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American Internet Censorship
Topic Started: Nov 17 2011, 07:15 AM (522 Views)
lightfire
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littlegraycloud
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I'm actually very surprised that not a lot of people knew about this within the general public. Because I was unable to get online yesterday, I didn't post this up until now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

Yep, it was real and there was a debate on it. Scary, hm? Fortunately enough, it was agreed that, no, this shouldn't happen;

http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/technology/2011/nov/16/sopa-condemned-internet-blacklist-bill

For quite the few days before the date of discussion, there was huge controversy over the matter. Many, many popular websites went out of the way to help cripple even the idea of censorship.

http://americancensorship.org/

And in all honesty, I'm so glad it didn't go through. I mean, at first It seems like it wasn't likely, but I took into consideration that it's for the benefit of the congress and many other businesses, so by then it seemed pretty likely. If they were to block Facebook, YouTube, etc., I would have nothing to do on the internet. Pretty much all my favourite sites are hosted in the U.S.

What are your thoughts? Have you heard about this?
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OcelotJay-ZNR
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I am kitteh, hear me purr. =(^_^)=
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This is news to me. I suspect it hasn't been heavily discussed over here because it affects America but as you say, in turn it affects just about every major internet service. It really could cripple the online market by simply forcing iron-clad, heavy demands on websites - regardless of their stature - in what looks like an ill-defined scrawl from overzealous idiots (the confession from the Congress Committee that they aren't qualified to make informed decisions on this issue and think this is okay just proves how utterly useless they really are).

I found this amusing:
David Sohn
 
"If any website sets itself up in a way that does not actively log or monitor user behavior, a rights holder can always allege that the site is "avoiding confirming" the use of the site for infringement. That rights holder allegation is sufficient to put the website at major risk of losing access to payment and ad networks," said CDT lawyer David Sohn.
Can you imagine the implication for networks like this one? Unless you have an efficient, 24-hour task force of dedicated employees manning your forum, blog or site, checking every scrap of content posted on it by low-level users, elected staff and administrative users alike to find any potential misuse of copyrighted material (which is fairly ill-defined by this proposal), you could basically be in the firing line. Laws like this create zealots out of people who've had problems before and still bear a grudge, and zealots are inherently problematic for all. Crusaders, much? :ermm:

Intellectual property should be protected but something like this can only bring about more harm than good. On the other hand, perhaps these commercial and non-commercial giants would just pack up, move abroad and stick two fingers up to Congress. Good news for Europe. :P
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lightfire
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littlegraycloud
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As you do, I fear for the worst. SOPA still hasn't been fully denied and the bill is still a possibility. I honestly cannot see any light in this. It's like the congress is asking for huge riots.

//sigh

World.
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markshah2-ZNR
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Online privacy is very very difficult to manage.I think almost difficult.


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Edited by markshah2-ZNR, Dec 2 2011, 07:02 AM.
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StephenZB
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In general, Congress should stick to trying to fix things that matter to everyone. While there does need to be better laws for the internet, copyright for the poor lowly hollywood studios and record companies is at the bottom of the list in my opinion. No, laws for internet attackers, ways to work with other countries to catch these criminals. THAT I would support. But this is just stupid. I've been following it for some time because my chief concern would be for this network. Under this law, we'd be so vulnerable it's not even funny. But so too would the youtubes, facebooks, google and other sites less popular. That is of course why these companies have protested the law so strongly.

I'm sorry, but Congress has no business running the Internet when they are failing to even run this country. When they can't pass a JOBS bill that they were elected to PASS and manufacture a CRISIS just to further CUT the budget in a RECESSION, I don't want them anywhere near the internet. COPPA is a perfect example of the backwards thinking that Congress exhibits. In addition, the web moves far faster than the law ever will. These draconian laws will be shown as next to useless within weeks of their approval. That said, should it ever get that far, I sincerely hope that President Obama would veto it. And if it makes it that far, one could expect the big sites to take it to court rather fast. If people think the healthcare law is unconstitutional, wait til a few experts tear through this law.
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