Is This For Real?! (RE: Stop Online Piracy Act)

[ReijiTabibito]

One of the favorite websites that I visit on a daily basis is That Guy With The Glasses, and all his affiliates (Nostalgia Critic, Linkara, Spoony, Angry Joe, etc etc...).  I recently watched a video from one of their posters about a trip many people from the website took to DC to protest SOPA, because the very premise of it endangers the very existence of TGWTG.

So I do a little more research, and I find that this is being supported by the RIAA and MPAA (big surprise there, they've been trying to shut down piracy for years), and that China is being held up as a good example of Internet regulation.  China, which routinely suppresses (from what I near) any anti-government sentiment.

Also, from what I've gathered, SOPA will not actually stop online piracy, because a lot of it is overseas, and SOPA only affects things domestically...

So, I ask: is this for real?  Freedom of speech and expression is the First Amendment, for God's sake!  How can people be seriously thinking of curbing it?

(Also, if I have made any errors in judgment, feel free to note them.)

[Callie Del Noire]

The problem is that special interests are pushing this through. And they are winning this time. This had gone around before though, they tried to do this with cassette recorders, vcrs, cd-rs, and most recently mp3 players.

Word is that this is one of the worse events in a while.

I'm tired of calling my rep and senators about it though. Their offices think it's the best thing for business.

[ReijiTabibito]

So, lemme get this straight...cassette recorders, vcrs, and MP3 players, which help promote the entertainment industry, were being protested by the entertainment industry?

And how is censoring the Internet good for business?  If people are as in the know as most of the people I know are, then they're gonna know this is because of the entertainment industry, and take some boycotting measures against it.

The Internet generates far more revenue (from figures I've read) than the entertainment industry ever does, why are we suddenly considering cutting off one of the biggest sources of American revenue just to appease a bunch of dinosaurs who can't (or won't) keep up with the times?

Also, this has to be unconstitutional.

[Oniya]

Back in the day, cassette recorders (as opposed to cassette players) were looked at skeptically by the record industry because it made it easy for some kid in his bedroom to record Dick Clark's Top 40 off the radio for free.  VCRs were looked at the same way by the movie industry. 

[ReijiTabibito]

True.  But in my opinion, that's not a technology problem.  Even if the United States hadn't allowed them, there would be other countries who would develop them.

A VCR or cassette recorder is just a piece of technology, it can be used for good and evil alike.

The problem we have is that the entertainment industry and apparently Congressmen think that the average American person can't be trusted to be ethical and moral and use technology responsibly.  This isn't tech, it's ethics.

Rather ironic, when you consider some of the things the entertainment industry and Congress have done in the past.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/08/riaa_wants_filters_for_end_users/

It's a few years old, but I always remember it.

[Beguile's Mistress]

You're right.  It isn't technology.  It's ethics.  It's the unethical behavior of people who steal a song by ripping it from the internet without paying for it.  It's the unethical behavior of people who replicate those stolen songs and sell them for a lot less than you pay a site to download it legitimately.  It's the unethical behavior of people who steal the hard work and creativity of artists and authors. 

It's theft.  It's unethical.  It's criminal.  It's illegal.  It's immoral.  It's greed.  There is absolutely no way to justify the unethical behavior, no way at all. 

[ReijiTabibito]

Then, if it really is a problem of greed and unethicality, shouldn't that be what we address as a nation, rather than following the Internet policies of countries that wouldn't know human rights if it came up and bit them (exaggeration for effect only)?

Or is it just more expedient for the people leading this country to make a law violating the Constitution rather than say "I've done some things I'm not proud of, I've followed the party rather than my own conscience, and I need to change"?

[NotoriusBEN]

It's theft.  It's unethical.  It's criminal.  It's illegal.  It's immoral.  It's greed.  There is absolutely no way to justify the unethical behavior, no way at all. 

Might I mention the current generation of DRM tech that practically punishes the legitimate purchaser of a product? Plus the fact that it's usually cracked within a week of launch dates.

Oh yes, piracy is everything you said it is, Beguile, but the lengths companies are going to in order to 'protect' their work has made me cross the line a couple times in the past. I wholeheartedly purchase what I use, but when some tech makes the product I purchase shoddy or unworkable on my PC I tend to start looking for ways past that and getting my money's worth.

[Beguile's Mistress]

Companies wouldn't have to go to any lengths to protect their product from thieves if thieves didn't exist.  Punish the thieves?  Sure.  How much jail time and how big of a fine are we talking about?

There is not excuse for stealing.  None.  If you steal you're a thief. 

[Callie Del Noire]

You're right.  It isn't technology.  It's ethics.  It's the unethical behavior of people who steal a song by ripping it from the internet without paying for it.  It's the unethical behavior of people who replicate those stolen songs and sell them for a lot less than you pay a site to download it legitimately.  It's the unethical behavior of people who steal the hard work and creativity of artists and authors. 

It's theft.  It's unethical.  It's criminal.  It's illegal.  It's immoral.  It's greed.  There is absolutely no way to justify the unethical behavior, no way at all.

Whereas cooking the books to defraud royalties, avoid giving health insurance to ailing artists, and outright lying to the congress and the public at large isn't.

The big site Megauploads got brought down lately and as a result a bunch of artists put together a video to advertise it's LEGITIMATE uses (yes, they exist. :D) and put it on youtube. It was entirely owned, and not derivative of anything else, by Megauploads.. and Universal Music claimed it was violating their IP/Copyrights and demanded it pulled down. An outright lie. And according to their lawyers, they can't be punished for it because they are covered by the DMCA.

http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-video-reinstated-universal-says-you-cant-touch-us-111216/

[Beguile's Mistress]

Not everyone who acquired music thru internet connections steals it and not everyone in the business is out to cheat people.  But the wrongs of one group are no justification for the wrongs of the other.

Ethical behavior means that you do the right thing no matter what anyone else does.  I don't like being cheated but that doesn't give me the right to be a cheat.

[Callie Del Noire]

Not everyone who acquired music thru internet connections steals it and not everyone in the business is out to cheat people.  But the wrongs of one group are no justification for the wrongs of the other.

Ethical behavior means that you do the right thing no matter what anyone else does.  I don't like being cheated but that doesn't give me the right to be a cheat.

True.. I personally don't do that anymore. I lost all the stuff I got from napster on a drive crash YEARS ago. Most of my music is split between iTunes, Amazon and CD rips. I find it personally reprehensible that the recording industry for a long time claimed that I didn't have the right to play CDs.. much less rip them to my pc for my i-Devices.  And let's not talk about some of the nearly criminally stupid actions they have done for 'protecting' their IP.

Then they turn around and deliberately stall court cases to draw out costs, or in the case of a few artists.. delay covering medical insurance coverage they were obligated to provide so to avoid paying out big bills (I'm trying to recall which blues artist they basically let die of cancer by arguing over coverage over the better part of a year while he suffered.)

They promised congress that CD prices would go down.. then don't do anything. Production costs are lower than ever to make a CD.. but they pad their costs to justify higher costs and then cook the books to defraud their artists of royalties. I'm sure that more than a few execs still wish they could do deals like they did in the 50s and 60s where they basically ROBBED artists.

Record companies, and to a lesser extent the motion picture industry, would have us believe that they have the right to charge us for each time their song/video is played. And would LOVE to do that.

Hell I'm sure there are some who would like to charge us a nickle for qouting a movie or humming a song.

[Anjasa]

The industries aren't adapting to technology.

To quote Gabe Newell, owner of Valve and Steam:

“Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem,” Newell said. “For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable.”

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/valves-gabe-newell-wins-readers-choice-person-of-the-year/

This guy makes his money by competing directly with pirates for business - and he's winning - because he's offering consumers better service.

The entertainment industries keep trying to force people to do things the old way - watch TV with commercials, wait in lines and pay exorbitant fees to watch movies, hope that your local CD store has the one you want in stock - but that's not what consumers want to do any more. People want to do things on their own schedule, on their own time, and to get the service they want and are willing to pay for.

Instead, they're spending all their time and money suing people for downloading or sharing their music/movies/show/game.

They're not adapting to the market and technology.

Moral ideologies aside, I think most of us can agree that the entertainment industries are trying to make us buy things their way rather than the way consumers are trying to tell them they want to buy their things. There's a huge service problem here.

[Chris Brady]

You know what's really sad?  When the first peer to peer client went up and people could 'pirate', record sales went UP by 30%.  In fact, record sales are STILL up, but it's actually bad for most record publishers because of things like iTunes.  iTunes makes it so that you don't have to buy a physical copy of said song.  Which is where the record companies still try to make most of the money.

And you know what's really funny about the whole Napster thing?  The reason why the record industry went after them was because the U.S. Gov' was looking into why CD's haven't gone down in price in over (at the time) 15 or so years.  So the record companies decided to make Napster the scapegoat to deflect attention from themselves.

Seriously, the amount of money these record companies make on each disk is stupid.  And worse, most recording artists get to see very little of it.  It takes about 7 cents to make and burn a disk.  15 if it's a DVD.  Less than an American quarter.  And yet you are all charged (I use iTunes, because I don't like bands, I like songs) about $15+ a pop for your favourite bands.

You don't need to spend that much for a disk.  5 bucks is good enough.  Seriously, most record companies have contracts with several multi-million disk sellers, and all they need to get is about 2 bucks, then another 3 for all the failed bands they support, and they'd STILL be making dough hand over fist.  But nope, corporate greed wins the day again.

And one more thing, did you know that outside of the 'true pirates' (the ones with an over inflated sense of entitlement) most people who pirate often BUY the article in question?  Why?  Because most people WANT to support their musician(s) of choice.

Is piracy bad?  Yes, it really is.  Is it industry destroying?  No, it's not.  Not by long a shot and not as much as the RIAA or anyone else trying to 'punish' it.

[Oniya]

One thing about all forms of  - I'll call it 'personal recording':  For a small-time band with no connections, that is sometimes the only way that they can get news of their music out.  People listen to cassettes and CDs in their cars, radio stations aren't as willing to take a chance on some 'no-name', and so we end up overloaded with stuff that sounds frankly recycled.  I found out about Abney Park (Airship Pirates) and Jonathan Coulter (RE: Your Brains) through CD rips and YouTube mashups. 

[errantwandering]

Regardless of someone's individual views on piracy, SOPA attacks the problem with a nuclear warhead rather than a scalpel.  If a website is accused or suspected of hosting copyrighted material on any of its pages, it can be taken offline.  Advertisers can be forced to stop giving them money, DNSs can be forced to not recognize the URL, search engines can be forced to not show results for the page.

As an example, if someone accuses YouTube of having a video wherein a thirteen year old kid sings a cover of "Born This Way" without obtaining permission, Youtube as a whole can be taken offline.  Note that I didn't say proven to or convicted of, the mere accusation of something that minor can be used to force internet companies to make it seem like Youtube had ceased to exist, and to completely cut off their revenue stream.

SOPA is bad news.  It's a bad law that creates all kinds of dangerous precedents, and it is in complete violation of our constitutional rights.

[Callie Del Noire]

One of the most scary parts of this whole thing with RIAA and the Motion Picture Association is their attack on the copyright laws and the push to make them more restrictive ones. In my lifetime corporate lifespan of copyrights has nearly doubled and if they have their way it would be infinite. That is MASSIVELY restrictive on innovation.

Not to mention what they have done to attack 'fair use'

for example: http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/dec/05/book-record-industries-attack-righthaven-fair-use-/

I'm in school and on any given phase I write between ten to twenty papers requiring citation and quotation. If fair use went away, I'd have to PAY to cite every article, web site, video or ebook I use in my paper. And given that I have to post my paper on a website to screen for plagarism it would get very expensive VERY fast.

Back to the issue of SOPA.. its' a blunt hammer. You could sue a person, ISP, company for putting a video of your grandchild because 'Dead or Alive' is playing in the background.

[ReijiTabibito]

I'm in school and on any given phase I write between ten to twenty papers requiring citation and quotation. If fair use went away, I'd have to PAY to cite every article, web site, video or ebook I use in my paper. And given that I have to post my paper on a website to screen for plagarism it would get very expensive VERY fast.

So, one could argue that something like this is anti-education, perhaps?  That people who would otherwise be able to afford school might not go because of the rising cost?

[Callie Del Noire]

So, one could argue that something like this is anti-education, perhaps?  That people who would otherwise be able to afford school might not go because of the rising cost?

Do a search on 'fair use' and see what it would effect. (it's a bit of a tangent) but fair use is more important than just education. It's the protection the media itself uses to quote writings, give critiques of movies and to pass on news to the public. One of my 'favorite' Blofeld Clones (Rupert Murdoch) has sued the BBC for using his publications in news reports. (Which was protected under fair use as any of his minion lawyers would have told him)

Fair use is the ability to say 'Mr. X said in the New York Times <this>' and call them a liar when they deny it. It allows reporters to pass on both sides of a story.

[ReijiTabibito]

So, without fair use, the media and journalism itself would come to a grinding halt...at least, that's how it sounds.  And if that's true, then abolishing fair use would essentially, information wise, plunge us into a new Dark Age...

[Callie Del Noire]

So, without fair use, the media and journalism itself would come to a grinding halt...at least, that's how it sounds.  And if that's true, then abolishing fair use would essentially, information wise, plunge us into a new Dark Age...

Not that bad, but imagine paying a dime every-time you cited the NY times, or sang 'happy birthday' to your family. Not to mention your kid's research paper citing that history book, an online blog and such.

Fair Use length is fairly short (300 to 400 words) and you HAVE to cite who you are using.

Think about it, how would you give a movie review if you can't cite it? Or quote what a celebrity told E! or the folks at the NY Times.

[ReijiTabibito]

Sounds like something that would happen in the Deus Ex world to keep the population under control - you don't have the money, you can't do it...

...and that makes me think of the whole 'corporations are people, and money is free speech' bit.  If you have to pay to cite something, or use it...then that's dangerously close to putting the big bucks organizations as the only entities capable of doing it.

[Callie Del Noire]

Sounds like something that would happen in the Deus Ex world to keep the population under control - you don't have the money, you can't do it...

...and that makes me think of the whole 'corporations are people, and money is free speech' bit.  If you have to pay to cite something, or use it...then that's dangerously close to putting the big bucks organizations as the only entities capable of doing it.

Which is why corporate personhood is such a dangerous precedent. just look at the actions of companys like Murdoch's Newscorp, or Monsanto.

[Will]

Not everyone who acquired music thru internet connections steals it and not everyone in the business is out to cheat people.  But the wrongs of one group are no justification for the wrongs of the other.

Ethical behavior means that you do the right thing no matter what anyone else does.  I don't like being cheated but that doesn't give me the right to be a cheat.

Condemning piracy is certainly an admirable thing to do, but it doesn't do anything to help the situation that breeds it.  Like you said, being cheated does not give you the right to be a cheat.  But, like it or not, on a large scale, cheating a giant group of people will result in them looking for other choices.  It's not a question of right and wrong; it's just reality.  So how do you fix it?  Tell them all that it's illegal and that they should just cut it out?  Or address the underlying motivations?

[Callie Del Noire]

Well look at Wizard's solution for ebook copying. They went from 'some legal and mostly illegal' to 'all illegal' by removing all electronic content they WERE getting paid for offline. You want ANYTHING of Wizards in pdf or ebook format.. forget it.

I lost like 2 dozen 3.5 books and modules from Drivethrurpg because I was on deployment duirng the 2 day grace period before they had to pull content.

[Anjasa]

I don't know what they thought they'd accomplish by that. Did they think that removing a legal avenue for people to get these things would just stop people from getting it illegally?

It's just a knee jerk reaction.

Even though I boggle at who is possibly buying these ebook Strategy Guides, I have to admire that they're actually trying to adapt by offering them in an online format AND through Steam where it's paired with the game they're buying. At least they're offering people the option!

[Callie Del Noire]

I don't know what they thought they'd accomplish by that. Did they think that removing a legal avenue for people to get these things would just stop people from getting it illegally?

It's just a knee jerk reaction.

Even though I boggle at who is possibly buying these ebook Strategy Guides, I have to admire that they're actually trying to adapt by offering them in an online format AND through Steam where it's paired with the game they're buying. At least they're offering people the option!

Hasbro's argument was that their watermarked PDFs were being used to create high quality bootleg PDF files by pirates and that all they were doing was providing pirates with the materials to steal their content.

That is to say that mostly pirates were getting legal copies, stripping the DRM out of them and reporting them online for others to download for free. 

SUPPOSEDLY at some point the ebooks will come back for sale, but only through Wizards' own site but it will be some sort of subscription service that will require you to be online to access you content.

[RubySlippers]

The hackers and pirates will find a way past any attempt to protect content its only a matter of time. I think this is actually great it frees up creative content and intellicutal content as no longer privileged but open to all. The companies are not going broke they get their costs back in most cases and then some alot of people still like seeing movies on the big screen and the offical dvd's have content for an example not on freedom copies on-line (my terms since the content is freed from the corporations) don't have and are rarely as good in quality.

Maybe the companies need to lower their costs for official goods then maybe it will make the piracy of them less likely if it costs $3 to make a dvd of a movie then why sell it for $13.99, you could double that and still make a profit say asking $5.99. That is how you get people loyal sell the goods at high quality at a fair price.

This can be true for video games, music, books and the like.

[Callie Del Noire]

The hackers and pirates will find a way past any attempt to protect content its only a matter of time. I think this is actually great it frees up creative content and intellicutal content as no longer privileged but open to all. The companies are not going broke they get their costs back in most cases and then some alot of people still like seeing movies on the big screen and the offical dvd's have content for an example not on freedom copies on-line (my terms since the content is freed from the corporations) don't have and are rarely as good in quality.

Maybe the companies need to lower their costs for official goods then maybe it will make the piracy of them less likely if it costs $3 to make a dvd of a movie then why sell it for $13.99, you could double that and still make a profit say asking $5.99. That is how you get people loyal sell the goods at high quality at a fair price.

This can be true for video games, music, books and the like.

See the problem is (largely) the industries such as Book Publishing and Music Recording industry are still mostly operating on century (or so) business model where THEY set the medium, costs and controlled distribution. A few things like Wal-Mart have caused them pause but unlike a lot of other companies that deal with Wal-Mart they can still control a lot of the price and distribution elements.

Now electronic vendors and the internet as a business venue is something they can't as easily control and moves in areas that they haven't classically considered. They have been padding their costs on hard backs for decades and it took A LOT for some publishers to move past the 'paperbacks are low class' outlook some publishers had.

Now you come along with the internet, electronic publishing and the ability to bypass traditional publishers (both of music AND books) and they get rabid in their protection.

Right now, I could take my first novel (bad though it is) and with a few hours of editing and a little tweaking of layout publish it for the Kindle and on Smashwords without having to see an editor, talk to a publishing agent or making a contract that lets the publisher get the lion's share of the cash off of it.

I mean I know folks who are filching fanficts, original stories and even online erotica from sites like Fictionmania, Nifty and other sites and putting their online name to them and selling them online.

Additionally, it's easier for these folks to blame pirates and online uploads than consider the fact that the best way to protect their IP is to do as the President of Steam has stated and provide better service. Music and Book Publishers aren't used to dealing with the public at large and the concept of CUSTOMER SERVICE is still largely alien.

[Vekseid]

Companies wouldn't have to go to any lengths to protect their product from thieves if thieves didn't exist.  Punish the thieves?  Sure.  How much jail time and how big of a fine are we talking about?

There is not excuse for stealing.  None.  If you steal you're a thief.

Of course, downloading songs from the Internet isn't theft, no matter what the recording industries claim, nor is it actually illegal. It's illegal to distribute such works unlawfully (that is, for money, or outside of your normal circle of friends). Thus, that is in general where crackdowns occur. Even if the RIAA managed to get some sort of mandatory DRM-in-all electronics law passed, it would still not make

Personally, I think it's a pretty fucked up set of priorities to declare that pirating music is worse than murder. Note this is actual piracy, at least - the poor fellows involved ended up redistributing the music they downloaded.

The 'it's the law' canard is flat-out bullshit. It's the law that any commercial venue which allows public performances has to pay three thuggish companies who represent copyright holders, even if no such songs are played. Paying a racket or not has nothing to do with ethics, the person running said racket is the one lacking them.

In order for a law to be respected, it must first be made respectable. If it isn't respectable, it will not get respect. The recording industry, and the laws it has set up around itself - many of which are directly set up to screw over the very artists they claim to represent - are in no way respectable. Michael Jackson made billions for Sony, and died effectively bankrupt. Prince had to change his name to a fucking symbol because they 'owned his name'. TLC sells ten million CDs, declares bankruptcy because they only 'earn' 64 cents per, and have to pay back the recording industry for the 'debts' they've incurred in its production. Then the recording industry lobbies to prevent bankruptcies from discharging such debts.

I'm pretty careful about following the letter and intent of the law. But eventually, this crap is going to end.

Personally, I don't think it's ethical to financially support an industry like the recording industry.

True.  But in my opinion, that's not a technology problem.  Even if the United States hadn't allowed them, there would be other countries who would develop them.

A VCR or cassette recorder is just a piece of technology, it can be used for good and evil alike.

The problem we have is that the entertainment industry and apparently Congressmen think that the average American person can't be trusted to be ethical and moral and use technology responsibly.  This isn't tech, it's ethics.

Rather ironic, when you consider some of the things the entertainment industry and Congress have done in the past.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/08/riaa_wants_filters_for_end_users/

It's a few years old, but I always remember it.

Note that this law does require a trial, unless the owner of the domain cannot be personally contacted. I set up a business name, with PMB, number and all, for just this purpose.

If the owner cannot be contacted, then said owner can be in quite a lot of trouble.

You can tell it was written by people with very little knowledge of how the Internet works. The US gives ICANN its jurisdiction, I'm rather surprised that they didn't go straight to the source, there. Then again that might have been too obviously far.

A part of me does want this to pass, if only so we can get some impetus behind creating a newer, better DNS system. The current one blows. A distributed one would take a lot of thought, however.

[RubySlippers]

I remember my parents saying when VHS came around it would kill the movie industry that actually saved it and made it better with not just big studios but many smaller ones doing direct to video movies on low budgets, DVD continued this trend. So they just need to adapt I watch streaming movies on Youtube for 99 cents to $3.99 and its great and they must get a cut. They just need to be competative and maybe sell dvd's not blue-ray to be more affordable with good content.

[Oniya]

I remember my parents saying when VHS came around it would kill the movie industry that actually saved it and made it better with not just big studios but many smaller ones doing direct to video movies on low budgets, DVD continued this trend. So they just need to adapt I watch streaming movies on Youtube for 99 cents to $3.99 and its great and they must get a cut. They just need to be competative and maybe sell dvd's not blue-ray to be more affordable with good content.

That's exactly what they were saying about cassette recorders and the music industry.

[Serephino]

I had a rant about this the other day.  It's the RIAA that's being greedy.  True, there are some unscrupulous people who will take advantage of the situation, but most people just don't like being cheated. 

A while ago when they were being really ridiculous, I signed up for an account with Rhapsody through Real Player.  I could pay per song, which is what I did. I bought 4 songs.  The thing of it was, because of their coding, I could only play the song on their program, and any devices I registered with them.  The songs could not be put on any computer other than the one it was downloaded to.

Only months later I ended up getting a new computer.  What happened to those songs I paid for?  Gone.  I couldn't transfer them over.  So, basically, my options for not pirating were either re-buy my music every time I upgrade, or never upgrade.

I know you're generally not supposed to blame the victim, but the music industry brought this on themselves.  They're royally pissing me off, and I'm not the only one.  Give me an MP3 file that is reasonably priced, and that I can put on any device or computer I want, and I will happily never pirate again.     

[TheKhan]

Well look at Wizard's solution for ebook copying. They went from 'some legal and mostly illegal' to 'all illegal' by removing all electronic content they WERE getting paid for offline. You want ANYTHING of Wizards in pdf or ebook format.. forget it.

I lost like 2 dozen 3.5 books and modules from Drivethrurpg because I was on deployment duirng the 2 day grace period before they had to pull content.

This is exactly the same thing that irritates me. Not because I want 3.5 ebooks. I want 2e books. All of Planescape and most of Dark Sun used to be on DTR. After Hasbro pulled their pdfs, they also pulled all of TSR's pdfs. It hasn't help piracy at all, its made it much worse since the other alternative is to go try and hunt down the rare physical copies which can go for hundreds of dollars at best and are in such a short supply that you can't reliably find them.

[Vekseid]

I had a rant about this the other day.  It's the RIAA that's being greedy.  True, there are some unscrupulous people who will take advantage of the situation, but most people just don't like being cheated. 

Keep in mind the RIAA is the 'bad publicity front' for the industry - it handles the lawsuits. The industry is Sony, EMI, Warner, Universal, etc.

[Serephino]

Whoever is behind it, they done shot themselves in the foot, and I don't feel the least bit sorry for them.  They pass this and they'll be shooting themselves in the gut because they'll have very angry hackers to deal with. 

[Vekseid]

I wouldn't expect - nor would I advocate - 'hacking' in any malicious sense.

Making the Internet less controllable, however, is a worthy goal, and if anyone knows anyone brainstorming a distributed DNS project, please let me know so I can lend my skillz >_>

[Callie Del Noire]

I had a rant about this the other day.  It's the RIAA that's being greedy.  True, there are some unscrupulous people who will take advantage of the situation, but most people just don't like being cheated. 

A while ago when they were being really ridiculous, I signed up for an account with Rhapsody through Real Player.  I could pay per song, which is what I did. I bought 4 songs.  The thing of it was, because of their coding, I could only play the song on their program, and any devices I registered with them.  The songs could not be put on any computer other than the one it was downloaded to.

Only months later I ended up getting a new computer.  What happened to those songs I paid for?  Gone.  I couldn't transfer them over.  So, basically, my options for not pirating were either re-buy my music every time I upgrade, or never upgrade.

I know you're generally not supposed to blame the victim, but the music industry brought this on themselves.  They're royally pissing me off, and I'm not the only one.  Give me an MP3 file that is reasonably priced, and that I can put on any device or computer I want, and I will happily never pirate again.     

I was curious about rhaspsody for a while, till I found the 'BUT' in their setup. I use iTunes..and given the latest update which allowed me to reacquire songs I lost to a drive crash some time ago. (About 12 albums worth of stuff) I think I'll stick with them and my practice of backing up my iTunes library every month or so.

[Serephino]

Yes, I've noticed they now have Home Share, which would allow me to say install the software on my boyfriends computer, and get my library uploaded there too by logging in with my account.  It's improved since I last looked at it.  Now the major downside is it can only be played on their software, and I refuse to buy an ipad, iphone, or ipod. 

[ReijiTabibito]

Well, the good news is that the vote that was scheduled for today didn't happen because Congress is in recess, so there's still another month or so for people to write and lobby to stop this bill.

What astounds me about this is that in the debate hearings about the bill, the committees have admitted that the speakers they've brought to the table have no technical expertise, no ability to tell the legislators what will happen if this bill is instituted.  As well as one Representative's comment that they're just dismissing what the Internet people have to say, because oh, it's their livelihood, they'll say anything to defend it.  As if the entertainment industry isn't currently guilty of the same thing.

Is Hollywood truly so desperate to gain control of the media back that they'd rather start this country down a road that could lead to them being censored than try and keep up with the times?

[Anjasa]

Unfortunately it also gives people time to grow less passionate about this as something else crops up :\

[Tamhansen]

Is Hollywood truly so desperate to gain control of the media back that they'd rather start this country down a road that could lead to them being censored than try and keep up with the times?

The ones supporting these bills are just interested in making money, and like most American SI groups only think about their short term goals, without thinking about their long term consequences

[Chris Brady]

Unfortunately it also gives people time to grow less passionate about this as something else crops up :\

And this is the real enemy here.  All they need to do is deflect attention, and the sheep will follow like it's a carrot or something.

[Tamhansen]

The odd thing about SOPA is though, that the bill is probably going to be amended to make an exception to domestic sites. I.E. you'd be allowed to download illegal content, but only if it comes from American criminals. How's that for chauvinism.

[pandaandthelion]

Actually From what i heard It actually does affect everyone Because if you're caught doing it, they will jail you doesn't matter if it's domestically or Not they will still Give you a Jail Sentence, Plus It will also block a lot of websites a lot of them ones you probably use daily, Youtube Being probably one of the main ones that i watch, And funny thing how its america doing this but it affects the whole world yet america is the only one who can stop it which is why american need to go to their local Senate and petition to stop SOPA from being introduced Into Office :D

[Tamhansen]

Actually SOPA will not affect foreigners as it is a national law, and will only block these sites within the US. What worries me as a European more is the ACTA agreement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement An international treaty which will allow foreign governments to decide what is illegal in my country, and yours.

As for SOPA, the amendment that lies before the house specifically states that content obtained through domestic channels will be exempt from legal action. The original bill does not.

[ShadowFox89]

http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/2461-Six-GOP-Co-Sponsors-of-PIPA-Ask-Reid-to-Cancel-Vote

PIPA is a sinking ship, let's cross our fingers and hope SOPA get's torpedoed next.

[Vekseid]

The White House has declared opposition to both bills. The official response can be found here.

Since US government works aren't copyright protected, I'll reprint the response in its entirety:

Official White House Response to Stop the E-PARASITE Act. and 1 other petition

Combating Online Piracy while Protecting an Open and Innovative Internet

By Victoria Espinel, Aneesh Chopra, and Howard Schmidt

Thanks for taking the time to sign this petition. Both your words and actions illustrate the importance of maintaining an open and democratic Internet.

Right now, Congress is debating a few pieces of legislation concerning the very real issue of online piracy, including the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the PROTECT IP Act and the Online Protection and Digital ENforcement Act (OPEN). We want to take this opportunity to tell you what the Administration will support—and what we will not support. Any effective legislation should reflect a wide range of stakeholders, including everyone from content creators to the engineers that build and maintain the infrastructure of the Internet.

While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.

Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small. Across the globe, the openness of the Internet is increasingly central to innovation in business, government, and society and it must be protected. To minimize this risk, new legislation must be narrowly targeted only at sites beyond the reach of current U.S. law, cover activity clearly prohibited under existing U.S. laws, and be effectively tailored, with strong due process and focused on criminal activity. Any provision covering Internet intermediaries such as online advertising networks, payment processors, or search engines must be transparent and designed to prevent overly broad private rights of action that could encourage unjustified litigation that could discourage startup businesses and innovative firms from growing.

We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet. Proposed laws must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS), a foundation of Internet security. Our analysis of the DNS filtering provisions in some proposed legislation suggests that they pose a real risk to cybersecurity and yet leave contraband goods and services accessible online. We must avoid legislation that drives users to dangerous, unreliable DNS servers and puts next-generation security policies, such as the deployment of DNSSEC, at risk.

Let us be clear—online piracy is a real problem that harms the American economy, and threatens jobs for significant numbers of middle class workers and hurts some of our nation's most creative and innovative companies and entrepreneurs.  It harms everyone from struggling artists to production crews, and from startup social media companies to large movie studios. While we are strongly committed to the vigorous enforcement of intellectual property rights, existing tools are not strong enough to root out the worst online pirates beyond our borders. That is why the Administration calls on all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders while staying true to the principles outlined above in this response.  We should never let criminals hide behind a hollow embrace of legitimate American values.

This is not just a matter for legislation. We expect and encourage all private parties, including both content creators and Internet platform providers working together, to adopt voluntary measures and best practices to reduce online piracy.

So, rather than just look at how legislation can be stopped, ask yourself: Where do we go from here? Don’t limit your opinion to what’s the wrong thing to do, ask yourself what’s right. Already, many of members of Congress are asking for public input around the issue. We are paying close attention to those opportunities, as well as to public input to the Administration. The organizer of this petition and a random sample of the signers will be invited to a conference call to discuss this issue further with Administration officials and soon after that, we will host an online event to get more input and answer your questions. Details on that will follow in the coming days.

Washington needs to hear your best ideas about how to clamp down on rogue websites and other criminals who make money off the creative efforts of American artists and rights holders. We should all be committed to working with all interested constituencies to develop new legal tools to protect global intellectual property rights without jeopardizing the openness of the Internet. Our hope is that you will bring enthusiasm and know-how to this important challenge.

Moving forward, we will continue to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis on legislation that provides new tools needed in the global fight against piracy and counterfeiting, while vigorously defending an open Internet based on the values of free expression, privacy, security and innovation. Again, thank you for taking the time to participate in this important process. We hope you’ll continue to be part of it.

Victoria Espinel is Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget

Aneesh Chopra is the U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President and Associate Director for Technology at the Office of Science and Technology Policy

Howard Schmidt is Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff

I've bolded different parts than the original, as it shows that they do know exactly what, technically and morally, is wrong with these bills.

[ShadowFox89]

Wasn't this the same kind of response given to the NDAA? Wasn't that given Obama's seal of approval?

[Vekseid]

No, you can see the full list of responses: https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petition-tool/responses

[Vekseid]

Aww, Murdoch no likey Obama anymore.

[ShadowFox89]

It's funny, he mentions Google pouring millions into lobbyists. Last I checked on sites like opencongress.org, lobbyists supporting the bills have contributed over ten times the amount that opponents have.

[Callie Del Noire]

Aww, Murdoch no likey Obama anymore.

Considering that he wants to get a dime every time someone mentions the words 'according to the New York Times' aloud, he's going to throw a hissy when the president comes out against something like that. After all it means that Google, YouTube and all those other commie subversive pinkos in California won't be paying him his due!

Not to mention the more folks pay attention to THIS the less they will to the fact that it's fairly likely that News Corp violated people's privacy here in the US as well as the UK and he's been covering it up!

(Sorry.. I despise the man..and everytime I see his picture I expect him to have a 'Blofeld Cat' in his hands and saying things like. "No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die..."

[Ironwolf85]

Well look at Wizard's solution for ebook copying. They went from 'some legal and mostly illegal' to 'all illegal' by removing all electronic content they WERE getting paid for offline. You want ANYTHING of Wizards in pdf or ebook format.. forget it.

I lost like 2 dozen 3.5 books and modules from Drivethrurpg because I was on deployment duirng the 2 day grace period before they had to pull content.

just wanted to say Pazio has whupped wizard's ass for the last two years. in attepmting to kill third parties with 4e and banning all 3.5 in digital format, even suing over it the lost not just repsect, but many players as well.

according to the christmas sales for both groups, after the tally is in, Pazio's marketing of digital, user friendly, products, coupled with not pnly paying attention to their fanbase, but allowing fan made material, that, if well written, you can download for either free or anywhere between 1-20 dollars depending on quality, and even giving the writers a cut of the money when their mods sell, have won over fans.

D&D 4e and Pathfinder are currently tied in sales revenue.
over half wizard's staff jumped ship when they abandoned all d20 products and licences, and the market is speaking volumes about adapting to the times and listening to your fans.

[Oniya]

Back on topic:

http://www.examiner.com/computers-in-denver/house-kills-sopa

[Mithlomwen]

Figured I'd post this here.  I went to check out my local Craigslist and ended up redirected here: 

http://www.craigslist.org/about/SOPA

[Sarena]

Petition against PIPA and SOPA.  Thought some might be interested in this, if ya hadn't seen it already.

[gaggedLouise]

In my native tongue, sopa means "piece of trash, utter garbage". Very fitting acronym.

[Callie Del Noire]

Strangely enough.. BOTH my senator's office numbers have been solidly busy ALL day.

[ShadowFox89]

 Who would have thought?

[Saku]

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Go vote against having it get passed! xD

[Oniya]

Five key senators abandon online piracy bills amid Web protests

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook.

[Callie Del Noire]

Damn.. two months of emailing/calling Marco Rubio's office and he FINALLY grows a pair. I'm still not voting for him again or trusting him farther than I can throw the Capitol.

[Vekseid]

Somehow, I don't think it's a matter of growing a pair when it took Google and Wikipedia basically telling half his voter base.

[ShadowFox89]

Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit.....

[Vekseid]

Did Facebook or Twitter ever put up a notice with similar visibility to Google's? I didn't see it. At the same token, if I were in Facebook or Twitter's position, I'd be wary of presenting it as an overkill issue rather than allowing the user population to basically prove that Google and Wikipedia are not acting on purely ulterior motives.

If the idea of Google and Facebook banding together on a consumer information campaign didn't scare the shit out of Congress before, it ought to now.

[Cheka Man]

I brought hundereds of pounds of music legally through I-tunes, and when my computer died I lost the whole lot. And you wonder why people turn pirate?

[Chris Brady]

Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit.....

All of which has more credibility than all the petitions in the world.  If they hadn't stepped to the plate, the bills would have passed easily.  Sad, but true.

[Callie Del Noire]

I brought hundereds of pounds of music legally through I-tunes, and when my computer died I lost the whole lot. And you wonder why people turn pirate?

You might want to check your iTunes account.. the new iCloud update gave me several DOZEN albums I lost in the last drive crash back. I've been using iTunes for.. oh.. six years and some of them were quite old.

Just saying.. you might get some of them back.

[Callie Del Noire]

All of which has more credibility than all the petitions in the world.  If they hadn't stepped to the plate, the bills would have passed easily.  Sad, but true.

Well on the other side of the coin. GoDaddy backed it.. and lost something like 100,000 domains for it.

[Revolverman]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/01/18/congressman-lamar-smith-author-of-sopa-breaks-copyright-law-on-campaign-website-image/


*cough*

[Iniquitous]

Found this this afternoon from the creator of Cheezburger. Apparently, it's making it's rounds, let's hope it helps drum up more awareness with those that don't pay attention to what's going on.

The Day The LOLcats died

[Oniya]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/01/18/congressman-lamar-smith-author-of-sopa-breaks-copyright-law-on-campaign-website-image/


*cough*

I thought that was terribly funny.  If you follow links back to where the story broke (I went to the 9GAG article, and there was a link to a Forbes article in the comments, which led me to a Vice article), there's actually a comment from the photographer suggesting that if the bill passed, maybe he'd file suit under it.

[Lilias]

This looks rather nice as well...

[Callie Del Noire]

give it six months.. it will be back to the first position picture again.. the elected think all they have to do is wait.

[Rinzler]

I love it when a hypocrite gets snared:

The Author of SOPA Is a Copyright Violator

[Callie Del Noire]

I love it when a hypocrite gets snared:

The Author of SOPA Is a Copyright Violator

Ah.. but he changed his ENTIRE page to keep that from staying (where all he had to do was cite the person.)