SOPA, Censorship and Why Aren't We Rioting Yet?

[thessalian]

I've been thinking on and off about SOPA lately. I think most of you are aware of the "Stop Online Piracy Act" by this point, though why I'm assuming that I'm not entirely sure. I still haven't seen a single f'ing mention of it in any major news outlet - not the BBC, not the Guardian, certainly not the Metro, and I don't think it's that different

Comments

[phoenixblaze]

Admittedly I haven't been following this as much as I should be, but you're absolutely right. Youtube will be gone immediately and there goes our harmless fanfiction addictions.

[thessalian]

*chuckle* Well, that too, though I think our harmless fanfiction addictions (which will be the first to go, given people like George RR Martin and other authors who get so unilaterally pissed off about people writing fanfic of their work - I imagine that LJ will be the first site to get shut down because someone like Martin screamed about copyright infringement on valyrian_forged) are probably the least of our worries. While that's bad, the idea that someplace like Daily Kos or even just LJ, where a lot of people get the news that Fox or CNN won't release, could get shut down at politically convenient times to keep the populace ignorant is even scarier to me.

[phoenixblaze]

I can understand the concern, but historically speaking, there are always people willing to risk their lives even to get facts out. In the free speaking countries we have had this right for so long, I think even if a law like this is passed, the passing of information will still exist. People find ways. They always have.

[lunarwhirl]

I'm honestly terrified that SOPA will pass. I don't pirate. I don't support piracy. But honestly, that's not what this bill appears to be about. It looks more like a way or attacking free speech under the moral mask of stopping online piracy than anything else.

I can only hope that this doesn't pass, because if it does, what the hell next?

(Also, can I add you on DW? I'm on there as poisonarcana.)

[thessalian]

Of course! So long as you don't mind me adding you back, that is. *g*

As to 'what the hell next?', if SOPA passes? I literally cannot even imagine. And I've got a good imagination and a lifetime of dystopian sci-fi to work from. *shudder*

[lunarwhirl]

I totally don't mind. ♥

I'm pretty much praying it doesn't pass. The thing is, though, bread and circuses keep the people distracted from what really matters. The Internet is often used for entertainment, or as a distraction from an otherwise miserable life. If they take that away - well, people might just riot.

[thessalian]

I was in a fairly calm spot very close to a lot of riot zones when England went briefly nuts back in August. Scary as it was, I sort of wished at the time that it had gone further. I'd rather it not be at this cost, but ... shit, protest hasn't worked, and in fact we're having our protests blocked and minimised and generally ignored more and more every time we have any. The PM openly mocked the public service workers' strike action last month - called it a 'damp squib' to the press. I'm really starting to think that people need to remember that they are the ones with the power, and they need to take it back before the people at the top - the people they elected to represent their interests and are now only representing the interests of the top 1% of the people with most of the money - make it impossible to do so. And if that means riot zones ... what choice have we got? Voting's done shit all, protests get jammed into corners and forgotten about. What's left?

[feckless_muse]

I am signing every single online protest I can find! I mean, it's not just the obvious... WE can say goodbye to ff.net, LJ, DW, DA, you tube, reddit, google+...

The thing that royally shits me is that knowing my luck Twitter and Farcebook will probably find a loophole lol. Maaaan I despise those sites *sigh*.

[feckless_muse]

Oooh, Totalbiscuit, awesome individual that he is, made this awesome vid to explain what SOPA and PIPA are and what will likely happen if they get through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM

[thessalian]

Yeah, I watched this a couple of days ago, but thanks for linking! It's definitely worth a watch ... though I wish he didn't talk so fast.

[feckless_muse]

He does, doesn't he? He does it in every vid... he talks fast when he get excited lol. He's a lawyer and a gamer... Poor man is doomed to talk at the speed of light.

[thessalian]

Oh, usually I love it - for the comedy at the very least. The problem is that when it's less comedy and more serious, it'd be nice to be able to actually understand everything he's saying rather than sort of catching one word in five in passing. :)

(But then again, I did podcasts awhile back and should probably start doing them again - damn second novel - and I'm a bit of a voice track snob because of it. Though I'll grant him lovely diction despite the warp-speed ranting. He'd make a wonderful auctioneer...)

[thessalian]

Don't worry - I love rants, myself.

As to NDAA ... it's passed in both Houses now, and from the sounds of what I'm reading (which is mostly opinion articles because, again, no major news network seems to be talking about it at all), and only requires final presidential ratification to be passed. Since Obama pulled the veto threat he had on the act awhile back, I don't think that's incredibly likely.

So ... yeah, that POS has all but passed. I ... have no idea how. It makes me kind of nauseous and very, very scared. And so few people seem to know, because it's not like Fox or CNN have talked at all about "Oh, hey, guys - we're a step away from the threat of indefinite detention on no evidence! All someone has to do is point at you and so much as sneeze 'terrorist'!" Not, frankly, that I reckon The General Public would really freak out that much, because frankly, so many people are sheep and said sheep have been so conditioned to fear and blame that they'd likely look back at the McCarthy era and ask why we're not still doing that. So