Today PIPA and SOPA are both being put to the House Judiciary committee these legislations hand over control of internet censorship into the media of Hollywood. It severely punishes anyone so much as posting a copyrighted image on a forum just like this one by 5 years. And that is just one shocking example. Some of this legislation actually restructures the internet in ways that all the experts say will diminish security while giving America it's own version of the Great Firewall of China. The government will be able to choose to censor almost anything. Today is the ONLY day you can make a difference on this so make sure you're voice is heard! I don't want to flood every forum board with these but someone should make a topic in each one, this issue strongly pertains to us all and the freedom to even have this community. American Censorship Day November 16 - Join the fight to stop SOPA
I re-posted this in general so that hopefully more people will see it. Damn I hope this shit doesn't pass. If it does... Well, i guess there's always Canada.
i hope this dosent pass. please everyone call or email your house rep today. the internet will be ruined if this goes thru
If you want to know more, read up: SOPA and PIPA: TWIN TROUBLE | The Law and Equity Report by Timothy Powers O'Neill This Congress seems determined to declare war on free speech. All you will need is money to remove opinions that are disagreeable or unflattering. While the rationale for the bill is correct, the cure is not. Looks like Congress has declared war on the internet — “Tech News and Analysis http://bit.ly/vh0lzS the Stop Online Piracy Act, introduced in the House this week, would give governments and private corporations unprecedented powers to remove websites from the internet on the flimsiest of grounds, and would force internet service providers to play the role of copyright police.” . House Copyright Bill Casts Dangerously Broad Net | Center for Democracy & Technology http://bit.ly/u8qNip "Yesterday, key members of the House Judiciary Committee introduced a bill (H.R. 3261, the "Stop Online Piracy Act") that not only repeats that mistake, but dangerously extends the scope. Gone is any serious effort to narrowly target clear "bad actors" and to craft legislation that seeks to root out the "worst of the worst" — a phrase we have often heard from proponents of such legislation. In its place is a bill that appears to impose sweeping new risks and responsibilities on websites offering legitimate online services and to give rights holders a powerful new club to wield against any online service they believe isn’t doing enough to police infringement. Don’t Let Hollywood Break the Internet With the PROTECT IP Act! – Forbes http://onforb.es/rw3uBy It’s the cure that is the problem. The PROTECT IP Act would allow copyright owners – movie studios and other content providers – simply to accuse a website of infringement, which could lead to that site being shut down by court order and entire links to the site being wiped clean from the Internet. Any website with a hyperlink, such as Twitter, Facebook or a blog, would be subject to liability. More, non-infringing sites could be inadvertently shut down under the proposal. Indeed, the law is so far-reaching that it would force Internet providers like Comcast to block all access to the allegedly illegal site. The potential for abuse by the notoriously litigious content industry is clear. Last year, when the government sought to shut down one child pornography site, it ended up affecting some 70,000 legitimate sites for several days, even notifying visitors that the sites – many of which were business sites – were purveyors of child pornography.
Hmmm... medical marijuana seems to be wrapped up in all of this too?? I'm reading that as any site promoting a medical marijuana facility could be affected. I also see the words "Internet Payment Provider" mentioned a lot. PayPal? Lock out political donations and such claiming IP offenses? In a world where bong water has been made into an illegal drug, you have to figure "interpretations" of these laws will be broad and varying as deemed necessary or convenient. It really is a lawyer's wet dream.
SOPA's latest threat: IP blocking, privacy-busting packet inspection | Privacy Inc. - CNET News Biden attacking the topic: http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/11/18/video-us-vice-president-joe-biden-attacks-sopa.aspx RIAA Flounders: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...ich-doesnt-seem-to-be-found-bill-itself.shtml Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...et-innovation/2010/12/20/gIQATlhEYN_blog.html If these laws pass, what will result will be the modern equivalent of the Nazi Book Burnings, on a scale that most people cannot even comprehend. The loss of information will be staggering. Our very last free bastion of information and communication will be destroyed beyond repair. If you're wondering why this is relevant to marijuana activism, you smoke too much. It is the very medium though which you are reading this forum. Protect it.
Amazing how the media is not covering this!! I watch a lot of cable news (mostly for laughs) and my local news and have heard nothing about this. I found out about this bullshit bill through Twitter and this forum. This CANNOT be allowed to happen!!! The internet will never be the same if this goes through.
Of course media isn't covering it! The owners of popular media are the ones advocating it! Media is the face of our common enemy. We cannot afford to influence it, and that's exactly the way they would like to keep it.