Sopa/pipa

[mjesse]

I copied this post from another, non-Codes, forum I frequent. I've been aware of the legislation, but didn't put 2+2 together as it relates here.

Thoughts?

Where to begin. Normally, we don't talk politics around here. Never before has the management take sides on an issue. Today is the time when we do. There are two pieces of legislation currently working through the House and Senate commonly called SOPA and PIPA. The claimed purpose is to prevent piracy of copyrighted materials inside the US by blocking access within the US to so call "rogue websites." These are being bankrolled by the MPAA and RIAA, who in the past tried to prevent the public sale of things like VCR's and MP3 players under the guise of copyright protection. While the concept of preventing piracy of copyrighted materials is something the forum supports, the bills are written in such a manner that would require drastic changes here. Web site owners can be held criminally liable for even a single posting of copyrighted material. That means if one of you posts a users manual, or embeds a ride video with music in the background from youtube, I could go to jail for up to 5 years! I'm not willing to take that risk. It's quite possible that if either of these pieces of legislation pass in current form, the forum will close it's doors. But don't take my word for it, please read for yourself. Pretty much every professional in the internet industry is against the changes, and for good reasons. The solution being proposed is technically equivalent to China's internet censorship program. It's technically destabilizing to the internet, decreases the overall security of the internet, and is ripe for abuse for business or political reasons. We here at the forum urge you to contact your representatives in the House and Senate, and urge them to vote against SOPA and PIPA. Articles Open Letter against SOPA from 83 Prominent Internet Engineers Why SOPA and Protect IP (PIPA) are Bad, Bad Ideas Piracy not a problem, SOPA/PIPA unnecessary (Tim O'Reilly on GigaOM)

mj

 

[cda]

Well the good thing you are dealing with congress and the bad thing you are dealing with congres

Chances of getting it passed????

And if it does, are we going to have the forum police knock on the door?

All we have to do is use an off shore account !!!

 

[cda]

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/wikipedia-blackout-anti-piracy-law-055902309.html

 

[permitguy]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . . Love me some warm Sopa Pipas w/ honey.

On a serious note, I see both sides of this issue. Due to software piracy, I know of several flight simulator software developers who have closed shop or been forced to implement expensive security measures that make their products more expensive. As soon as they release a quality payware product, it ends up on a "torrent" website for free and their sales drop to nothing. The anonymous nature of the internet effectively lets people shoplift with little or no fear of being caught.

There should be a middle ground somewhere. Expecting our Congress to find middle ground? I'm not going there.

 

[brudgers]

Well the good thing you are dealing with congress and the bad thing you are dealing with congres Chances of getting it passed???? And if it does, are we going to have the forum police knock on the door? All we have to do is use an off shore account !!!

SOPA, in its recent incarnation required services such as Google to block DNS access to sites. This means that when you type in "www.myblog.com" you get an error message. The only way to reach it would be to type its IP address directly...assuming you remember it.

 

[brudgers]

If you are going to take down your site for SOPA, this article gives an overview: http://searchengineland.com/blackout-your-site-without-hurting-seo-108302

Javascript to take a site down is available on Github here: https://github.com/torbit/Stop-SOPA-Widget