SOPA

Personally, I am against piracy, but I think that SOPA is a terrible idea. I think there must be a better way to decrease the amount of copyrighted material on outside websites. To just block/shut down websites with copyrighted content seems wrong.

And didn't the UN pass something recently claiming that censoring the internet shouldn't be allowed?

On a personal note, if such a law were passed, all of those Neopets sites would be affected. I got started with graphic design through Neopets, whose content is most definitely copyrighted. I feel like the companies being "hurt" by the spread of copyrighted material can deal and have been dealing with this issue already. I think that SOPA will hinder some people from realizing their love for designing or coding.

2012-2016 just censoring the internet will cost 47 million.

It's funny because I have to dish out 2.5k every time Adobe comes up with a master collection update which they make billions off of and we must protect them, because corporations are people. ;)

Also Thomas
Godaddy pulled out from the support list, which of course, they prolly spent a few million lobbying for it. but still, aridseas.net has 5 years left on GoDaddy so I guess I can't transfer anytime soon :/
>Before someone asks when I have GoDaddy hosting because their hosting plans are a complete ripoff, it's generally advised to have a separate DNS host so if your main host goes down you can redirect your domain. GoDaddy is pretty good for domain hosting (except for when transferring, usually takes 3 or 4 hours of phone support, mostly spent on hold)

Tl;dr: Protecting IP can be an issue but I don't want my tax dollars going to that when we can't feed poor people on the streets, and I'm too lazy and cheap to switch from GoDaddy

Edit:
On another note, if this passes, it will have NO AFFECT ON PIRACY.
1) TPB is hosted in (Sweden?) an international server that will only be affected by the DNS blocking
2) Many torrent sites have been moving to the deepweb or deepnet (the web that isn't cataloged on http:// and doesn't run on DNS servers, uses .onion files -- look it up very interesting. They sell cocaine and assassinations there.)
3) Redit and /diy/ (not to break rules 1 and 2 as this doesn't qualify as a raid, newfriends) have been collaborating on ideas of a separate internet, like a mashnet (look up a mashnet, basically a bunch of wifi nodes to make one giant internet)

Edit 2:
1) I like how Obama was a major supporter of SOPA a month ago but now is burning the bill. Guess he wants to get reelected or something.
2) PIPA is more likely to pass as many people have stated, simply because SOPA has been getting all the negative attention. PIPA is the senate version of the bill, and not too much of a difference, if I understand correctly.

tl;dr: see you on the deepnet, friends. it's the new internet if this bill passes.

I believe that the government already can and does monitor all emails. They use a bot that searches for keywords and then manually reads them when something goes off.

1) About GoDaddy; they obviously still support it, it's just like what Obama said, both one of the original supporters and both saying virtually the same thing

2) If the gov monitors our email
> Unconstitutional
>They do, and Google prolly sells your Gmails (google keeps a database of every email you ever send
>Time to come up with something better then email.

Deepnet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Web

>I do not endorse using the Deepnet at all. If you want to repetitively mask your MAC address, hide behind 7 proxies and Tor, and you're willing to take the risk; try it. Every other page will have some illegal content. I know a few dudes who datamine the deepnet and are always talking about the gore, drugs, illegal content you can probably guess, and the leaked gov documents/documents from terrorist networks. Anyways, if SOPA passes, or PIPA (which I believe that SOPA will not be passed but PIPA will, although they are practically clones), Tor will probably be forced to shut down, although if I was you, I'd download a copy of Tor just incase everything goes to the deepnet.

On the USB note

There is a project in NYC that people have been setting up USB drives inserted inside of bricks in order to allow people to plug in their computer, download files, and contribute. A primitive internet. That's one option.

Another option is the 'mashnet', which is basically all the wireless routers, phones and computers receive a single and redistribute it.

Then theres the idea that we can use HAM radio to translate internet.

Then theres the idea of making a more 'clean' deepnet.

REMEMBER, PIRACY HAS BEEN GOING ON SINCE THE 1970s WHEN THE FIRST SOFTWARE WAS WRITTEN. Microsoft's programmers at the beginning earned about 2 dollars a hour for their company (well, on their non-MS DOS OS, their independent software) because of the large amount of piracy.

Anyways, last note:
Who wants to help me make the new email???

I'll help you make it! You come up with the ideas, though.

SOPA and PIPA are NOT dead. They were shelved; put on hold, effectively, and will probably be reintroduced after the next recess once the public calms down.

Right now, the threat is a much devastating bill, ACTA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Xg_C2YmG0

Edit: SOPA and PIPA were shelved before the blackout, actually.

Edit: Making the new email would basically just be making a new type of email to go through the main web port in attempt to make it impossible to tap into. Wouldn't be hard, I don't think.

ACTA.

Look it up.

passed in the US in october under our noses. poland is next to sign.

Basically every single time you access the internet, your ISP is legally inclined to scan EVERY packet you send and every packet you receive for pirated content.
It's suppose to be global.
You will have your internet cut after 3 offenses, and afterwards you will face fines/charges.
Every day, we loose more and more of our rights -- not saying that this is a right to piracy -- but there is NO WAY I can browse the web for more then 2 hours and not come across 3 pirated images. Free speech, not like all the talk show hosts say, 'free piracy'.

Anyways, Piracy isn't a correct term, because pirates steal. Online piracy isn't stealing, it's copying and distributing.

Technically "piracy" is a correct term because of the popular understanding and use of it. It's how slang gets into the Oxford Dictionary. But whatever. That's not really important; we all know what it is we're getting at.

ACTA isn't a bill, so it wasn't passed. ACTA is an agreement which the US (stupidly) signed so now it has to pass something like SOPA and PIPA in order to be in line with the agreement. ACTA itself can't do anything since it wasn't passed by the House of Representatives and Senate, so isn't US law. What's really going to happen is that bills like SOPA and PIPA will keep barraging the House of Representatives/Senate with ACTA-like things in them. So, yes, SOPA and PIPA are not dead. And I literally can not wait for another Wikipedia blackout to further impede the progress of my homework.

I'm still confused on which idiot signed ACTA if Obama is so set on vetoing SOPA. Politics, not my cup of tea.

I'm aware it isn't a bill; I guess I just kinda, dunno. yeh.

Obama was one of the original supporters of SOPA, but apparently he wants to get re-elected after not following a single one of his campaign promises.

ACTA will force us to pass SOPA, PIPA, or OPA (or OPEN, not sure what it is exactly, just listened to information about it) which are all, as we know, horrible, and clones.

HR 1981 is also going up, requiring all internet users to be scanned by the feds to protect our children (basically they check what sites you've visited in the last 18 months). Which is stupid; first off anyone who surfs the web has the possibility of accidentally running into bad content and even if they immediately clicked off the page they could be prosecuted.

The weird thing about ACTA is that it was passed in secret (and apparently my Civics and AP US History classes lie and the executive branch doesn't actually deal with 100% of the international treaties). We only know that it passed in October because of Wikileaks.

Yeh for once I actually had to use the cached versions of Wikipedia to copy and paste my essays.

I'm still going to figure out a better term then 'piracy'.

On second thought, I've always like pirates, so Piracy sounds better.

I can tell you don't much like Obama. :P People are allowed to change their minds. Times change! I'm glad Obama is on the side of the American people by rejecting SOPA.

ACTA really scares me though. The fact that this was agreed on without anyone realizing it really disturbs me. Who are they to keep us in the dark on something so negatively revolutionizing?

You guys, really? Using Wikipedia for homework? Not a particularly reliable source...however, you can easily get around the blackout by pressing "Escape" before the page finishes loading. ;)

I prefer Obama over any of the other idiots (Ron Paul has a good foreign policy and I agree with his whole government transparency etc etc) but it would be preferable if Obama held to a single one of his campaign promises. He signed ACTA, which made it so we basically will have to implement a SOPA-like bill, so I guess 'shelving' SOPA was a good political move.

It's kinda like the NDAA. Few people outside of the alternative media sources heard anything about it; since it's not like CNN would tell you that your internet is going to be taken away and you are going to go to jail (or in the case of the NDAA, if you go out and protest you can be 'terminated' or indefinitely detained, and GITMO is open indefinitely).

Also, Wikipedia is completely reliable :P. Yes, your idiot 6th grade teacher edited it once, but the very next day, the old version was revised and your 6th grade teacher was banned. Wikipedia has been more reliable then any of my textbooks (every single textbook I have had since 7th grade I've found countless errors), and has more complete articles then any of the paid online encyclopedias (that are pretty much useless).

I don't believe in politics...until I'm elected president. MUAHAHA.

I'm joking, I don't like politics much. I think it's because in my politically aware lifetime (which only spans a couple years) every single president elected has come across as out of his depth. I think we need a boss with ovaries like Margaret Thatcher to put things straight. I'm joking! Back to my point, I just find it disgusting that agreements can be signed behind closed doors. Just because many Americans are happy letting the government get on with their government-y stuff as long as they don't make owning guns and being deeply religious illegal, doesn't mean everyone is.

And I also: I like Wikipedia. It's lovely.

as long as they don't make owning guns and being deeply religious illegal, doesn't mean everyone is.

the truth has been spoken.

Is that what people think of Americans? I don't own a gun...though I have used guns before to shoot at targets. And what is wrong with being religious? Sometimes the word "religion" can have a negative connotation, but being faithful and non-judgmental to me are great qualities.

Back on topic...A lot of people I know don't really know what it is - they just know it will somehow affect Google and Wikipedia, which would be quite inconvenient for highschoolers. It bothers me that some people don't even know what's going on!

No, that's what people think of certain groups of Americans. Mainly of a certain group from the part of the US I'm from. I don't own a gun either, but I have shot, countless times. I never said there was anything wrong with being religious. With the slightest inference it's quite easy to understand that by "deeply religious" I meant "creationism" and "cults" and Westboro Baptist Church-like joints. I was simply painting a rather sarcastic picture of rednecks with several teeth missing and an unhealthy interpretation of the Bible.

I believe in the right to bear arms (for Thomas Jefferson's reasons, and also for the reason that in England since the time the gun ban passed, armed robberies have increased by 1400% and criminals don't used registered guns so gun control is ineffective (not only because mentally insane people can own firearms) and also religious freedom I agree with.

but Jenny, you do know that Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas all have to teach creationism in their schools?

anyways, I just hate religious wars, our profiling of muslims as 'terrorists', etc etc -- since it seems that hate between religions will bring down the world :P

also I just hate it when religious people try to implement their faith in laws; if they believe in the freedom of religion then they wouldn't press it on other people, so in that sense, freedom of religion doesn't exist in the US.

Wow, I finally managed to read this topic, and there's so much going on in it.

Thomas (at least I think it was you..) about sharing files using a flash drive - that completely defeats the purpose of torrents then, since you can only share files within your direct group of friends/associates, so you'll end up with the same stuff - but none of you will be able to get hold of some of the harder to get stuff, or new game rips, program rips, etc.

I don't feel comfortable debating religion with people anymore. I am more than happy to accept a person, no matter what their religious beliefs are. But I really hate it if they start arguing with me on my beliefs (or lack thereof), or try to convert me into believing in their religion. The idea of an entire religion being "terrorists" is just stupid. Sadly, this is the way stereotypes and the media have led the world to be.

I honestly have no idea how this whole SOPA/PIPA/ACTA thing is going to end up, but it's definitely not over for now! It's a real shame that people don't really understand what's going on in the government (and I don't just mean American's not knowing what's going on in their government, but citizens and governments the world over - apparently North Koreans thought that Kim Jong Il created the hamburger...)

Ian, seriously? That's an outrage, that those states teach creationism in public schools. I go to a private school, and we aren't taught creationism. The fact that they not only teach creationism but REQUIRE it is totally unconstitutional. I refer you to the Bill of Rights. It seems like the US is kind of ignoring its basic construct, with passing ACTA behind our backs and allowing states to require creationism in schools.

I am Christian, but I am also very scientific. I believe that God made the earth evolve, that science and religion can go together, but "creationism" just ignores science. It's awful that this is required in some public schools.

I've been to public school in Texas. I don't remember creationism being taught...

I actually go to an Evangelical Christian school, despite being an atheist, so am taught science by christian minds. I definitely believe science and religion are compatible, at least at this point of advancement. :)

Hypocrisy is just a part of politics...which is why I dislike politics as it is now.

http://youtu.be/G9cp7aVH7OE
What does Icecaves think?
>Passed 388-3 in the house
Basically it suspends your right to protest in DC indefinitely. I haven't read through it, but some people are saying that it also implies that protesting infront of ANY government building will be illegal when it passes Senate. (Expected to pass 98-2)
Sorta like NDAA, which I think I mentioned before:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fisc...
'Section 1021 and 1022 have been called a violation of constitutional principles and of the Bill of Rights.[30] Internationally, the UK-based newspaper The Guardian has described the legislation as allowing indefinite detention "without trial [of] American terrorism suspects arrested on US soil who could then be shipped to Guantánamo Bay;"[31] Al Jazeera has written that the Act "gives the US military the option to detain US citizens suspected of participating or aiding in terrorist activities without a trial, indefinitely."[32] The official Russian international radio broadcasting service Voice of Russia has been highly critical of the legislation, writing that under its authority "the US military will have the power to detain Americans suspected of involvement in terrorism without charge or trial and imprison them for an indefinite period of time;" it has furthermore written that "the most radical analysts are comparing the new law to the edicts of the 'Third Reich' or 'Muslim tyrannies.'"[33] The Act was strongly opposed by the ACLU, Amnesty International, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, The Center for Constitutional Rights, and The Council on American-Islamic Relations, and was criticized in editorials published in The New York Times[34] and other news organizations.[35][36]'

Basically it allows any US citizen to be indefinitely detained or exterminated without due process.
You don't think this affects you, and it's all cheery because it goes after terrorists?
Protestors are now labeled 'low level terrorists' according to the Department of Defense.

Edit:Spelling/Grammar