Stop SOPA / PIPA

[Nick]

I think this is fairly important, if you want to keep the internet the way it is. Not one to get into politics but if you feel like supporting today, then make it known... here are a couple sites where you can sign petitions and send a note to your congressperson, takes a few minutes. This is something that could ultimately affect sites like AlpineZone.

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

http://eff2.salsalabs.com/o/9042/images/stop-the-internet-blacklist.html

Even Wikipedia is down today in support - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

If you know of any other ways to contribute, please share!

Wikipedia has a pretty good brief explanation of what is going on:

SOPA and PIPA put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

In a world in which politicians regulate the Internet based on the influence of big money, Wikipedia — and sites like it — cannot survive.

Congress says it's trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the "cure" that SOPA and PIPA represent is worse than the disease. SOPA and PIPA are not the answer: they will fatally damage the free and open Internet.

 

[Dylan]

Looks to me like this bill was written either by or for people who have no idea what the Internets is about.

 

[Nick]

I'd say that's pretty accurate.

 

[Glenn]

Even the local news had a blurb about it this AM.

 

[Rambo]

Free gss!!

 

[ctenidae]

But with out this, won't the intertubes get jammed with trucks full of horses?

Where is Senator Stevens when you need someone to say something stupid?

 

[wa-loaf]

Shouldn't there be a black band over the AZ logo or something?

 

[Nick]

Shouldn't there be a black band over the AZ logo or something?

Yeah that would have been a good one he

 

[Grassi21]

Free gss!!

:lol:

 

[Geoff]

Personally, I totally support making copyright violation a criminal offense.

 

[andyzee]

Personally, I totally support making copyright violation a criminal offense.

I support being stopped and searched at every border, town,state, county, etc....

 

[legalskier]

 

[hammer]

OK, so what's the alternative? Not agreeing with SOPA in the least but if no reasonable alternative is proposed then SOPA supporters (with their deep pockets) will ultimately prevail...

 

[Geoff]

OK, so what's the alternative? Not agreeing with SOPA in the least but if no reasonable alternative is proposed then SOPA supporters (with their deep pockets) will ultimately prevail...

I think the bill is great. It criminalizes copyright violation and ends the nonsense that "stealing music and videos isn't stealing". It gives copyright holders swift recourse. If your IPR is being violated, you will be able to block at the search engines if the web site is offshore. The people in the US violating your copyright can be prosecuted rather than clogging the courts with expensive civil suits.

If you want to steal music or videos, you can still borrow a CD or DVD and rip it. The difference is that you don't end up with viral theft where one copy gets distributed to millions of people.

 

[mondeo]

OK, so what's the alternative? Not agreeing with SOPA in the least but if no reasonable alternative is proposed then SOPA supporters (with their deep pockets) will ultimately prevail...

You realize that Google is the largest opponent here, right? A $190bn company with revenues of $29bn and a 28% profit margin? Which happens to be the biggest violator of copyright laws (and IP laws in general) in the country? They're almost as big as the entire recording and movie industries combined (around $33bn/year revenue,) and they keep more of their money.

Compared to the bill's detractors, the supporters are the little guy.

 

[Nick]

Personally, I totally support making copyright violation a criminal offense.

I completely disagree with copyright violation as well, I've had my own content ripped off (blatently) before. It is extremely frustrating and aggravating, and I think we should fight copyright violation.

That said, there is a lot more here. This video explains it pretty well without being too "one sided"



From an Alpinezone perspective - it means we (Ski Stef and I) could potentially be liable for anything anyone posts on the site here.

It's just a big grey line and added bureaucratic tape. The video makes the good point that there are already several mechanisms in place and available for pursuing copyright infringement. It's not perfect, but neither are these laws.

 

[Nick]

I think the bill is great. It criminalizes copyright violation and ends the nonsense that "stealing music and videos isn't stealing". It gives copyright holders swift recourse. If your IPR is being violated, you will be able to block at the search engines if the web site is offshore. The people in the US violating your copyright can be prosecuted rather than clogging the courts with expensive civil suits.

If you want to steal music or videos, you can still borrow a CD or DVD and rip it. The difference is that you don't end up with viral theft where one copy gets distributed to millions of people.

Copyright violation is already illegal and the entertainment industry has been pursuing this for years, highly effectively. Look at the usage of sites like Kazaa / Napster (well, now defunct) are almost nonexistant. Pirate bay was shut down. Just yesterday Megaupload went under and the site owners were arrested.

The people who are determined to steal will find a way in likelihood but it's not the norm. I went through a phase in college between 99 and 02 where i would rip music from Kazaa, but since 2004 I completely stopped and have purchased all my music / movies through either Amazon MP3 / VOD or (more recently) Google Music. I think most are doing that.

I think PIPA / SOPA will do very little to stop copyright infringement and piracy. I think it will do an enormous amount to make small businesses everywhere on the internet terrified of one small mis-step, particularly community or social sites where many people interact.

 

[bvibert]

Looks like the movement was successful, I just received this as part of an email:

A big hurrah to you!!!!! We’ve won for now -- SOPA and PIPA were dropped by Congress today -- the votes we’ve been scrambling to mobilize against have been cancelled.

 

[mondeo]

Copyright violation is already illegal and the entertainment industry has been pursuing this for years, highly effectively. Look at the usage of sites like Kazaa / Napster (well, now defunct) are almost nonexistant. Pirate bay was shut down. Just yesterday Megaupload went under and the site owners were arrested.

The people who are determined to steal will find a way in likelihood but it's not the norm. I went through a phase in college between 99 and 02 where i would rip music from Kazaa, but since 2004 I completely stopped and have purchased all my music / movies through either Amazon MP3 / VOD or (more recently) Google Music. I think most are doing that.

I think PIPA / SOPA will do very little to stop copyright infringement and piracy. I think it will do an enormous amount to make small businesses everywhere on the internet terrified of one small mis-step, particularly community or social sites where many people interact.

Pirate Bay is still alive and well, as it's in the Netherlands and they've decided to ignore international copyright treaties. Thus all the "foreign owned sites" type stuff in the bill, it's pretty much going directly after Pirate Bay.

 

[hammer]

You realize that Google is the largest opponent here, right? A $190bn company with revenues of $29bn and a 28% profit margin? Which happens to be the biggest violator of copyright laws (and IP laws in general) in the country? They're almost as big as the entire recording and movie industries combined (around $33bn/year revenue,) and they keep more of their money.

Compared to the bill's detractors, the supporters are the little guy.

Good point...does make the opposition a little less "grass roots"...