US Congress's Internet Censorship Bill

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Laterose

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You may or may not be aware of the hearings being held in the US Congress today on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act. These bills will effectively grant corporations the power to shut down any websites determined to have infringed upon the rights of copyright holders. If passed, they will basically ruin the freedom and integrity of the internet, and will likely result in the shutdown of dozens of social media sites with user-uploaded content, including Facebook, YouTube, and Tumblr. Dozens of companies have banded together to claim 11/16/11 as American Censorship Day. Tumblr has by far taken the most aggressive action against this censorship, periodically blacking out all dashboard content and adding a banner with a link to contact a US representative.

Below you can find more information on the bills, as well as multiple opportunities to send a letter or even a phone call to a representative, protesting this legislation.

reddit

americancensorship.org

Tumblr

Don't let this happen! D:

EDIT: Here is an excellent article, including a very enlightening video that explains the situation better than I can.
 
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Hide in Plain Sight said:
I wrote my congresswoman already.

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

If you're an American, go to the above link to send a quick note to your Congressman or woman. Please, for the sake of free internet, do the same. It takes two minutes and if we all send notes in, maybe we can help make sure this bill doesn't pass.
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>:O I'm gonna do this like now. Is there an age restriction, that you know of?
 
Eh, I wrote in anyway. I really hope these don't pass. The internet would essentially become a shooting gallery for companies to "protect" their copyrights.
 
I'm not American or anything and don't understand Congressmen/women and stuff but please for the sake of Gaga, do what HiPS said and give your local Congressperson a quick note.

gaga_fights_dadt_part_1_by_lilthraven-d2z1070.gif
 
I sent a note to my congressman, thanks HiPS. If we spam their inboxes enough, maybe they'll get so annoyed they'll do away with the bill.
 
I have a feeling that the hacktivists will be more active than we would all think!
 
I honestly don't care because I don't pirate, so this has no effect on me. I feel that protecting the intellectual rights of artists is far more important than everyday people.

Additionally, anyone that thinks that Facebook will be "shut down" clearly doesn't understand how much power that corporation wields.
 
SmearglePaints said:
I honestly don't care because I don't pirate, so this has no effect on me. I feel that protecting the intellectual rights of artists is far more important than everyday people.

Additionally, anyone that thinks that Facebook will be "shut down" clearly doesn't understand how much power that corporation wields.
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Do you not understand what this implies? This new law means that the big corporations only need to accuse a site of such - not prove, just accuse. Say goodbye to video sharing websites, fan activities, social networking sites (I'm especially talking about Tumblr, since it's spearheaded its own campaign against it, and I'm fan of the place), a ton of smaller, innovative sites that simply don't have the money to stand up to this corporate fearmongering, hell, the entire internet as we know it. Say goodbye to the First Amendment your country cherishes so dearly. This is going to spread all over the world if it's not stopped - the US government has been throwing its weight everywhere for far too long.

Do you seriously think that this is purely about "stopping piracy"? Do you understand anything about the file-sharing culture? About the internet in general? This is censorship (or veering ridiculously close to it), and I've had enough.
 
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I don't think this will really pass. It goes against our ideals as a nation, and if it did pass, the whole country will be in such an uproar that they may have to change it back.
 
It's too bad I can't find an objective version of this story anywhere. I'd like to hear what this bill actually about from some source that is not anti-censorship site propaganda.

Laterose said:
If passed, they will basically ruin the freedom and integrity of the internet, and will likely result in the shutdown of dozens of social media sites with user-uploaded content, including Facebook, YouTube, and Tumblr.
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I am sure this is an exeggaration, and even if it wasn't, they could all just move their servers out of the US: problem solved.

Also, from what I heard this only applies for people in the US, so nobody else is really affected by it unless some sites shut down.
 
I'm pretty sure that once the US passes a bill like this, its only a matter of time before other countries follow suit.

The end of the Internet? Its certainly not an exaggeration.
 
In other words, the USA will now be like China.

I already contacted my representive, we should all do it.
 
Ah, I've heard about it. I don't live in the US, but as far as I know, is quite an unclear. Heard about it in a video from a series called Extra Credits few months ago. Here the link to it: Source
Bear in mind that only half the video covers it.
 
Mijzelffan said:
It's too bad I can't find an objective version of this story anywhere. I'd like to hear what this bill actually about from some source that is not anti-censorship site propaganda.



I am sure this is an exeggaration, and even if it wasn't, they could all just move their servers out of the US: problem solved.

Also, from what I heard this only applies for people in the US, so nobody else is really affected by it unless some sites shut down.
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This would be the case if it wasn't for one small fact: the United States of America effectively controls the world's internet. Think about it. Google, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, Mozilla... any big website / company you can name... all American based. American founders, American headquarters, American funding, American investment... on and on it goes.

It would cost these companies billions of dollars to move their servers and all their tech to other countries. And even if they could move... shutting the US market out of your website is effectively institutional suicide. The United States of America is still the world's largest economy. If you want to do business on the internet, you're going to have to play by American rules (Especially since if you shut out the Americans and the Chinese - who of course have censored internet as well - you shut out the two biggest global players). Internet based companies will have no choice but to play ball with US Congress. Because if they don't someone else will. And a company's website that can be seen in the US will have an insurmountable competitive advantage over someone who can't get traffic and business from Americans.

So basically if this law passes, the entire global internet is going to have to work under American rules. It simply makes economic sense.
 
@Hide in Plain Sight If it's a choice between having to shut your own site down (as heavily implied by all anti-censorship sites is gonna happen if this bill passes), or move to a different country, I know what a company will choose.

Also, what you say is not true. Google and Facebook both happily collaborate with China's censorship (or at least have plans to), because like you said, why exclude 20% of the world population from the market? The same would simply apply to the US. Helping the US conveniently censor all they want, while letting the rest of the world enjoy their internet like before.

The global economy is still the world's largest economy, and it makes no sense to lose the rest of your customers just because one of them is being a hardass.

Hide in Plain Sight said:
American funding, American investment...
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*Chinese funding
**Chinese investment
 
Please note: The thread is from 14 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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