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Dollar General stores are supporting Pipa/Sopa? The heck? What does a Dollar store chain have to do with the internet? And when you consider the "copyright infringing" things that somehow make their way onto dollar store shelves, you really have to wonder. o_0

I think what you are doing is wonderful, I dont believe that society is fully aware of how badly the goverment wants to control our lives, even down to the little things such as playing an online computer game. Thank you for your support in this TJ.

Oh and by the way the gray skin makes the dragons look awesome

First of all, TJ, I extremely appreciate your general mode of not being political. However, for me, this goes beyond politics. Our world depends immensely on the internet now, and censoring things on such a large scale would simply make the whole thing collapse. We need to protest this as much as we can.

You see how a lot of the names on that list seem to have nothing to do with Piracy on the net, but they may well be owned by much larger companies which have more influence in the Senate and have a lot to gain from being able to basically shut down anybody who says a bad word against them.

Various sites have paid their fines. Big fines too. Which basically should show how much revenue they bring into the economy.

If you wanted to boycott the companies that support SOPA, basically you shouldn't buy anything at all.

But it's a warning as to just how comercialised and privatised the Internet could become if SOPA, or anything like it, passes.

This post has been edited by Harley Quinn hyenaholic on Jan 18 2012, 09:46 PM

No. We should not calm down. Google may be a big company, but doesn't have anywhere near as much influence as certain SOPA supporters. Like, say, Disney (which pretty much owns US copyright law as it is). Or the US Chamber of Comerce, or the RIAA and the MIAA. Seriously- look at the list of supporting companies. Look at the political pull they can muster. There's actually a pretty good chance of it passing, especially if we "calm down". Everyone making a huge issue out of this (and making politicians fear for their re-election prospects) is our best shot at stopping SOPA, PIPA and anything else like it that may be proposed.

Actually, yes they really do expect us to take this silently.. we put them in office after all. they say whatever slimy things they need to say to get the votes and once they are in office, big money speaks to them - not the people that put them in office.

It DOES affect you directly. It affects the internet world-wide. A huge number of websites that people throughout the world visit are US based websites... how can you visit those websites if the US government shuts them down for whatever period of time at their whimsy or simply blocks their DNS registry effectively making them not exist anymore because no one anywhere will have access. China uses DNS blocking to keep their population under gvt. thumb by dictating to them what they can and cannot see. Think of DNS as a phone book... the only way you know how to call someone is by using that phone book. If your "number" is not published in that book (DNS registry) then no one knows you even exist let alone how to reach you.


There is a statement graphic going around facebook...

5 years in prison that is.

There's a lot of companies that more often than not have nothing to do with online copyright infringement on that list...


Very happy mine isn't but than again I didn't see any internet based businesses on that list that I can recall. We had some of our tech guys ask Al Gore at our yearly kick off meeting about SOPA a few weeks ago and he basically said he thought the thing was a terrible idea. I've consistently seen talk about SOPA and PIPA building over the course of several months. Theres a vote coming up so thats why there's a sudden push for awareness so people do respond and do make their voices heard in congress and do remind politicians that the people elect them, not corporations.

Disney I believe actually has. As has CNET, which is owned by CBS, and AOL which co-branded.

CNET originally hosted all of the copyright infringement tools (Kazaa, Limewire, BitTorrent) on their own site, provided a search where you could look up an mp3 and just right click and save. AOL and Disney were involved with it too. They provided the tools, provided people with the means to commit copyright infringement by providing said mp3s for free, then sued them. Now, they want this to pass so they can suck more money.

The US tried to extradite a British student for linking. Not hosting, not uploading, but linking copyrighted material. They sued a single mom for over one million dollars, for only a handful of songs I think, yet these same companies who are suing, also provided the tools.

Not to mention this Supreme Court Decision:

Supreme Court Rules in MGM v. Grokster

On June 27, 2005, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in MGM v. Grokster, ruling that the providers of software that designed to enable “file-sharing” of copyrighted works may be held liable for the copyright infringement that takes place using that software. The Court held that “one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties.”

CNET ran tests to see how effective programs like Kazaa were at copyright infringement, testing it on songs by The Beatles, Britney Spears, etc. etc. and leaving the results up at how effective the various programs were. So, they knew that these programs were effective, and not just effective, but how effective, at getting copyright material.

So, by that, CNET along with Disney and AOL should be held responsible and sued accordingly for providing the software in the first place.

Once again, all the information is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJIuYgIvKsc

It's a very informative watch.

This post has been edited by xXAngelicEvilXx on Jan 18 2012, 10:45 PM

okk....

Say DC.. one person could complain that one graphic on this site violates some form of copyright. It doesn't matter if that person was making a real claim or a false one.. this site would be required to shut down. Paypal could be forced to withhold money you sent to support this site..probably forced to surrender it to the govt.. cause this site was accused of piracy.

say I put a website link in an email (say gmail).. that website link is somehow connected to piracy in some form or another that I am not aware of. I am technically guilty of piracy by association - whether i know it or not. Google would be obligated under SOPA/PIPA to monitor (read) everyones private emails of every gmail account holder and look for any violation of the laws. Gmail could be shut down completely - everyone's gmail account, because of ONE email ONE person sent that violates the law.

Facebook could be shut down by one single complaint if someone posted something that was deemed "guilt by assocation"

Your personal website could be shut down. Your blogs could be shut down. Your bank site could be shut down. Your work/school's site. ANY site could be shut down with but one single complaint.

While the spirit of the law is laudable (protecting intellectual property), the method they are trying to do that with these laws is too vague, no organization, no accountability... too many innocent bystanders getting run over by the trainwreck it will cause, people/businesses losing money, people losing jobs, our right to free speech blatantly taken away, etc... that the goal will never be accomplished and a lot of people suffer needlessly from a bad law that had no business being fast tracked under the radar

Awww - back to the old skin =< Please let us have the SOPA layout!

Agreed ; )

We need to keep standing our ground against this!

Next thing people should look up is NDAA

This post has been edited by Tearadria on Jan 18 2012, 11:10 PM

I would actuly like to keep the black out skin i rather liked it.. It would be cool to add it to the choice of skins. It was simple and easy to load for me. But thats just me

I hope the new Blackout skin is here to stay. It's kinda cool. o3o Otherwise, glad to see the message TJ. I contacted my Senator through the link on the site.

I'll have to disagree with you on NDAA as I've read the bill. It does not extend to U.S. citizens, and even if it did extend to citizens suspected of terrorism, they have the right to challenge before an impartial judge.

If you're a citizen, and a citizen who is not acting as a terrorist, you have nothing to worry about. Other than that, it's a normal defense spending bill which funds the pay for the military, their benefits, funds weapons and other things used. It's passed every year, and to me, the addition of the mess about indefinite detention was added as a political play, because 2012, an election year, is upon us. Had Obama vetoed, they would have accused him of vetoing pay for our military. It was a double-edged sword, and I think he took the lesser of two evils. It's easier for the Supreme Court to look at that and say "that's unconstitutional," than to veto it, then have every person in the military, or every person who supports the military, extremely ticked off. It would not look good for him for getting re-elected.

My friends, siblings, and I have all been actively protesting SOPA for over a month now.

In my opinion, we're not overreacting at all. SOPA could very easily destroy some of my favorite websites. Also, according to SOPA many people I know would've commited a felony in this month alone. That's very serious to me.

Dude, if Facebook shut down for a day...I think the world would stop turning ._.

Not for me but my goodness it seems like EVERYONE is on facebook now a days and whenever something is wrong like say a worm or something I hear about it on Breaking News like WTF

I have a facebook but I only go on it maybe a couple times a week. I don't know how my friend can stay on 24/7 almost

I really hope these laws or whatever don't pass.

I've signed the online petition, not sure that its gonna do any good though

What is this...my third or fourth post?

Please feel free to continue the discussion here:
SOPA - a must read if you like the internet!, US House bill may nerf 1st ammendment
http://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?showtopic=126245