SOPA and PIPA
- Access to all of our posts and comments
- Your own profile including an avatar, buddy lists, and other social networking features
- The ability to send private messages to other users on this site
- The ability to chat and interact with other furries in and around Pennsylvania.
(Not a furry fan? That's cool. You're still welcome here.)
Just curious, has any one else been looking into the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) or the Protect IP Act (PIPA) protests going on today? I've been reading about it since I got home from school (three hours of Avenger reading about politics... unheard of D:), actually since it was first introduced, and I'm sort of worried it'll get passed.
I read the bill on Library of Congress ( http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr3261ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr3261ih.pdf ) a while ago, sadly I didn't understand much, but various articles made for non-politically knowledgeable people/a LOT of lectures on how government works from my /awesome/ history teacher helped :3
I also found these articles to be pretty interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Mobile_Learn_more
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-internet-shutdown-20120118,0,5284397.story
https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/
Personally, I find the idea to be a violation of both freedom of speech and press-- by trying to limit what we can post/link to online by completely banning sites and webpages, I'd feel that my rights as a US citizen would definitely be damaged. While I understand that piracy is pretty big in today's day and age, no matter what they do it will exist. My sister compared it to the Prohibition Act, as well as trying to ban drugs; no matter how illegal you make it or what limits you put, people will get around them. One thought I saw somewhere was that if these pages are blocked, hackers will get through, and that would give them the chance to spread malware/viruses under the guise of Internet freedom.
Thousands of websites blacked out today (Wikipedia being one of the most well known, I actually wish Facebook would have too) in protest. Sadly, if these bills do what they say, it seems as though we really would have to go without a lot of major information sources (as they would most certainly contain copyrighted materials if they were explaining them).
Anyway, sorry for the long rant, just thought I'd share my opinions ^^' If I have a chance tomorrow I might ask my teacher if he knows any more on the topic. /It's also inspired an idea for a political cartoon. Might draw that later./
--Lucifer/Avenger
D. Gray-Man ~<3&
LMAO!!!
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I would like to add to your list of offenses with in this
bill if I may. There is also the major issue of American government having no
right to affect other sovereign nations and that is exactly what the SOP Act
would do. By giving Congress the power to affect what is accessible, you are essentially
saying that they are morale perfect, (which they are not) they are incorruptible,
(also not true) and that they have the power to prevent other countries from policing
their domain. Now I know that America is the “watchdog of the world” and all
that, but we really need to look at the global situation right now. Most countries
are not terribly friendly to us and the ones who are would be the ones most
affected by this little stunt. I have seen lots of videos coming from across the
pond about how this act need to be stopped because of the massive damage it
would wreak on all those who game on public servers, share information and art
as well as all those who make their lively hoods through online games, media
and other manners. Indy gamers can stay competitive because the internet allows
them to proliferate quickly. Game of the year as told by Game Informer was
MineCraft. Now just imagine if Mojang had to get word out to the community by other
means. It would have sat dormant until someone ran across it ten years from now
and said, “Hey, this is kind of cool. Shame it died so early on.”
So now I have had my little soap box on SOPA. I will go good
bye now. Good bye now!
I also saw that it won't offer due process for the sites being removed, which is a direct violation of the Bill of Rights. If it is passed and they start taking down foriegn sites, not many people will be very happy. I've actually seen anti-SOPA banners/petitions for people outside of the US. As of 5:55 AM it's 38 Supporters in the Senate to 19, and the House is 27:83 Opponents.
D. Gray-Man ~<3&