SOPA: STFU, GTFO
I'm aware that this piece of news is a bit late, but better late than never.
Okay, so the US government has outdone themselves by finally - finally - submitting a bill with bipartisan support. Unfortunately, it's not a good bill that deserves that support.
The Stop Online Piracy Act, from what I understand, is a means of transferring the blame for pirated material to the site owners who are, to quote, "accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement." It also forces other companies and websites to stop having anything to do with that website. In other words, outright censorship.
Guess who sponsored the bill? Hollywood (big surprise). Supporters include, besides both Democrats and Republicans, who are sadly not fighting each other tooth and nail for once, MPAA, RIAA, Netflix and Viacom, among others. MPAA and RIAA, in particular, have a nasty reputation among online users for their heavy-handedness in such matters.
Opponents: Just about every online web company ever, including Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, etc and most importantly, Google. Not to mention the entire internet community, who would probably relish the chance to hack Congress out of commission. Interestingly, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep Presidential Candidate Ron Paul are against it. Other opponents include libertarians, radical progressives, mainstream conservatives and, of all things, the Tea Party. First time I've agreed with them, but it's not that surprising given their anti-government stance.
I have no idea what was going through their heads when they submitted this, but apparently, Hollywood is a big sponsor of candidates and no one wants to offend them. Shows how monetarily-based the US political system is. Anyway, I'm primarily worried that this new rule can be used to ban anything that shows even the slightest bit of copyright infringement, which would include... the whole internet? Kaboom. Maybe China paid them to do this, or maybe not.
So, yeah. The minute they pass this bill, we'll see either the Green Party or the Libertarians in the White House, because no one's going to vote for either the Dems or the Reps again.
In the meantime, I'm going to torrent some songs while I can. Luckily, Hasbro is very lenient with MLP media. Until some external idiot sues "on behalf" of them.
Haven't done something this political for a long time, but... I mean seriously, WTF. Watch the wrath of 4chan and Anonymous.
Okay, so the US government has outdone themselves by finally - finally - submitting a bill with bipartisan support. Unfortunately, it's not a good bill that deserves that support.
The Stop Online Piracy Act, from what I understand, is a means of transferring the blame for pirated material to the site owners who are, to quote, "accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement." It also forces other companies and websites to stop having anything to do with that website. In other words, outright censorship.
Guess who sponsored the bill? Hollywood (big surprise). Supporters include, besides both Democrats and Republicans, who are sadly not fighting each other tooth and nail for once, MPAA, RIAA, Netflix and Viacom, among others. MPAA and RIAA, in particular, have a nasty reputation among online users for their heavy-handedness in such matters.
Opponents: Just about every online web company ever, including Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, etc and most importantly, Google. Not to mention the entire internet community, who would probably relish the chance to hack Congress out of commission. Interestingly, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep Presidential Candidate Ron Paul are against it. Other opponents include libertarians, radical progressives, mainstream conservatives and, of all things, the Tea Party. First time I've agreed with them, but it's not that surprising given their anti-government stance.
I have no idea what was going through their heads when they submitted this, but apparently, Hollywood is a big sponsor of candidates and no one wants to offend them. Shows how monetarily-based the US political system is. Anyway, I'm primarily worried that this new rule can be used to ban anything that shows even the slightest bit of copyright infringement, which would include... the whole internet? Kaboom. Maybe China paid them to do this, or maybe not.
So, yeah. The minute they pass this bill, we'll see either the Green Party or the Libertarians in the White House, because no one's going to vote for either the Dems or the Reps again.
In the meantime, I'm going to torrent some songs while I can. Luckily, Hasbro is very lenient with MLP media. Until some external idiot sues "on behalf" of them.
Haven't done something this political for a long time, but... I mean seriously, WTF. Watch the wrath of 4chan and Anonymous.