U.S. Internet Censorship

[Sithis]

http://abcnews.go.co...51#.TxYT0m9SQXs

 

Many sites are going down temporarily tomorrow in protest of SOPA.

 

If you would like to do something about this to help prevent censorship then you need to contact your Congress representative.

 

http://americancensorship.org/

 

 

Accidently made this in the wrong debate chat... would someone mind moving it please?

 

 

This topic has been edited by a member of staff (Neomysterion).

The topic was posted in the wrong area.

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Per the reason above, this topic has been MOVED from ‘Neopets Debate’ to ‘The Debate Chat’.

 

[Tedhaun]

We're not too sure about Neopets being shut down, but other big sites like Wikipedia, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, etc. will be simply for the protest.

 

...and I've been signing as many of those petitions to fight against SOPA and PIPA as possible. I don't want all of my favourite sites gone forever.

[Sithis]

I have signed 11 petitions so far and I have called my Senator's office and Congressman twice. No answer from either one.

[Viridian]

I'm not a US citizen, so I don't sign those forms. But I agree with you guys all the way. In the Netherlands, two internet companies are forced to block a torrent site called thepiratebay, to which most of our people reacted with disgust. I'm completely pro- internet freedom, with several exceptions (child porn, for instance). Good luck America!

[Kaana]

I'm pretty sure Viacom's official stance is that SOPA is a good thing, (not being a U.S. citizen, I have no idea what PIPA is and am still fairly fuzzy on SOPA) so I'm gonna assume they'll keep it up.

 

Why don't we boycott neopets for the day, if it is up?

[Zorse]

I really hope it doesn't get passed. I say good work everyone who has signed petitions and are acting against this! Really haven't looked into it much at all since I would rather not think about it, but if it's not too late in a couple weeks (when I turn 18) I'll look into signing the petitions as well.

 

Boycotting neopets today sounds like a good idea but I doubt so many people will stay off of it to make an impact. I'll sign off for the day. :)

[lilshadowdweller]

I'm not sure what would happen if the bill were to make it. People would protest. It won't stop piracy, piracy will still continue as always and this is going to sound terrible, but I may consider pirating more if this bill were to pass. This is a serious thing. I mean, they'll stop advertises from paying websites merely from someone claiming copyright infringement! They'll make google BLOCK access to certain sites who have to prove that they didn't copyright infringement. This effects youtube, of course, AND Facebook (since people share movies and stuff), Wikipedia (it's a free site with content from everywhere, someone's bound to target it, and lots of great websites. xD We'd lose so many wonderful ones.

 

I always was under the impression that the US was a democractic nation, now they're trying to push something which a communist country would do.

 

I may not be American, but this is going to effect me, too.

[Tedhaun]

I did manage to get a TDN member from Singapore and another member from Canada to sign one of those petitions.

 

One more link I wanted to add here:

http://voteforthenet.com/ <- Join over 30,000 people who have pledged to vote for a free internet, I want you to cast your vote for a free internet today and make me proud.

[Nataluna]

signed the petition, :)

 

only found out the blackout was happening today after i wanted to wikipedia something. i was absolutely stunned my non-computer-literate parents knew about it (turns out the news covered it but still)

 

i don't believe that this bill will stop piracy, nor do i think it correct for one country to try and police what is accessed in other countries. placing the onus onto the companies does nothing to solve the problem as people will find new ways to circumnavigate the new rules. the preferable option is to develop a more meaningful market where people find the desire to spend money.

 

i do not understand why itunes tv series can be more expensive than the boxset. it should be about creating a competitive market with draw to the consumer.

[billpika_x8]

I vehemently oppose the bills. I signed google's petition. I spread the word to friends. :medieval: Activist time!

I need my friend to personally send an appeal to the guy who proposed it the next time she's down in Texas :P

[Wolf Child]

I'm not a US citizen, so I don't sign those forms. But I agree with you guys all the way. In the Netherlands, two internet companies are forced to block a torrent site called thepiratebay, to which most of our people reacted with disgust. I'm completely pro- internet freedom, with several exceptions (child porn, for instance). Good luck America!

 

The scary thing is it isn't just America - the Acta agreement effectively gives the American media industry power against all competitors in all countries connected to the internet.

 

Some great information for those of you interested~

Warning-- this one - while extremely informative, contains strong language. The guy is a UK law graduate who makes a living reviewing and testing games. I'll take it down if y'all want me to.

 

Scary business. I feel like my entire livelihood rides on whether or not this bill passes. :/

[Welcome Back Apathy]

I am against piracy. It makes sense--if you use a product, why don't you pay for it? I'll admit, there was a time years ago (wow, more than ten) when I illegally downloaded stuff. This was before iTunes and Netflix existed, so there was no alternative to getting music online. But I shouldn't make excuses--I WAS stealing. I didn't take very many songs, though, and they all were gone after a month or so.

 

Problem: SOPA does exactly the opposite of what it claims to do. People can easily circumvent the laws by using IP addresses (apparently--I wasn't aware of this until yesterday) but it will shut down things that are actually useful, fun, and perfectly legal. If they ACTUALLY come up with a way of stopping piracy without screwing anything else up, then we'll talk.

[-Ryan]

Cant beleive they'd even consider this.

Never underestimate idiots in high places I suppose.

[Wolf Child]

I am against piracy. It makes sense--if you use a product, why don't you pay for it? I'll admit, there was a time years ago (wow, more than ten) when I illegally downloaded stuff. This was before iTunes and Netflix existed, so there was no alternative to getting music online. But I shouldn't make excuses--I WAS stealing. I didn't take very many songs, though, and they all were gone after a month or so.

 

Problem: SOPA does exactly the opposite of what it claims to do. People can easily circumvent the laws by using IP addresses (apparently--I wasn't aware of this until yesterday) but it will shut down things that are actually useful, fun, and perfectly legal. If they ACTUALLY come up with a way of stopping piracy without screwing anything else up, then we'll talk.

 

The irony of Piracy is that it actually /helps/ artists - particularly movies, music, and especially pirated software such as Adobe Photoshop ((which now leads the industry as standard because a very large percentage of young artists coming into their abilities grew up learning how to use this program - which effectively means that once they go out into the real world, companies will feature that program and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for bundles from photoshop because that's what everyone knows how to use.)) A really great example was a video posted on Youtube a little over a week ago. It featured an extremely talented asian artist who creates 3D paintings of goldfish by layering resin in a bowl and painting on each layer. It's absolutely beautiful and the video is fantastic to watch if you ever get the opportunity, but soon after it was posted on youtube the poster recieved a notice that told him he would have to remove the video within three days as it was in violation of copyright and if he didn't comply they would remove it themselves. Now, the video at this point had well over a million views - millions of people who had never seen this sort of thing before and not only were excited by the talent portrayed by this individual, but wanted to buy it. The piracy of this video effectively expanded the artist's business from a small number of people in asia who happened to be in the loop, to millions of people who were so impressed by his work that would never have known about him had that person not "pirated" the video made by his sponsers.

Needless to say the public outcry was enormous, and the artist's sponsers were forced to leave the video alone.

((

))

 

I buy all of my music on Amazon. I'm not really a music connoseur, I don't know about the latest bands or the newest albums - I'm just not in the loop. I can tell you about what photoshop is doing and the latest maya versus blender debate but I can't for the life of me tell you anything about music. When I was about 16 years old I came across an short flash animation that featured probably one of the most amazing songs I'd ever heard. It took me MONTHS to find the artist - and I searched everywhere - and have since bought every single album released by that band. I would never have even heard of them, however, if I had not seen that animated short made by some kid who loaded the music into the song and shared it with his buddies online. The video I saw, even, was pirated from an entirely different website and I ended up becoming a fan of that comic for a very long time ((ended up buying a tshirt or two and contributing to his advertisement earnings.)) Had I never seen that pirated video, I would have never heard of the band, and I would have never heard of the artist. If it's any indication, RIAA's profits have grown exponentially since the arrival of the MP3 and I strongly believe it is for this reason - buyers who would have otherwise never heard of certain songs or bands are being exposed to excellent music through "piracy," and are able to buy those songs knowing who wrote them and where they came from.

((though the comic isn't around anymore, the song I'm talking about is Sleeping Sun, by Nightwish.))

 

I can name numerous other examples including Minecraft, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, World of Warcraft, Amnesia the Dark Descent, and what is now the American Japanese Animation industry and Studio Ghibli ((My Neighbor Totoro anyone?)) would never have been successful had piracy not occurred. Piracy HELPS business, especially the business of small companies and new artists who have enough trouble as it is getting seen by potential buyers. What this bill is really about is eliminating competition from new/indie artists/developers/companies who would otherwise have no chance were it not for the freedom of expression on the internet. The internet is the largest free thinking body in the world - can't have our customers thinking for themselves now can we?

[billpika_x8]

There's no argument or debate here. We know we're just here to blast sopa :P

 

explosm.net/sopa.html

 

Go there.

[Nataluna]

and it gives them rights in other countries.

 

today 4 new zealanders were arrested by the FBI, and about 39 arrest warrants have been executed in other countries.

[hrtbrk]

and it gives them rights in other countries.

 

today 4 new zealanders were arrested by the FBI, and about 39 arrest warrants have been executed in other countries.

 

Based off of the indictment that was released, they were arrested/indicted because they allegedly paid specific users to upload copyrighted content as quickly as possible and I believe they (MU/the uploaders) made over 110 million dollars using that platform.

[Russ]

Trying to get rid of piracy with something like SOPA is like closing down and fire-bombing a zoo because one animal is misbehaving and breaking out of its cage.

[Angeló]

if SOPA passes , even the Art Gallery on Neopets would be considered copyright infrigment , right ??

 

but Neopets.com aka Viacom does support SOPA

[Wolf Child]

if SOPA passes , even the Art Gallery on Neopets would be considered copyright infrigment , right ??

 

but Neopets.com aka Viacom does support SOPA

 

Not the art gallery. See, according to the ToC all art/graphics you create and submit/post onto their site ((any content whatsoever that you say/type/post on neopets.com)) belongs to neopets.com((a.k.a. viacom)). If you draw neopets and /don't/ post them on the site, that /would/ violate their copyright.

Drawing characters from your favourite game? Violates copyright.

Drawing characters from your favourite movie? Violates copyright.

Drawing a scene out of a movie? Violates copyright.

Sharing or redistributing any sort of ideas/media/content even remotely in reference to or bearing similarity to another idea/media/content? They won't even have to prove that it's theirs anymore.

So say you draw a graphic novel that resembles a reexisting idea. You could be sued, fined, put in jail, and removed from the internet if you attempted to share it.

Indie writers will no longer be able to make it in the business without signing strict deals with publishers that will make it simply 'too costly' for a writer to write their own material.

Indie developers will no longer be able to find sponsers and advertisers to fund them while they work and they will be forced to sell to companies like Viacom((also square enix)), E.A.((also blizzard)), and similar major corperations. This also means that pretty much anyone wanting to get into the business should put their pens down now, as there will not be enough jobs.

Indie musicians will no longer be able to post their music anywhere and will be forced to go back to signing into major lables who continue to offer not even a pittance for their work.

I could go on, but I think y'all get the point. In this economy where we're scrambling to get jobs and new businesses on their feet we'll literally blow them out of the water and make ourselves entirely dependant on these major companies.

Of course Viacom supports Sopa. It gives them absolute power and no consequences. They could take down TDN because of the content we publish here - because they can't control us. No due process. Simply gone. Even if their proposed action actually did remove us from the internet, that's a pretty terrifying idea.

[hrtbrk]

SOPA is dead and was dropped today.

[billpika_x8]

Maybe a ton of mirrors could be set up. No, Viacom would hunt us down. :sad02:

But not a single person here can support SOPA/PIPA without being a massive hypocrite.

[Wolf Child]

SOPA is dead and was dropped today.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more

 

Not quite true. Keep your eyes peeled, my fellow internet denizens~. The voting is being pushed back into Februrary ((for real this time.))

[billpika_x8]

Read thepiratebay.org's, a distributor of torrent files, press release. Came out days ago.https://static.thepiratebay.org/legal/sopa.txt

Funny, because it's true

[hrtbrk]

http://en.wikipedia....tive/Learn_more

 

Not quite true. Keep your eyes peeled, my fellow internet denizens~. The voting is being pushed back into Februrary ((for real this time.))

True, but it is practically dead. The radio here said over 20 senators have dropped their support, nevermind the Obama administration not approving it to begin with lol