Sign Petition Against SOPA

Off Topic Politics and World Issues
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[quote]JEATON wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:
MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd describes the blackouts as “irresponsible” and calling their protest action “a disservice to people who rely on them for information” or use their services.

“It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today,” said Dodd in a statement. “It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.”

“A so-called ‘blackout’ is yet another gimmick, albeit a dangerous one, designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals,” continued Dodd. “It is our hope that the White House and the Congress will call on those who intend to stage this ‘blackout’ to stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy.”

“Only days after the White House and chief sponsors of the legislation responded to the major concern expressed by opponents and then called for all parties to work cooperatively together,” said Dodd, “some technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns, rather than coming to the table to find solutions to a problem that all now seem to agree is very real and damaging.”

A House committee is expected to resume working on the SOPA bill on Jan. 24, looking at dozens of amendments that have been proposed.[/quote]

Sorry, one more thing…

Google did not black out service. They merely drew attention to the topic and offered links so that users could send messages to their congressmen should they choose.

Wikipedia did black out for twenty four hours. As they are not a commercial endeavor and do not owe their users anything, but could be overly affected by the legislation, this was a valid way to draw attention to the potential abuse of said legislation.
[/quote]

Fair points. I don’t agree with you entirely. But a reasonable response.

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loppar, poster at the top, provided a video. However it has an embedded player and its not needed ; )

Here it is without a player!

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January 19, 2012
Ron Paul only GOP candidate to publicly denounce SOPA

GOP presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul came out Wednesday in support of the â??blackoutâ?? efforts taking place across the Web protesting pending anti-piracy legislation many have decried as an Internet censorship effort.

Protect IP, or PIPA, is the Senate version of the House Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Wikipedia, Reddit, Google and many other sites engaged in a â??blackout,â?? or self-censorship, on Wednesday in protest of the bills.

Supporters of the bills argue that strong legislation is needed to combat the piracy of U.S. intellectual property through foreign based websites. Opponents have blasted the bills as a form of Internet censorship, and the wrong approach to tackle what many view as a real economic problem.

As of 6 p.m. EST Wednesday evening, Paul was the only GOP candidate to denounce the bills, which have caused an uproar throughout the Internet community; Paul made a statement through a Facebook status update, saying:

â??My campaign, and the entire freedom movement, would not be as strong as they are today without a free Internet, and thatâ??s just one of the reasons why the establishment hopes to censor it with SOPA and PIPA. Iâ??m proud to see so many taking a stand today. Contact your representative and senators and tell them to oppose these disastrous bills.â??

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich â?? at least on Facebook and Twitter â?? were silent on the issue, and instead devoted their social media platforms to further campaign against one another.

Paulâ??s son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, also came out Wednesday pledging to filibuster PIPA, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised to bring to the Senate floor on January 24.

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As of this morning 6 of the original sponsors of the bill have removed their names from the legislation…and have vowed to oppose it.

4 GOP and 2 Dem’s.

Along with the presidents threat of a veto…bill is deeed.

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Megaupload was seized by the FBI, and people charged, fyi.

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[quote]loppar wrote:
Actually, this video nicely explains the evil logic behind SOPA and PIPA. It has nothing to do with copyright infringement, but with controlling communication channels towards the mass market.

Let’s take music for example - before the internet, due to the unavailability of independent communication channels, people listened to music that was available to them - played on the radio, MTV, Top of the Pops, whatever…

Music choices and tastes were severely limited. Now using a (fairly) independent communication channel like YouTube an indie bend may get 10 million hits and turn into a major attraction. And they haven’t been signed by any of the major record labels and pushed onto a mass market. Independent communication channels mean potential competition.

And that’s just the less sinister part of those bills…
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Well said sir!