ACTA - SOPA and PIPA

[sgreger1]

In the past 24 hours, Congressional attitude about SOPA/PIPA swung from 80/30 (for/against) to 65/102. One day of organized protest turned Congress completely on its head.

Reid shelves PROTECT IP Act in response to "recent events"

It's working, keep it up!



Also:

Anonymous takes down Department of Justice and Universal Music

[precious007]

The problem with these bogus number they use is that they are bogus. Here is their logic: "okay 1 million people downloaded my movie, therefore if they hadn't stolen it than they each would have bought one at full retail price, so 1,000,000 x$30 per movie "ZOMG I LOST 30 MILLION DOLLARS!". Except that is a completely false way of calculating things.

You cannot assume that every 13 year old would have paid $4,000 for photoshop if they couldn't pirate it, you can' say that if a million poeple downloaded your movie that they would have paid full price to buy it if it wasn't available via torrent. Lots of times I already own the DVD but I will just torrent it so I can save it on my computer. Or for games that I have already bought 3 or 4 times in my life. Hell last night I torrented Mechwarrior 4 even though MekTek gives it away for free, but since their servers were down I torrented it. There are lots of other reasons why people torrent things, therefore 1 download != one lost sale.




Bottom line:
I'm not claiming they don't lose out on any money, but that can be said of anything. Are we going on international manhunts to find kids who snuck in the back door of a movie theatre? Remember that? You would have one friend buy a ticket, then he would go to the back door and open it so you and your other 5 friends could get in so you could all watch the movie for free? Do you see people getting felony charges over that? Why is it any different online?

sgreger you do have a point, but since a business is losing money they team up with the federals and see what they can do about it.

Yet here's what they've done - bring new laws to fight/kill/destroy/lessen/ piracy. No business wants a penny lost, and of course the feds and gov. wants to profit somehow but these guys seemingly host their businesses offshore the money is mostly black money, they don't pay taxes - and that's pissing of the feds - they can't profit = take them down.

Megaupload for instance and Cum.com their affiliated sites (and another 12 - 14 similar sites in their network) didn't pay a dime taxes and they were hosted in Bankok. How would the US government expect them to pay taxes? The owner was also arrested.

Anyways, in some way bringing these sites IMO is a good thing, in other ways it's bad news for many business owners.

There's always to watch a movie for free or get a netflix subscription for cheap who cares about all these 'money making machine" sites, never used them anyway except the torrent sites which by law are completely different things, running on a completely different concept. They don't host the content so they can't get sued that easily..

In response to today’s federal raid on the file sharing service Megaupload, hackers with the online collective Anonymous have broken the websites for the FBI, Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA, Motion Picture Association of America and Warner Music Group.

LMAAOOOO

[precious007]

http://www.autoblog.nl/image-gallery...s_Kim_Schmitz/

Kim's screwed

nothing beautiful lasts a life time.

[sgreger1]

sgreger you do have a point, but since a business is losing money they team up with the federals and see what they can do about it.

Yet here's what they've done - bring new laws to fight/kill/destroy/lessen/ piracy. No business wants a penny lost, and of course the feds and gov. wants to profit somehow but these guys seemingly host their businesses offshore the money is mostly black money, they don't pay taxes - and that's pissing of the feds - they can't profit = take them down.

Megaupload for instance and Cum.com their affiliated sites (and another 12 - 14 similar sites in their network) didn't pay a dime taxes and they were hosted in Bankok. How would the US government expect them to pay taxes? The owner was also arrested.

Anyways, in some way bringing these sites IMO is a good thing, in other ways it's bad news for many business owners.

There's always to watch a movie for free or get a netflix subscription for cheap who cares about all these 'money making machine" sites, never used them anyway except the torrent sites which by law are completely different things, running on a completely different concept. They don't host the content so they can't get sued that easily..



LMAAOOOO

I agree that they have to be losing some profit, but like I said before, "since when do we go to such lengths to help companies avoid losing profits"? Do we have the FBI guard theatre backdoors so that kids don't sneak in and watcha movie for free? Do we go on international manhunts if someone photocopies a book and distributes it? Do we shut down libraries next?

I'm pretty much sticking with the "it's a slippery slope" argument here, if we give them the powers to combat something we all agree is illegal today (piracy), they will use it against us later for something that we agree should be legal, but by then it's too late.


If i'm a photographer and someone uses my photo without crediting me or paying me a royalty (such as the writer of the SOPA bill, ironically), should I be able to call the FBI and have them go arrest him?

Plus, piracy throws a wrench in the system and anything that does that has my vote. I'm not too worried about a company that makes billions a year losing a few sales to some kid in bangkok who watches Pirate of the Carribean 3 for free since he couldn't afford it.

[sgreger1]

It's over, Lamar Smith (R-TX) has pulled the bill. SOPA is dead, for now.

http://mashable.com/2012/01/20/sopa-is-dead-smith-pulls-bill/

Hopefully the internet becomes the new platform for protests since in a day they already accomplished more than Occupy Wall Street did since their inception.


'While the SOPA bill is off the table for now, there's no indication that it's being completely abandoned — Smith told Reuters that he's pulling the measure "until there is wider agreement on a solution," and also said that he has heard the critics loud and clear and is taking their concerns seriously.'

[lxskllr]

Smith told Reuters that he's pulling the measure "until there is wider agreement on a solution," and also said that he has heard the critics loud and clear and is taking their concerns seriously.'[/I]

Translation - "We're pulling the bill since too many people saw what we were doing. We'll try to slip it past later when no one is paying attention."

[AtreyuKun]

Translation - "We're pulling the bill since too many people saw what we were doing. We'll try to slip it past later when no one is paying attention."

Yep. Sounds like you have about as much faith in them as I do.

[sgreger1]

The funny thing is that most of the people who changed their mind and decided to vote no were Republicans, the democrats are holding on to their pro-SOPA stance as of right now.

[lxskllr]

The funny thing is that most of the people who changed their mind and decided to vote no were Republicans, the democrats are holding on to their pro-SOPA stance as of right now.

I'd say the Dems get the most money from Hollywood. Like I said before, it's the thought that counts. They thought they'd screw us over, and still will if given a chance. The Repubs didn't retreat out of any greater principle. If that were the case, they never would have signed on in the first place. They just have less to lose in the upcoming election by backing away from Hollywood. They're a bunch of self serving criminals, and only act when it benefits them to do so.

[sgreger1]

Now make room for Lamar Smith's (SOPA Author's) next draconian bill, H.R.1981, or Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011(PCIP):
http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/old7e/sopa_is_back_it_has_not_been_shelved_and_its/c3i9fqe
http://gcn.com/articles/2011/08/05/protecting-children-bill-could-kill-internet.aspx



Really turning up the heat with the way they name these bills. Soon it will be the "You hate America and want the terrorists to win if you vote no on this" bill.

This shit is classic politics: taking away freedoms under the guise of some cause that no one wants to come out against.

[sgreger1]

I'd say the Dems get the most money from Hollywood. Like I said before, it's the thought that counts. They thought they'd screw us over, and still will if given a chance. The Repubs didn't retreat out of any greater principle. If that were the case, they never would have signed on in the first place. They just have less to lose in the upcoming election by backing away from Hollywood. They're a bunch of self serving criminals, and only act when it benefits them to do so.

Anyone who was at any point PRO SOPA will not get my vote.

Californian's, terminate Dianne Feinstein with extreme prejudice in this next election, she has been the queen here for too long.

[lxskllr]

Now make room for Lamar Smith's (SOPA Author's) next draconian bill, H.R.1981, or Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011(PCIP):
http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/old7e/sopa_is_back_it_has_not_been_shelved_and_its/c3i9fqe
http://gcn.com/articles/2011/08/05/protecting-children-bill-could-kill-internet.aspx



Really turning up the heat with the way they name these bills. Soon it will be the "You hate America and want the terrorists to win if you vote no on this" bill.

This shit is classic politics: taking away freedoms under the guise of some cause that no one wants to come out against.

These guys are a joke. Where the hell do they come from?! I don't know if I could find a more *unintelligent group if I tried.

*I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt by assuming they're just stupid. The alternative is they're purposely trying to subvert the country, and turn it into a dictatorship a little bit at a time.

[heders]

Now make room for Lamar Smith's (SOPA Author's) next draconian bill, H.R.1981, or Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011(PCIP):
http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/old7e/sopa_is_back_it_has_not_been_shelved_and_its/c3i9fqe
http://gcn.com/articles/2011/08/05/protecting-children-bill-could-kill-internet.aspx

Hahahahahaha! This is the most ridiculous and laughable thing I've ever seen. It's like a f*cking comedy show... GIVE UP YOU JERKS!

[Snusdog]

I'd say the Dems get the most money from Hollywood. Like I said before, it's the thought that counts. They thought they'd screw us over, and still will if given a chance. The Repubs didn't retreat out of any greater principle. If that were the case, they never would have signed on in the first place. They just have less to lose in the upcoming election by backing away from Hollywood. They're a bunch of self serving criminals, and only act when it benefits them to do so.

Man.............I wish that were the case.............you can buy self-servers....................

my guess is that they had no idea what the bill was about or it’s intrinsic implications ...............they just saw the moniker "save the children" and supported it without question..............

no wait...........hang on….......….remind me..........which violation of freedom are we talking about here