WTF is SOPA ? aka The American Government trying to ruin the internet

[osoab]

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


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

[Dogman]

They have been running ads on the tube for the last week or so. And those ads are the biggest bunch of crap I have seen in many years.

piracy and copyright bull shit with maybe a grain of truth.

And MSM is largely silent so far, but the hearings are happening NOW!

Stop SOPA! A Plea from the Inventors of the Internet


What happens when you combine an overzealous drive to fight Internet piracy, with elected representatives who don’t know the difference between DNS, IM, and MP3? You get SOPA--draconian legislation that far exceeds its intended scope, and threatens the Constitutional rights of law abiding citizens. And it may just pass (http://www.pcworld.com/article/246361/controversial_antipiracy_bill_sopa_nears_house_app roval_why_you_should_care.html).
Similar Articles:


The Case for SOPA Legislation (http://www.pcworld.com/article/246461/the_case_for_sopa_legislation.html#tk.mod_rel)
Controversial Anti-Piracy Bill (SOPA) Nears House Approval: Why You Should Care (http://www.pcworld.com/article/246361/controversial_antipiracy_bill_sopa_nears_house_app roval_why_you_should_care.html#tk.mod_rel)
Skype Outage: What You Need to Know (http://www.pcworld.com/article/214811/skype_outage_what_you_need_to_know.html#tk.mod_rel )
Copyright Cops Team with ISPs to Crack Down on Music, Movie Pirates (http://www.pcworld.com/article/235253/copyright_cops_team_with_isps_to_crack_down_on_mus ic_movie_pirates.html#tk.mod_rel)
Password Manager (http://www.pcworld.com/article/234051/password_manager.html#tk.mod_rel)
Congress Takes Stab at 'Do Not Track' Legislation (http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/219815/congress_takes_stab_at_do_not_track_legislation.ht ml#tk.mod_rel)
House Committee Postpones Action on SOPA (http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/246433/house_committee_postpones_action_on_sopa.html#tk.m od_rel)


An open letter to Congress (http://holykaw.alltop.com/internet-engineers-open-letter-to-congress-ab?tu2=1) written by luminaries of the Internet, such as Vint Cerf--co-designer of TCP/IP, and Robert W. Taylor--founder of ARPAnet among others, implores Congress to back off and squash both SOPA, and its sibling PIPA legislation. The letter states, “If enacted, either of these bills will create an environment of tremendous fear and uncertainty for technological innovation, and seriously harm the credibility of the United States in its role as a steward of key Internet infrastructure.”

You could be seeing a lot more pop-ups like this if SOPA passes. The letter goes on to ominously caution Congress. “If the US begins to use its central position in the network for censorship that advances its political and economic agenda, the consequences will be far-reaching and destructive.”

Paul Tassi, a sometimes writer for Forbes, makes his primary living from a website he co-founded. Unreality.com (http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/category/reviews/) is a movie, TV, and gaming review site—a site that relies on linking to clips and screen captures of movies, TV shows, and video games.

Tassi pleads (http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2011/12/16/how-sopa-could-ruin-my-life/), “The internet is my life now. It’s how I pay my rent and it’s how I’ll support my future family. By passing a law that turns me and millions of others into copyright criminals, there’s no way to sink the economy faster than by shackling the one industry (http://www.pcworld.com/article/246461/the_case_for_sopa_legislation.html) that has more innovation and growth than any other.”

You only really need to know one thing about SOPA to realize that it’s bad legislation that must be stopped: it is supported (and probably written) by the RIAA and MPAA. These organizations are like crotchety old men yelling at the neighbor kids to get off their lawn. But, in this case their "lawn" is the Internet, and instead of "yelling" they’re threatening to fill it with landmines that effectively make it useless.

It is almost 2012. It has been nearly 30 years since services like Prodigy and America Online introduced the mainstream world to the Internet. It has been almost 20 years since Netscape came on the scene, and the Web took the world by storm. It is no longer tolerable for an elected representative to be clueless about how the Internet works. It’s just not acceptable.

If the bill passes, it could have devastating, cascading consequences that ripple across the Internet and affect the freedom and civil liberties of every citizen of the United States. It seems our current elected representatives may just be dumb and/or crazy enough to pass it, though—so speak up and let your representative and senators know what you think of SOPA.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/246516/stop_sopa_a_plea_from_the_inventors_of_the_interne t.html

[Dogman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7mNcgqQcPw&feature=player_embedded


Dear Congress, It's No Longer OK To Not Know How The Internet Works

Posted by Joshua_Kopstein (http://motherboard.vice.com/profiles/joshua_kopstein) on Friday, Dec 16, 2011

http://assets.motherboard.tv/post_images/assets/000/011/473/mel-watt_large.jpg?1324058374



I remember fondly the days when we were all tickled pink by our elected officials’ struggle to understand how the internet works. Whether it was George W. Bush referring to “the internets” or Senator Ted Stevens describing said internets as “a series of tubes,” we would sit back and chortle at our well-meaning but horribly uninformed representatives, confident that the right people would eventually steer them back on course. Well I have news for members of Congress: Those days are over.
• See also: What Are Our Free Speech Fail-safes If SOPA Passes? (http://motherboard.vice.com/2011/12/15/break-in-case-of-censorship-what-are-our-free-speech-fail-safes-if-sopa-passes)

We get it. You think you can be cute and old-fashioned by openly admitting that you don’t know what a DNS server is. You relish the opportunity to put on a half-cocked smile and ask to skip over the techno-jargon, conveniently masking your ignorance by making yourselves seem better aligned with the average American joe or jane — the “non-nerds” among us. But to anyone of moderate intelligence that tuned in to yesterday’s Congressional mark-up of SOPA, the legislation that seeks to fundamentally change how the internet works, you kind of just looked like a bunch of jack-asses.

Some background: Since its introduction, SOPA and its Senate twin PROTECT-IP have been staunchly condemned (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/internet-inventors-warn-against-sopa-and-pipa) by countless engineers, technologists and lawyers intimately familiar with the inner functioning of the internet. Completely beside the fact that these bills as they currently stand would stifle free speech and potentially cripple legitimate businesses by giving corporations extrajudicial censorial powers, they have found an even more insidious threat: The method of DNS filtering proposed to block supposed infringing sites opens up enormous security holes that threaten the stability of the internet itself.

The only problem: Key members of the House Judiciary Committee still don’t understand how the internet works, and worse yet, it’s not clear whether they even want to.

It’s of course perfectly standard for members of Congress to not be exceptionally proficient in technological matters. But for some committee members, the issue did not stop at mere ignorance. Rather, it seemed there was in many cases an outright refusal to understand what is undoubtedly a complex issue dealing with highly-sensitive technologies.

When the security issue was brought up, Rep. Mel Watt of North Carolina seemed particularly comfortable about his own lack of understanding. Grinningly admitting “I’m not a nerd” before the committee, he nevertheless went on to dismiss without facts or justification the very evidence he didn’t understand and then downplay the need for a panel of experts. Rep. Maxine Waters of California followed up by saying that any discussion of security concerns is “wasting time” and that the bill should move forward without question, busted internets be damned.

http://assets.motherboard.tv/post_images/assets/000/011/475/bingo_original.png?1324059763 (https://twitter.com/#%21/EFFLive/status/147443792805502976)

The fact that there was any debate over whether to call in experts on such a matter should tell you something about the integrity of Congress. It’d be one thing if legitimate technical questions directed at the bill’s supporters weren’t met with either silence or veiled accusations that the other side was sympathetic to piracy. Yet here we are with a group of elected officials openly supporting a bill they can’t explain, and having the temerity to suggest there’s no need to “bring in the nerds” to suss out what’s actually on it.

“No legislation is perfect,” Rep. Watt said at one point, continuing the insane notion that the goal of the House should be to pass anything, despite what consequences it may bring. Later, Iowa Representative Steve King tweeted (https://twitter.com/#%21/SteveKingIA/status/147371129177255936), somewhat ironically, about surfing the internet on his phone because he was bored listening to his colleague Shiela Jackson speak about the bill. Then, even more ironically, another representative’s comments calling him out for it were asked to be stricken from the record.
http://assets.motherboard.tv/post_images/assets/000/011/474/Picture_2_original.png?1324058396
So it was as proponents of the Hollywood-funded bill curmudgeonly shot down all but two amendments proposed by its opponents, who fought to dramatically alter the document to preserve security and free speech on the net. But the chilling takeaway of this whole debacle was the irrefutable air of anti-intellectualism; that inescapable absurdity that we have members of Congress voting on a technical bill who do not posses any technical knowledge on the subject and do not find it imperative to recognize those who do.

This used to be funny, but now it’s really just terrifying. We’re dealing with legislation that will completely change the face of the internet and free speech for years to come. Yet here we are, still at the mercy of underachieving Congressional know-nothings that have more in common with the slacker students sitting in the back of math class than elected representatives. The fact that some of the people charged with representing us must be dragged kicking and screaming out of their complacency on such matters is no longer endearing — it’s just pathetic and sad.
Fortunately, committee members like Zoe Lofgren, Jason Chaffetz and Jared Polis are attempting to keep some semblance of sanity and reason in these debates. You can follow them live as the mark-up continues today via live stream (http://keepthewebopen.com/sopa) or Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/efflive).

http://motherboard.vice.com/2011/12/16/dear-congress-it-s-no-longer-ok-to-not-know-how-the-internet-works

[Dogman]

These hearings going on right now, are probably the most important freedom of speach and freedom of what and where you go on the internet EVER!

The title of this thread needs to be changed so this thread will gain more attention!

Need to call , email, write all of our reps in Washington NOW and take a stand.

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

SOPA and PROTECT IP act are both acts written by people who have no idea how the internet works. SOPA gives the govt the right to completely pull any DOMAIN that is accused of hosting 1 copyrighted item. Someone links a copyrighted picture to GSUS, no more GSUS.

Only a complete idiot would pass this bill, so be wary of congress passing it. The strategy i s to get everybody's anger out on SOPA, it might fail, but then PROTECT IP act will slide in silently b ehind it while everyone is exhausted

If they pass this bill, project darknet will come online. Project darknet is a new internet that is not able to be censored.

If you want to see a revolution in anti-censorship, simply censor. The geeks will create a new technology so open it will boggle the mind.

SOPA was written by movie studios, not geeks.

[Dogman]

SOPA and PROTECT IP act are both acts written by people who have no idea how the internet works. SOPA gives the govt the right to completely pull any DOMAIN that is accused of hosting 1 copyrighted item. Someone links a copyrighted picture to GSUS, no more GSUS.

Only a complete idiot would pass this bill, so be wary of congress passing it. The strategy i s to get everybody's anger out on SOPA, it might fail, but then PROTECT IP act will slide in silently b ehind it while everyone is exhausted

If they pass this bill, project darknet will come online. Project darknet is a new internet that is not able to be censored.

But that is what we have in Washington right now COMPLETE IDIOTS and the big buck backers that want this bill passed.


I was going to start a thread about this but , osoab beat me to it.

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

Right now there is content on whitehouse.gov that falls under SOPA. The way copyright works is everything I write here is copyrighted, even if I don't file a claim against anyone. Meaning that whitehouse.gov could be taken offline if SOPA passes - that's how stupid and poorly written this bill is.

[Dogman]

Right now there is content on whitehouse.gov that falls under SOPA. The way copyright works is everything I write here is copyrighted, even if I don't file a claim against anyone. Meaning that whitehouse.gov could be taken offline if SOPA passes - that's how stupid and poorly written this bill is.


Yep, and it scares the hell out of me.

If passed this would give the gov legal power to dam near shut down anything or everything it wants. Dam near every so called law that gets passed , then gets tweaked and morphed into something that in no way resembles the original law.

And That should scare the holy living shit out of anyone that uses the net as a voice for freedom.


Edit: Have not heard the tv ads so far today, but all last week they ran that dam propaganda heavenly on every channel I watched.