Stop Online Piracy Bill

[Kristy]

Simple, they make money off of things that are released online.

It's more like free press. It maybe a double standard but the likes of Reznor doesn't have to pay a label press agent to promote his latest crap that's being "pirated" on YouTube does for him at no additional cost. The people who are truly hurting in this are not so much the artist but the suits who own the artist; the RIAA has been pushing for a shutdown of many sites for years claiming in "infringes" upon this or that when what it does infringe upon is their greedy pockets.

So what they do is go about this the pussy way - you don't see the suits at RIAA going after the engineers of the iPod, or Adobe flash player instead they go after those who make those inventions work or utilize them in a way that leaves the suits shut out from making further profit. This is why you have the assholes at Viacom trying up the courts with bullshit lawsuits against YouTube; they can't own it, they can't benefit off it, they can't stop so their own option is to shut it down.

[Unchainme]

Agree with what Kristy said.

It's never really the artist who get that pissed off to it, rather the middle man stomping his feet like a toddler as his role in the production of media. They're not making money, thus they're pissed.

The artists are FINE. Go watch any episode of cribs and you'll see my point.

As for bit torrent and pirate bay, I fail to see how if something is given away FOR FREE is terrible and equated with something that is either STOLEN or Bought and then charged for money. That's how the law should be.

[FORD]

Thom Hartmann was commenting on this fascist bullshit this morning. The guy has written literally dozens of books, and he says they actually sell better when all or part of them are "pirated" online.

He "pirated" his own book, one chapter a week, on Truthout.org last year. It took some negotiations with his publisher to get it done, but it worked - he sold alot of books that way. People would read a chapter online and decide they didn't want to wait a week to read another one. And for people who couldn't afford to buy the book, for whatever reason (which in the current fucked economy is probably a lot of people) the information was there, a little piece at a time. Seems to be a win-win situation for all.

[FORD]

Just heard some info on The Young Turks that I wasn't aware of......

Guess who the MPAA fascists' lobbyist is in Washington DC?

Christopher Fucking Dodd.

Yeah that's right... the same DLC douchebag who, while masquerading as a "Democratic" Senator, managed to water down both health care reform AND financial reform to where both were usless in name only "reforms" completely controlled by the corporations.

This bastard really needs to be tried for treason, then executed on live TV when he's found guilty.

[knuckleboner]

Just heard some info on The Young Turks that I wasn't aware of......

Guess who the MPAA fascists' lobbyist is in Washington DC?

Christopher Fucking Dodd.

Yeah that's right... the same DLC douchebag who, while masquerading as a "Democratic" Senator, managed to water down both health care reform AND financial reform to where both were usless in name only "reforms" completely controlled by the corporations.

This bastard really needs to be tried for treason, then executed on live TV when he's found guilty.

do you actually think stronger health care reform would've passed the house? it was like pulling teeth to get a majority. the house version that had a public option passed because they could pull in a few of the anti-abortion dems with the stupak-pitts amendment. nothing stronger could've passed.

as for SOPA, does it go too far in requiring small businesses to police and shut down access to various websites? yeah, maybe. but that doesn't change the fact that if somebody legally owns the right to a property, it should be their choice how that property is accessed, or isn't accessed.

[Unchainme]

http://gawker.com/5877658/megaupload-ceo-swizz-beatz-silent-as-feds-shut-down-site-arrest-four

unfucking real.

it's already begun.

This is fascism. This is not a democratic republic.

people better wake the fuck up or one you'll be living in a fucking version of 1984.

our voice is being sold to the highest fucking bidders. fuck them.

[knuckleboner]

how is it facism if they stop a website from allowing illegal access to copyrighted material?

[chefcraig]

as for SOPA, does it go too far in requiring small businesses to police and shut down access to various websites? yeah, maybe. but that doesn't change the fact that if somebody legally owns the right to a property, it should be their choice how that property is accessed, or isn't accessed.

On the face of it, this legislation looks like it would simply uphold the rights of intellectual or real property's use on the internet. Fair enough, and it makes perfect sense. But the more you dig into it, the more worrisome it becomes. The article sets in motion an openly vast variety of ways to enforce such a thing, much in the same way the Patriot Act (for instance) is so absurdly broad in it's overview that unconstitutional acts can be committed in the name of anti-terrorism. And the concept of "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" fails to work in either case.

[knuckleboner]

On the face of it, this legislation looks like it would simply uphold the rights of intellectual or real property's use on the internet. Fair enough, and it makes perfect sense. But the more you dig into it, the more worrisome it becomes. The article sets in motion an openly vast variety of ways to enforce such a thing, much in the same way the Patriot Act (for instance) is so absurdly broad in it's overview that unconstitutional acts can be committed in the name of anti-terrorism. And the concept of "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" fails to work in either case.

i totally agree with you. i was simply trying to say that regardless of whether SOPA is good or not (i don't think it is), it doesn't mean that intellectual property theft is somehow acceptable. though, SOPA is not the answer.

[Seshmeister]

how is it facism if they stop a website from allowing illegal access to copyrighted material?

I think the way the bill is framed at the moment then anyone can get a site closed down and the onus is on the site to appear in court and defend itself.

In other words you can be prevented from viewing almost all sites not hosted in the US very easily because the owners are not going to defend themselves in a US court.

Imagine as an example someone posts a picture of a Frankenstrat here and the Eddie Van Halen people decide they don't like that because it has his stripe design on it. At the moment they can send a removal notice to Sarge/The ISP requesting that it be taken down. If he wants to fight that then he can in court or he may just edit the post.

The new act would allow the Eddie Van Halen people to have this website blocked by ISPs in the US with a penalty of up to 5 years in prison if they didn't comply. They don't even need to give us a chance to take the offending post down. Sarge would then have to travel back from Italy to appeal in court to get the ISPs to allow the site to be accessed again and even if he won who knows if they would even take the chance at that point, probably not.

[Seshmeister]

And remember this is just a trivial music fan site, imagine how corporations and government could use such dangerously powerful legislation.

[Nickdfresh]

how is it facism if they stop a website from allowing illegal access to copyrighted material?

The fascism card is overplayed here. But under this shit legislation written by record industry and hollywood buffoons whom don't understand the 'net, sites like Wikipedia can be fined for just linking sites like Piratebay--even if they're just connecting an expository article on PB...

This bill WILL stifle free expression and cede a good deal control of the net over to corporations and gov't enterprises...

[Golden AWe]

I thought Duff McKagan was off the wagon already...or is it on the wagon, off the wagon?

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2012/01/quit_whining_about_sopa_and_pi.php

Bad for business. Anti-piracy legislation could be bad for the Internet business. It almost takes my breath away. Internet piracy has claimed half of the recorded music business, and made the prospect of making a living as a musician harder for artists of all rank and file. Why didn't Google, or Facebook, or Wikipedia ever stand in solidarity with musicians, actors, and writers - most of whom have never known fame and fortune - as their works were stolen with no recourse on their sites?

Stop whining Duff. What about MP3 or cd? It's against the physical vinyl record maker business...but good things keep their territory and a slice of the business.

[Golden AWe]

Wow! Here's a nice chapter to read...and think about it.

http://maddox.xmission.com/

It needs to get worse before it gets better. We need a really shitty piece of legislation like SOPA in this country to be the spark that ignites the lazy, idle tinders of protest. It's not uncommon or even controversial to say that Washington is corrupt. It doesn't cause anyone to bat an eye when you say it in public, with Republicans, Democrats or "other." That's a problem. We need SOPA to wake the sleeping giant in this country. It could have been our generation's Rodney King verdict. Instead of blacking out our websites, what we need to do is dismantle the system that created this bullshit. Enough is enough.

Interesting list, the company list they have there. Too bad I'm forced to use several products of that list today...VISA, Autodesk for example...

[LoungeMachine]

I thought Duff McKagan was off the wagon already...or is it on the wagon, off the wagon?

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2012/01/quit_whining_about_sopa_and_pi.php

Stop whining Duff. What about MP3 or cd? It's against the physical vinyl record maker business...but good things keep their territory and a slice of the business.

Duff is still ON the wagon......

and a boring cunt.