What is SOPA, and why should you care? (MyGaming column)

I've heard a couple of sites are shutting down on the 18th to protest the bill - Reddit being one ... but I honestly think major sites should do it as well.

So - Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, Twitter - just those five alone would be apocalypse for the billions of people online. Maybe that's what the Mayans were on about.

It would also be a bonus off-day for me, because I wouldn't be able to do any work :p
 
Streamers from the HoN/LoL and DOTA2 community will also be affected. If they play the wrong song in the backround or alt+tab to a copyrighted image or video they can go to jail...
 
_Caboose_ said:
SOPA has been shelfed already

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2012_01/putting_sopa_on_a_shelf034765.php
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It's not really down and out though - it's more a case of the White House itself voicing opposition. I suppose Obama could technically veto any vote, but I've got no idea how US politics operates. But it come back at any point down the line, since the SOPA author is still dead-set on getting it through the voting process.

Much like our secrecy bill - it's not going to just go away.
 
shadowfox said:
It's not really down and out though - it's more a case of the White House itself voicing opposition. I suppose Obama could technically veto any vote, but I've got no idea how US politics operates. But it come back at any point down the line, since the SOPA author is still dead-set on getting it through the voting process.

Much like our secrecy bill - it's not going to just go away.
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As long as this bill is kept tied up in the us congress it could be years, decades even before its rehashed. Much like their bill to ban assault weapons. Its also going to be used as a political tool for the up coming us elections. The Obama administration saying "nay" is just them trying to get the majority of people who are opposed to the bill behind them.
 
Um....how is the United States going to be able to tell other countries what they may or may not do with servers within their borders-or am I not understanding this correctly?
 
phoenix said:
Um....how is the United States going to be able to tell other countries what they may or may not do with servers within their borders-or am I not understanding this correctly?
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Monkey See, Monkey Do. Once the US does it, and gets away with it, other countries will follow suit. It will follow the same patern as the anti-government protests. One country does it, it works, then the next & the next and the next. Spain has already passed a similar bill but since they are small fry it doesn't get the same publicity as the US one. And what about China...
 
phoenix said:
Um....how is the United States going to be able to tell other countries what they may or may not do with servers within their borders-or am I not understanding this correctly?
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It's a case of the goverment giving to and enforcing orders that sites that host/share copyrighted content are blocked via an international firewall, similar to what China does. So, for instance, if you run a blog and you decide to review a movie, and have images that the producer decides violates his copyright, he can ask the powers that be to block an American audience from seeing your site.

It won't be a trainsmash if you have only local readership, but in the case of a blog that receives a majority of its visits from the US it could be a bit of damn disaster.

The wording is also very broad, and could result in international sites that get a lot of US business to lose money if someone decides to block the site.

Again, very much along the same lines as our infamous secrecy bill. Pretty much amounts to internet censorship. Like what China does. And even India is considering.
 
This could cause a lot of companies to move their datacenters out of the US. I wonder if they thought what the impact of this would have on their local economy.
 
pseudo said:
This could cause a lot of companies to move their datacenters out of the US. I wonder if they thought what the impact of this would have on their local economy.
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were in the world did you ever see a politician care about the economy when big business is paying his bills?
 
Its similarities to the recently approved protection of information bill is uncanny. Both are way broader than what should be allowed. Both are/were suspect to massive public outcry. One government might care...
 
I think these lines should be remembered by everyone, those in support of the bill, those against it, those protesting and those against the protesters.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.


Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.


Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.


Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak out because I was Protestant.


Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
- Martin Niemöller
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OmegaFenix said:
I think these lines should be remembered by everyone, those in support of the bill, those against it, those protesting and those against the protesters.
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So true. This bill is not really for anti-piracy. Its more anti privacy. Its going to be used to block websites and track you and if you visit the wrong websites you will be deemed a terrorist. Sounds stupid but mark my words thats what america has become.
 
Tsar said:
So true. This bill is not really for anti-piracy. Its more anti privacy. Its going to be used to block websites and track you and if you visit the wrong websites you will be deemed a terrorist. Sounds stupid but mark my words thats what america has become.
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sadly what can we here in sa do if the american public doesnt want to do something about it?
 
Tsar said:
So true. This bill is not really for anti-piracy. Its more anti privacy. Its going to be used to block websites and track you and if you visit the wrong websites you will be deemed a terrorist. Sounds stupid but mark my words thats what america has become.
Click to expand...

You read but you do not comprehend. Those words are as much a warning to the naysayers of this bill as it is to its supporters. Sure the mass hysteria like opposition to this bill is a good thing but next time the outcry could easily be against something you personally care about. Similarly protesting against dictatorships may be good, the anti-capitalism protest currently the trend may even still be interpreted as "good" but what if the next protest is against equal job allocation? (You guyz in SA are already seeing this.) or something equally sinister?
 
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