I find WAY over the top.
The bill is so vague that it essentially gives the entertainment industry the right to remove whatever content that they think even slightly infringes their copyright. Beyond that, it does not even directly block the download of pirated content, which could still be accessed by typing the ip address of the download location into where the domain name normally goes. So, unless you are in the entertainment industry, you have nothing to gain and everything to lose.
@Bucky0202:
There are MILLIONS of people in the entertainment industry – if you have a Youtube account and post videos, you are at risk. If Youtube goes down due to a baby video with music in the background, many YouTubers could lose a MASSIVE amount of their income, and even their JOBS. (Like RWJ, Freddie Wong, Etc.) And actually, not necessarily JUST the entertainment industry; as the article states, Ads can get blocked, therefore removing the income to the websites, and eventually, taking away the website because the admins can’t pay for the server space.
That’s what your DMCA does. SOPA is essentially exactly what is used by the Chinese government, only far worse.
I fully endorse this statement! No to the big business dictat tyranny!
I’m glad that you guys are standing against the bill. I feel like here in America it isn’t being talked about well enough for the general public to realize what it is. I haven’t seen it mentioned on any major news channels. It’s just stupid to have our old politicians voting on something that they hardly know how to use!
Good to hear that you guys are also standing against the bills. Hopefully things turn out for the better in the end.
More people need to become aware of this matter. I have already notified many people about SOPA and PIPA, and having presented a presentation about SOPA to many classes today for an American History school assignment, I will do anything in my power to spread the word of this twisted nature…
However, I cannot be ever more grateful that the Supreme Court is definitely aware of how out-of-control Congress really is. Never enough thanks for that…
i want to know which congress voted on SOPA
I reely feel sorry for you guys if this one past trough.
If this goes through, in no time we’ll be back in the dark ages. GTP can still exist albeit via phone line (unless that’s bugged as well), 56K modem and Bulletin Board System software. It will exist under alt.porn.cars.granturismo.
Great article J, I am absolutely behind it 100%. Let us know if there’s anything we can do as a community? Maybe a 24 hour sig block change that has any handy links or information?
This is serious folks; this nonsense threatens so much and must be stopped!
Help by sharing this on your FaceBook page and more than the gaming community will know about the over take of Big Brother
A lot of our Congress members grew up during a time period where electronic computers did not exist. They don’t understand technology and are even scared of it. Plus the free sharing of information is something they don’t comprehend either, and even are strongly opposed to it.
It is important for those of us that do understand technology, to tell Congress to stop trying to censor the internet and get involved in things they do not understand.
It is amazing how much power governments and these so called organizational bodies have…it seems like human society has not progressed overall in the hundreds of years of feudal rule. Are we back in the Dark Ages? Pathetic. Kudos to GTPlanet to protest!
+1
my kind sir, you are very intelligent.
Hence the renewed popularity of a little ol’ book from the 1950’s called ‘Atlas Shrugged’. We the people are waking up, finally.
I am Canadian but I want to stop this as well. Is there any way we can help?
This might help:
http://americancensorship.org/
Scroll down a bit, and you’ll find an option to petition.
I dunno. Mabey Canada could put forward a NATO bill to establish a “no fly zone” over Hollywood? XD
it took canada a long time to stop people near the border from getting american tv for free so until they figure out a way to make money off of it they will probably leave the internet alone…im hopeful anyway…but yes i stand by you…goverment control spells chaos
It’s one of the most ridiculous laws I have ever seen. I can understand them being against online piracy, but it just stinks of internet fascism, as silly as it sounds. Just so they can restrict what comes in and out of the Internet, they’re going to punish the people and companies that make the Internet what it is. It’s a free source of content and that is the beauty of it, obviously they do not know what they are doing, because even if by some small chance it does get passed, they’ll never be able to restrict it due to the sheer complex and enormity of the Internet, such a naive way of thinking.
Oooow ok, Lets make an big protest thread.
this is serious guys, the people must win!
I don’t get it, This is not an downloading site so this can’t be shute down right?
people post links and pics in the forums
SOPA is has a huge sweeping and broad reach in what it can get websites shut down over. Basically a company just simply needs to not agree with something, anything at all, on a website to get it closed down.
No but there are pictures and videos of GT5 which we don’t have permission to post which would get the site brought down.
Also, The Ads that GTPlanet uses pays the administrators (Like Jordan), who need the money to pay for the server space, and them selves. Server space is just like property; if you can’t pay for your property, its taken from you.
thumbs up for supporting it lads, lets not let Corporate America getting their grubby hands of the Internet…
Good too see a symbol of protest from GTP. +1
+1
+1
+1
Vote +1
Surely they wont pass that law as then alot less money would be made therefore less jobs and less taxes.
(Not an expert ) Lol
Trust me, Congress is stupid enough to pass this. It has already made it this far.
Well, considering Congress is full of old people who, in my experience, have no clue about how the internet runs, it’s quite possible. Along with a fat check from the entertainment industry, (which only contributes a fraction of what the internet does to the economy, so technically yes, money will be lost one way or another) it’s very possible that SOPA and PIPA will manage to pass.
I’m not an expert either, but even if the bill does pass, can’t the President just Veto it? I know for one, Obama is against it. Not sure about the other candidates though.
By against, I mean against SOPA. Sorry.
Glad to see you guys are supporting this.
double glad
youtube search:
Ring of Power
Zeitgeist Addendum
Beyond Treason
Esoteric Agenda
Architects of Control
‘Mike Ruppert exposes’
Dope Inc
The Century of the Self
Kymatica
Longevity Now Conferences
George Carlin Who Owns You
‘Aaron Russo exposes’
Jordan Maxwell
Micheal Tsarion
Noam Chomsky
G Edward Griffen
….the list goes on. The time has come for ALL of us to try and find out what is going on in this world. Do human beings naturally have an aversion to chaos, or are we corralled into such behavior. What has been going on inside institutes such as the Tavistock in England for the last 100 years? Why is television generally an alcohol-drenched whorefest? Why did we drop more bombs on the tiny, jungle-covered country of vietnam than all previous wars combined? (that includes ww2 where we unleashed an unimaginable amount of explosives, incendieries, and NUCLEAR weapons on japan and germany.)
C’mon yall. Time to do your homework. There might be a test coming…
.
@research – it was Guam not Vietnam they dropped all the bombs on. There are still hundreds of volunteers that go there every year to dis-arm unexploded bombs in kids playgrounds, streets, gardens, jungles and many of the people that live in these areas aren’t educated enough to know what they are. Many people die year in year out taking them apart to sell for scrap. Oh yer, the Government forgot to tell the majority of the public about this and only did it to stop the viet-cong from moving there to garner more support. Unfortunately they weren’t trying to do that, dodgy intel. said they were so they dropped an unparralled amount of bombs on millions of innocent people.
Shut down the site in protest then.
You don’t have to take down a website to get the message out. Google just blacked out a logo and I’ve seen more people than ever before talking about it.
Good Luck :)
Everyone, please call your Representatives and Senators and let them know that you do not support PIPA and SOPA. I just did and it was super easy to do. All I had to do was click that link on Wikipedia’s top page and after entering my zip code, I got my senators/reps contact info. Please, call them now!!! Internet cannot die and must forever be free!
And for those of you who don’t live in the US, you can still call/email our members of Congress. This bill affects everyone in the world and if you love the internet, take a minute out of your time to write that email/make that phone call and help protect it.
I dont see any other way, just take your guns and make US streets like a warzone against government… thats is the way to go if U.S. Congress make it happen…
Im not cruel, U.S. Congress is.. if they want to control all people like toys, they have to pay for it with theyr *****…………
^^ bloody rednecks.. Hey Cletus, I’ll get maaah gun and meet ya’ll down there. They are probably communists trying to kill us all!
@Strikey: It’s ironic that you called that guy a redneck as an insult. You see, a group of miners appropriated the term, and they weren’t that different from what we who oppose SOPA and PIPA are. They were miners who were fighting for their rights, miners who were tired of being treated as puppets rather than people. They marched, despite US Army interference, because they wanted to be treated as people, and they did it appropriately: as a multiracial union.
I realize it doesn’t really have any honorable meaning nowadays, but I thought that was a neat thing to point out.