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SOPA - What you need to know


TheMoog
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Some of you are probably already aware of this being mentioned in the news, especially with today's blackouts of certain sites going ahead in protest. The following link gives some explanation: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57360665-503544/sopa-pipa-what-you-need-to-know/ - we don't want the internet to go dark for good.

 

Basically, if it goes through I wouldn't be surprised if most other 'developed' countries follow suit - though to be honest just having the Americans able to able to wade in on their own would be bad enough.

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And here's an even more basic explanation http://theoatmeal.com/sopa

 

Yeah, that was a much better way to explain it, thanks bud :)

 

*Edit* I'm not being sarcastic there btw

 

**Double Edit* Jeez, even the edit sounded sarcastic - like Sarcastic Ray :mellow:

Edited by Armchair Pundit
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Blatant attempt by government to control the free flow of information dressed up in a nice new dress.

 

They tried the same thing in Australia but it revolved around the smokescreen of locking people out of child porn sites. Which is obviously good. Until someone, Wikileaks maybe?, got a hold of the sites that were on the proposed list of blocked sites. Most of them had nothing to do with porn of any description and covered a whole litany of topics, some somewhat questionable, some not in the least. A lot of them were in fact internet gambling websites, a personal bugbear of mine considering I have in the past made a bit of money playing internet poker. Having looked into it a bit, the issue for government with regards to internet gambling revolves squaring around the loss of revenue experienced through people choosing to gamble over the internet rather than at the coalface of the heavily taxed pokie machines etc.

 

The bill was shot down but it hasn't died and it probably never will as it will continue to arise in different guises until some form of it is passed. The champion of the bill Stephen Conroy is a Senator, Minister for Communications, member of the backward thinking Australian Christian Lobby Group and a fundamentalist Christian crackpot.

 

Needless to say I immediately distrust the motives of any Christian (no offence) when it comes to their input on legislation that has anything to do with freedom of information, or anything else for that matter.

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Fwiw wikipedia still works today you just have to stop the webpage loading before it has chance to kick the Sopa page in.

 

Sure, but if the bill (either SOPA or PIPA) passes, then that won't be an option. Wikipedia isn't doing this to be a dick, just to show you a tiny part of what will happen if it goes ahead. Basically any site you can contribute to (such as toontastic) will have its DNS deleted. (Toontastic will be affected because it's registered through 123-reg, which is an ICANN accredited registrar and anything related to ICANN is susceptible to the bill.)

 

More info here: http://www.reddit.com/

 

You can also just turn off javascript.

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Well, the day of action seems to have had an effect:

Sopa: US backers end support for anti-piracy bill

 

Backer Marco Rubio said the Senate "should take more time to address the concerns"

Eight US lawmakers have withdrawn their backing from anti-piracy laws, amid "blackout" protests on thousands of internet sites.

Two of the bill's co-sponsors, Marco Rubio from Florida and Roy Blunt from Missouri, are among those backing away.

Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia and blog service WordPress are among the highest profile sites to block their content.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has branded the protests as "irresponsible" and a "stunt".

The MPAA, Hollywood's primary advocate in Washington and a key supporter of the legislation, is led by former Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Dodd.

Both bills focus on responding to online piracy, specifically illegal copies of films and other media.

The bills would also outlaw sites from containing information about how to access blocked sites.

The BBC's Jonny Dymond says that with Mr Rubio and Mr Blunt withdrawing their support, the Senate bill - Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) - that had looked likely to pass, now appears to be in trouble.

Mr Rubio is a rising star in the Republican party, and is often suggested as a viable vice-presidential choice for this year's Republican presidential nominee.

Bi-partisan backlash

Republicans and Democrats were among the lawmakers rowing back on Wednesday.

_57961064_nopa.jpg

The White House issued a statement at the weekend saying that "we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet".

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Fwiw wikipedia still works today you just have to stop the webpage loading before it has chance to kick the Sopa page in.

 

Sure, but if the bill (either SOPA or PIPA) passes, then that won't be an option. Wikipedia isn't doing this to be a dick, just to show you a tiny part of what will happen if it goes ahead. Basically any site you can contribute to (such as toontastic) will have its DNS deleted. (Toontastic will be affected because it's registered through 123-reg, which is an ICANN accredited registrar and anything related to ICANN is susceptible to the bill.)

 

More info here: http://www.reddit.com/

 

You can also just turn off javascript.

 

I know what its about man :lol:

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Fwiw wikipedia still works today you just have to stop the webpage loading before it has chance to kick the Sopa page in.

 

Sure, but if the bill (either SOPA or PIPA) passes, then that won't be an option. Wikipedia isn't doing this to be a dick, just to show you a tiny part of what will happen if it goes ahead. Basically any site you can contribute to (such as toontastic) will have its DNS deleted. (Toontastic will be affected because it's registered through 123-reg, which is an ICANN accredited registrar and anything related to ICANN is susceptible to the bill.)

 

More info here: http://www.reddit.com/

 

You can also just turn off javascript.

 

I know what its about man :lol:

 

As you clearly showed with your previous post +appropriate smiley

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Fwiw wikipedia still works today you just have to stop the webpage loading before it has chance to kick the Sopa page in.

 

Sure, but if the bill (either SOPA or PIPA) passes, then that won't be an option. Wikipedia isn't doing this to be a dick, just to show you a tiny part of what will happen if it goes ahead. Basically any site you can contribute to (such as toontastic) will have its DNS deleted. (Toontastic will be affected because it's registered through 123-reg, which is an ICANN accredited registrar and anything related to ICANN is susceptible to the bill.)

 

More info here: http://www.reddit.com/

 

You can also just turn off javascript.

 

I know what its about man :lol:

 

As you clearly showed with your previous post +appropriate smiley

 

It didn't need a smiley, it was a genuine point. Despite wikipedia having a black out for the day in protest, those who needed to get on still could. Any fucker who reads a newspaper knows what it's about

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Megaupload.com has been shutdown. Shame as i was quite a fan of icefilms.

 

Piracy will never die, it'll just go back to IRC.

 

And guess what mug purchased a 6 month premium membership yesterday! :lol: Only 20 euro's and I did manage to get the entire series of Homeland, but still!

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