Sopa

[rev]

Its all about copyright infringement....goes as far back as napster, remember?

Respectfully disagree. This has nothing to do with copy right infringement. It has mostly everything to do with power. Those that have power (in this case, politicians on all sides) want more power. They are using the thin "stealing is wrong" veil as a vehicle to FINALLY plant their paws firmly on the final frontier of power. The internet. If they can assume control over this, it's game over. I'm surprised it took the government this long to come up with such a transparent reason to try to guilt people into allowing them to control the input of what is our last line of defense against said government, which is of course, free information at a real-time pace.

[Cobalt]

Well, its SUPPOSE to be about copyright infringement / piracy, at least thats the excuse they are coming up with. Like today I tried to check this site out and they are in the blackout:

..::LvL - Quake 3 Arena Maps (Q3A Custom Maps)

they say map textures may be copyrighted...so thats one angle.

Of course its about power in the end, thats what government is all about, it decides who can do what, and how much money it makes for them. If they couldnt stop napster , which is one site, I think this just means their doctors have increased their medicaitons, and its not working. Funny thing is alot of the internet stuff like protocals and what not have origins at US colleges and other Federal agencies that were federally funded....by taxpares like myself and my mom and dad for years. When it comes down to it, the FCC is the agency taxing ISP's for useage, and they dont refund taxes to any of them for transmission of pirated 1's and zeros pasing through the modem...as if they would actually care, or have the manpower or resources to begin with to undertake such a task, which they dont, and never will.

I once got into an arguement way back in like 2000 with some guy on a tech forum about removing my post on repairing someones TV. He must not have liked what I said, so I think he complained to my ISP, (he didnt even live in this country either) and one day some moron from the cable company came out, and he climbed the pole, did something, and left. Then I noticed my internet was disconnected. I called, asked why they did it, they would not say, but the rep agreed it was stupid, and had another guy come out and reconnect. I dont see this threat as too much different.

Respectfully disagree. This has nothing to do with copy right infringement. It has mostly everything to do with power. Those that have power (in this case, politicians on all sides) want more power. They are using the thin "stealing is wrong" veil as a vehicle to FINALLY plant their paws firmly on the final frontier of power. The internet. If they can assume control over this, it's game over. I'm surprised it took the government this long to come up with such a transparent reason to try to guilt people into allowing them to control the input of what is our last line of defense against said government, which is of course, free information at a real-time pace.

[Cobalt]

even when we pass gas?

DIBS! I'm buying the rights to movement of air at various (all) frequencies!

[rev]

as if they would actually care, or have the manpower or resources to begin with to undertake such a task, which they dont, and never will.

this whole SOPA thing reeks of a similar "war" going on right now (since the 80s) against something they already know is never going away nor will they make a dent in. the war on drugs. like i said, just a weak excuse to flex their proverbial muscle. i highly doubt this will ever pass. and bravo to google and the like.

if only facebook would have shutdown, entirely, for a full 12 hours. people would've rioted and SOPA would've been made to appear as though it never existed.

[Cobalt]

Similar yes, in that they are passing laws to control human behaviour that they are powerless to control. If we were to have an independent investigation, I am sure many of these zombies trying to pass this law (PAT Leahey (D) Vermont) are in some kind of copyright violations or piracy themselves and are not even aware of it. All it takes really is one infected (haha Zombie) computer.

War on Drugs, to me use to be a noble effort because I can see how drugs ruin peoples lives, and it leaves famlies of the victims enraged, and many never recover and are forced to stuff their feelings of anger into themselves, and that becomes clinical depression....then many of them seek help, and are prescribed, guess what? Drugs. Trick here is sick people who use / sell drugs get punished, but the solution the system supplies, leads back to the addiction again. Back in the 80's 90's it was a noble effort because there was more professional help available for addictions than there is tofday, and 12 step meetings had a decent percentage of winners working the program still to keep it on track. Now if you go to a 12 step meeting to work the program and help the new people, the rest of the people at the meetings turn it into a witch hunt....and of course, another excuse to drink and use drugs.

this whole SOPA thing reeks of a similar "war" going on right now (since the 80s) against something they already know is never going away nor will they make a dent in. the war on drugs. like i said, just a weak excuse to flex their proverbial muscle.

[Lerster]

I say let the shit hit the fan.

If it must, then it will spray the courts with tons of seemingly normal people for petty crimes, and the real criminals will run loose, doing what they do.

While the goverment gets more tax money from the courts/jails and uses it to pay off its endless debts.

Chances are good that they might get out of debt with that much people getting arrested/fined and having to go to court.

But downside is, they won't be able to handle that load.

An as you predicted, due to some "stuff disappearing" like "social networks" and such, due to shit people post on them.

I can forsee the next civil war, coming up... with a bunch of any Facebook wankers that had their lives taken away packing whatever illegal weapons they own, and collectible sharpies... and whatnot... going after the evil core that is the heart of the government.... yup.

...like i said, let the shit hit the fan.

If it must.

Shrugs. We all know history repeats itself, even though we've catalogued it for decades now, hoping to learn from our mistakes, its just human nature that we'd have alt-timers and repeat mistakes time and again.

~Cheers.

[powerzord]

They would have to end internet, and we could start intardnet,

[Phenom]

They would have to end internet, and we could start intardnet,

then they make kimp admin of the internet. ew.

[powerzord]

well i imagine people could get on irc and share all the files they want on some kinda private server, its been a while since i last used irc, but anyways its more about the government having control for whatever reason, the self serving illuminati , and the funny thing is , porn will probably still be freely available,

[Baker]

I say let the shit hit the fan.

If it must, then it will spray the courts with tons of seemingly normal people for petty crimes, and the real criminals will run loose, doing what they do.

While the goverment gets more tax money from the courts/jails and uses it to pay off its endless debts.

I almost would like to see this. Watching the United States severely wounding the economy would be sad but also enjoyable.

Sometimes a bit of an inconvenience is necessary to ensure our freedoms, and if the US wrecked their own economy temporarily it might be helpful to prevent future such incompetence.

If SOPA were enacted, running a web site from inside the US would be mortally foolish because a site outside the US would only face blockage, but a site inside the US would be vulnerable to endless legal crap.

Many would choose simply to avoid the US.

And if that kind of lesson is the kind of lesson the US government needs ...

They would have to end internet, and we could start intardnet,

Hidden internets that can only be accessed via a Quake engine using https sprinkled with a slightly different markup language. Really, I bet SOPA would spark the creation of private internets.

Or just make sites like Quakeone.com become QuakeOne.xxx <--- porn site domain extension ... businesses that like to sue people over avatars and links and screenshots can't view the site because their firewall prohibits porn sites. If their employees are not allowed to view your site, it is kind of hard to sue them.

[Grim Warlock]

It'd actually be quite amusing if this does pass.

[foq]

then they make kimp admin of the internet. ew.

In all honestly, I'd rather Kimp be admin of the internet than the government.

[Baker]

I find it disconcerting that the United States government has broken away with the concept in the US Constitution called "due process".

No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; ...

Recently with laws allowing the detention of US citizens, or SOPA with shutting down sites at will without involving the courts ...

I think it is abundantly clear that our government can be bribed. And SOPA/PIPA are examples of this. And apparently Congress and the President view the Constitution as toilet paper or something.

I wonder whether or not the US has to completely wreck the ship to get its bearings back.

But one way or another, the sun always rises.

In all honestly, I'd rather Kimp be admin of the internet than the government.

Oddly enough, I agree ...

[Efess]

If SOPA passes, it just means the internet will be just as regulated as TV. You will only have sites sponsored by McDonalds, or Reebok, or Universal studios. And they will have complete control as well.

It's really sad how our government can sell out so easily. Of course they'll say they're creating jobs in the process, when they're going to kill millions of small business jobs across the country, and create a few jobs with the largest corporations.

Everyone will lose but the pirates. They'll just find another way around it.

[Cobalt]

Well, theres no way to really know if they are capable of learning a new lesson at this point is there? things seem to get worse no matter what they do.

I read last night that it did not pass , and the internet will remain free. It was said that the new economy shoved aside the old. I doubt they will let this lie dead for long though, they will think up something else sneakier and attempt to pass it again. Seems to me ' freedom of speech ' is trumped by the fact we use english language as the means of communication, and the British have exclusive rights to the language itself. So you say potato, they say pohtato. Here, the defeat could mean a vistory for them in a small step because they heard a big noise and were able to get some sites to ' disable themselves ' during this debate. Yes, I am saying the government we think is our own, is nothing more of a morph of what we thought was defeated back in 1776. It still has lots of ties to Britan especially in the financial markets.

And if that kind of lesson is the kind of lesson the US government needs ...