SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) is the biggest controversy on the web right now. It gives the government the right to remove a site of the internet if a record label or film company finds pirated material on it. It basically gives these companies and the government the right to censor the internet. If this bill is passed sites like Youtube could be removed from the internet if a user uploads illegal material or break copyright laws. Which is a good +70% of Youtube users. Tomorrow Wikipedia will shutdown for 24hrs in protest of SOPA, but only its most visited version the English language one. Other sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and major online sites are planning a blackout if the bill is passed also.




Advocates for SOPA-
Big 4 record labels (Warner Music Group, Universial Music, EMI, Sony Music International)
All the major film studios
All major television netowrks
Some tech companies (Apple, Microsoft, Intel)
Music, film, and book publishers

Against-
All the major internet sites
Some tech companies
Many video game companies
Internet Hacker group "Anonymous"



Pretty much what it is Wikipedia: SOPA

This is the U.S., Record Labels, and Film Studios, trying to control the internet. Giving them way too much power on what people can access. Also, not to long ago Spain passed a similar law.

Edited by user 17 January 2012 20:46:11(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I agree with you Cody, but I'm also worried about the new generation and their addiction towards technology and the internet. Maybe this would be a good way to move us forward, but then again It is unfair to all the hard work that went to all those sites. So I think that the way they are approaching this is a bit unfair and unbelievable to be honest.

The bill is dumb. I am against piracy, but it's a fight I don't think you can win by law. You can't say "let's shut down half the internet". Well I guess you can, but you can't actually shut down half the internet.

The basic issue is that piracy is similar to hacking. If you find a way to prevent someone from getting access to something, someone will find a way to get access, and tell other people how to get access. They will always be two steps ahead. The threat just mutates and evolves.

I think this whole thing is absolutely ridiculous! And if this does happen, there may not be anymore roleplaying :( This just gives way too much power to the wealthy!!

For a couple of months. Never underestimate the power of the lobbyists

Megaupload going away is perfectly reasonable to me, because 99%+ of that site's usage was as a kind of dead letter box for casual piracy. The whole "we're not responsible for the content our users upload" argument is fairly absurd when you've created a tool for uploading and sharing large files anonymously.

I personally used it for TEW Databses and Mods. Now I'm without them. Meh.

Yeah, I think it's fair to say the vast majority of Megaupload traffic is stolen porn, music, video or other pirate content. Torrents are different because it's piracy spread between pirates directly. Megaupload is actually hosting the files. Since Megaupload's income is ad-based, it is in their interest to attract as many hits as possible, so they turn a blind eye to piracy, and profit from it, until they are specifically told about a violation, and in some cases rather than remove the file, they seemingly just removed links to it. That's the specific crime they are guilty of, knowingly profiting from piracy.

Did you see that WMMA went down to $10? I had it a few months ago on my old laptop but it died on me. Now I'm probably gonna buy it again, WMMA is so greeaaatttt though.

I was not aware I was on a high horse. I figured I was standing on solid ground. Yes, I steal currently running US TV shows. What I am saying is that knowingly profiting from a service that is used for piracy is a crime. It's not like Megaupload is the only free distribution service for large files anyway.

Also not quite sure how widespread casual piracy is a fly, and the closure of one internet site used in widespread casual piracy on a for-profit basis is an atom bomb.

Edited by user 26 January 2012 10:41:23(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified