SOPA law

[Callid]

(...) and it won't just be the U.S. that's affected. It's starting here now because the U.S. has that much influence--once the precedent is set, it will spread everywhere.

I don't think it is likely to spread to Europe, at least. Don't forget, one of the first criticisers (back in mid-November!) of this very law was the European Union itself, even though the law was rather unknown back then. Furthermore, there are some countries that seem highly unlikely to ever adopt a law like this, like the Nordic countries and especially the Netherlands. Basically, there are two possible reactions - either the politicians will condemn the US if they pass it (which was more likely to begin with, but is even more likely after today) or they'll copy it (fairly unlikely overall, and especially in some countries).
Nonetheless, the law would still affect Europeans, simply because of all the American websites it'd target - if Google, Wikipedia, Youtube and Facebook were to disappear, Europeans would be affected just as much as Americans.

[sonoci]

Half of me is taking it seriously, and the other half is somehow sort of having fun. Like my avatar and sig, that stuff is fun. It's like "Coolio, I can make an image and feel like part of something \o/"

Then of course there's the whole consequences of the deal that makes me go like "Hahahahahahahahyeahno. Government people...please look that over again and have someone from, say, Google educate you on how the internet works. Copyright infringement and piracy is bad, but this...is going to do squat. ...Well, for your purpose I mean. It will definitely do something. ...Piss the masses off .3."

[ranger]

If it does get passed, one place that will always be safe is Eastern Europe.  Damn Russians are hacker gods.

[Akonyl]

Nonetheless, the law would still affect Europeans, simply because of all the American websites it'd target - if Google, Wikipedia, Youtube and Facebook were to disappear, Europeans would be affected just as much as Americans.

again, SOPA does not obliterate sites from the internet, the provision in the law which "blocks/removes sites from the internet" does so by DNS blocking. A DNS Server's job is to take an address you type in (youtube.com) and change it to an IP (74.125.226.105 this IP brings you to google, probably because youtube is owned by google and is on their servers) so that your computer can actually find the site because computers don't actually talk with domain names, they use IPs. The DNS server you use is based on your location (you can find nearby ones here), and as such Europe will not use a US DNS server and in turn not be affected by SOPA, just like the rest of the world isn't affected by what China does.

It's possible that some websites would face reduced traffic if they were blocked in the US to the point that they would go out of business, but I doubt that Google, Youtube and Facebook are among them. Wikipedia, maybe, depending on what their donation situation actually is, but either way, they would not simply "disappear" if they're blocked by SOPA in the US.

[Raiden]

Sorry to intercept this thread, but I have an announcement from the Great pofa!



[04:42:53] THE FORUM IS CURRENTLY IN AN EPIC LIGHTSABER BATTLE WITH SOPA. THERE IS NO CAUSE FOR ALARM



You may now proceed with your debate of this so called [s]Soap[/s] Soup ...SOPA thing.

[Apocrypha]

Not exactly sure where to start about this...  But I'm with the people that are against these laws and I really hope they don't get passed.  And I'm probably not the only person, but I get the feeling that the people behind SOPA actually wants control of the internet and just uses piracy as a front-cover.  People ARE being supportive towards anti-piracy (and anti-idiocy at the same time), yet they press on passing the stupid bills and make us out to be pro-theft anyway.

Anyway, as probably stated on other stuff,  supporting anti-piracy and copyrights for authors are reasonable, but how these laws go about it are over the top.  They'd do more harm than good.  If these laws pass, the internet will pretty much die along with the companies and websites that relies on free open source internet. Basically, everything that we know about the internet will vanish, including this website.  The authority from above will basically put strict rules on website owners to remove everything that infringes copyright if this passes.

While we do have huge petitions and many parties going against this are being sent, the opposing side of it seems have some power too.  And this is going to last a while.  Sites like Wikipedia and Google have already started their blackout acts to raise awareness of it and to get people to sign against it.  On a note about Wikipedia, you can still access the pages normally with a way to bypass the message.  Easiest ways to get around it is either press the ESC key before the anti-SOPA page loads or just disable your Java-script.  It's not their intention to completely block off the site, but just to get their point across.

I found some more news about it and a comic that looks pretty well done.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/google-anti-sopa-petition.html - 4.5 million people signed anti-SOPA petition

http://imgur.com/a/M5a2O - Anti-SOPA comic, read from right to left.

[doublemoonlight]

I agree that SOPA is a **** and I really hope that she dose not get passed. I mean, I really hate to see death of creativity of the internet due to this law.


oh and unfortunatly there are supporters like this article from wiki: Legislators
Main article: List of legislators who support SOPA or PIPA


Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)
The Stop Online Piracy Act was introduced by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and was initially co-sponsored by Howard Berman (D-CA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Steve Chabot (R-OH), John Conyers (D-MI), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Elton Gallegly (R-CA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Timothy Griffin (R-AR), Dennis A. Ross (R-FL), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Lee Terry (R-NE). As of January 16, 2012, there were 31 sponsors.[81]
Companies and organizations
Main article: List of organizations with official stances on the Stop Online Piracy Act
The legislation has broad support from organizations that rely on copyright, including the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, Macmillan US, Viacom, and various other companies and unions in the cable, movie, and music industries. Supporters also include trademark-dependent companies such as Nike, L'Oréal, and Acushnet Company.[82][83]
Both the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce support H.R. 3261, and many industries have also publicly praised the legislation.
In June 2011, former Bill Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry and former George W. Bush advisor Mark McKinnon, business partners in Public Strategies, Inc., started a campaign which echoed McCurry's earlier work in the network neutrality legislative fight. McCurry represented SOPA/PIPA in Politico as a way to combat theft on-line,[84] drawing a favorable comment from the MPAA.[85] On the 15th, McCurry and Arts + Labs co-chair McKinnon sponsored the "CREATE – A Forum on Creativity, Commerce, Copyright, Counterfeiting and Policy" conference with members of Congress, artists and information-business executives.[86]
On September 22, 2011, a letter signed by over 350 businesses and organizations—including NBCUniversal, Pfizer, Ford Motor Company, Revlon, NBA, and Macmillan US—was sent to Congress encouraging the passage of the legislation.[82][83] Fightonlinetheft.com, a website of The Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (a project of the United States Chamber of Commerce Global Intellectual Property Center,[87]) cites a long list of supporters including these and the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Governors Association, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Attorneys General, the Better Business Bureau, and the National Consumers League.[88][89]
On November 22 the CEO of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said, "valid and important questions have been raised about the bill." He said that definitions and remedies needed to be tightened and narrowed, but "BSA stands ready to work with Chairman Smith and his colleagues on the Judiciary Committee to resolve these issues."[90][91]
On December 22, Go Daddy, the world's largest domain name registrar, stated that it supported SOPA.[92] Go Daddy then rescinded its support, its CEO saying, "Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation—but we can clearly do better. It's very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it."[93]
In January 2012, the Entertainment Software Association announced support for SOPA.[94] Some association members expressed opposition to SOPA

and plus too at this Nostalga critic website http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/33243-top-11-reasons-he-wont-review-digimon

[Callid]

Nonetheless, the law would still affect Europeans, simply because of all the American websites it'd target - if Google, Wikipedia, Youtube and Facebook were to disappear, Europeans would be affected just as much as Americans.

again, SOPA does not obliterate sites from the internet, the provision in the law which "blocks/removes sites from the internet" does so by DNS blocking. A DNS Server's job is to take an address you type in (youtube.com) and change it to an IP (74.125.226.105 this IP brings you to google, probably because youtube is owned by google and is on their servers) so that your computer can actually find the site because computers don't actually talk with domain names, they use IPs. The DNS server you use is based on your location (you can find nearby ones here), and as such Europe will not use a US DNS server and in turn not be affected by SOPA, just like the rest of the world isn't affected by what China does.

It's possible that some websites would face reduced traffic if they were blocked in the US to the point that they would go out of business, but I doubt that Google, Youtube and Facebook are among them. Wikipedia, maybe, depending on what their donation situation actually is, but either way, they would not simply "disappear" if they're blocked by SOPA in the US.

The problem for us Europeans isn't the DNS part, but the part that businesses have to cease working with an offending site. I.e., advertisement companies wouldn't be allowed to do business with, for example, Google anymore, and seeing that Google makes 99% of its income over advertisement, it'd seem rather likely that Google would go down. Of course, the same goes for Facebook etc.

[doublemoonlight]

one thing to note oddly enough you tube remains neutral about all this while google and wikipedia expressed themselves as being against the bill. I wounder why? I'll say cause they are whimps about copy rights. afterall their policy is shoot first ask questions later.

oh and similer version of this law is about to be passed in few days: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to bring the Senate's version of the legislation (the Protect IP Act (PIPA)) to a vote on January 24. Reid rejected a request by six Senators for a postponement, saying "this is an issue that is too important to delay."-wiki


oh and these bastards support SOPA: 60 Plus Association
ABC
Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP)
American Bankers Association (ABA)
American Federation of Musicians (AFM)
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
Americans for Tax Reform
Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States
Association of American Publishers (AAP)
Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies
Association of Talent Agents (ATA)
Beachbody, LLC
BMI
BMG Chrysalis
Building and Construction Trades Department
Capitol Records Nashville
CBS
Cengage Learning
Christian Music Trade Association
Church Music Publishers’ Association
Coalition Against Online Video Piracy (CAOVP)
Comcast/NBCUniversal
Concerned Women for America (CWA)
Congressional Fire Services Institute
Copyhype
Copyright Alliance
Coty, Inc.
Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB)
Council of State Governments
Country Music Association
Country Music Television
Creative America
Deluxe Digital Studios
Directors Guild of America (DGA)
Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc.
Elsevier
EMI Christian Music Group
EMI Music Publishing
Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
ESPN
Estée Lauder Companies
Foundation for Job Creation ( http://www.jobcreation.us)
Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)
Gospel Music Association
Graphic Artists Guild
Hachette Book Group
HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, Inc.
Hyperion Books
Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA)
International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE)
International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC)
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
International Trademark Association (INTA)
International Union of Police Associations
L’Oreal
Lost Highway Records
Macmillan
Major County Sheriffs
Major League Baseball
Majority City Chiefs
Marvel Entertainment, LLC
MasterCard Worldwide
MCA Records
McGraw-Hill Education
Mercury Nashville
Minor League Baseball (MiLB)
Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC)
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) [4]
Moving Picture Technicians
MPA – The Association of Magazine Media
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA)
National Center for Victims of Crime
National Criminal Justice Association
National District Attorneys Association
National Domestic Preparedness Coalition
National Football League
National Governors Association, Economic Development and Commerce Committee
National League of Cities
National Narcotics Officers’ Associations’ Coalition
National Sheriffs' Association (NSA)
National Songwriters Association
National Troopers Coalition
News Corporation
Pearson Education
Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
Pfizer, Inc.
Provident Music Group
Random House
Raulet Property Partners
Republic Nashville
Revlon
Scholastic, Inc.
Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
Showdog Universal Music
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Nashville
State International Development Organization (SIDO)
The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO)
Perseus Books Group
United States Conference of Mayors
Tiffany & Co.
Time Warner
True Religion Brand Jeans
UMG Publishing Group Nashville
United States Chamber of Commerce
United States Olympic Committee
United States Tennis Association
Universal Music
Universal Music Publishing Group
Viacom
Visa Inc.
W.W. Norton & Company
Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, L.P.
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Nashville
Wolters Kluwer Health
Word Entertainment
Zumba Fitness, LLC

... yeah and in terms of numbers they outweigh supporting organisation: AOL [1]
eBay [1]
Facebook [7]
Google [7]
Internet Archive [8]
Mozilla Foundation [1]
NVIDIA [9]
The Obama Administration [1]
Twitter [7]
Wikipedia (Community)[10][11]

granted we have president on our side but still in congress... it is not looking good.

[Borealis]

I'd like to see campains against supporters of SOPA. Like "This Lipstick you want to buy helps destroying the internet!" or "That Comick you are about to buy? Fat chance discussing it with your friends on the other side of the country! (they wanted it that way)" Those companies might overlook hom many lovers of the internet are buying their products right now.

[Akonyl]

The problem for us Europeans isn't the DNS part, but the part that businesses have to cease working with an offending site. I.e., advertisement companies wouldn't be allowed to do business with, for example, Google anymore, and seeing that Google makes 99% of its income over advertisement, it'd seem rather likely that Google would go down. Of course, the same goes for Facebook etc.

as far as I know, that ruling only applies to advertising companies based in the US, as SOPA doesn't give the US power over the companies of foreign countries. So, European countries could still advertise on offending sites, it would just stop the American companies from doing so. And since such a site would be DNS blocked in the US anyway, US advertisements probably wouldn't make up a whole lot of the ad sales in the first place even if advertisers weren't kept from doing business with them.

[Callid]

The problem for us Europeans isn't the DNS part, but the part that businesses have to cease working with an offending site. I.e., advertisement companies wouldn't be allowed to do business with, for example, Google anymore, and seeing that Google makes 99% of its income over advertisement, it'd seem rather likely that Google would go down. Of course, the same goes for Facebook etc.

as far as I know, that ruling only applies to advertising companies based in the US, as SOPA doesn't give the US power over the companies of foreign countries. So, European countries could still advertise on offending sites, it would just stop the American companies from doing so. And since such a site would be DNS blocked in the US anyway, US advertisements probably wouldn't make up a whole lot of the ad sales in the first place even if advertisers weren't kept from doing business with them.

Problem is, most advertising companies (and nearly all financial services like VISA and PayPal) are US-based. Yes, eventually it'd lead to a situation where all of these would be established in Europe instead (BTW, good way to ruin your economy, US), but for the time being, the few we already have simply wouldn't be sufficient.

[Jd-]

Europe is already not safe from blanket bans. What GEMA has done with YouTube videos in Germany is its own crime, but it has gone on for years and they can't seem to be stopped. GEMA is able to "legally" block any music-based video on YouTube that's put up by any record label, even if they do not have any presence whatsoever in Germany. GEMA should not have the right to block videos uploaded by music labels that they do not even represent. If SOPA or PIPA were to pass and media companies lobbied other governments around the world (which they absolutely would), there would be an undeniable domino effect. Pretending that the EU is somehow immune isn't inclusive of reality--the way several European countries are already punishing "pirates" is indication enough (France's three-strike policy is about as wrong as anyone could ask for, not to mention the enormous sums of money that others, including the U.K., are sinking into anti-piracy) that they are well in the pockets of the media conglomerates already. They will always feel justified in doing so, too, because the idea of "piracy" as it stands in legal terms is something that warrants legislation. The problem is they can't figure out how to do it yet, and in the meantime, we're all going to suffer for it.

[MaitreDétective]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

No more Megaupload

[leokiko]

Just passing by in support to SOPA: