Sopa
 

The Definitive Post On Why SOPA And Protect IP Are Bad, Bad Ideas | Techdirt
Community for the Opposition of the "Stop Online Piracy Act"
Stop American Censorship
Universal Censors Megaupload Song, Gets Branded a “Rogue Label” | TorrentFreak
Daily Kos Action
Avaaz - Save the Internet!
Stop Online Piracy Act Vote Delayed | Threat Level | Wired.com
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/1...r-internet-...

(That video provides a good, simple explanation, but the links [which I stole from the description, yes] either go into far more detail or give you a chance to act against it, so give them a look as well)

If you aren't bothered enough by the fate of the entire internet to even try to look into this, I'll give a very basic summary here: SOPA is a bill designed to 'stop piracy'. The intention of the bill is to change current laws regarding the controlling of piracy across the USA (and by extension, the whole world). The new bill will allow DNS blocking of sites that have previously harboured copyright infringement without actually promoting it. If you don't quite understand the dangers of that, allow me to give an example that should have us all worried: this site. We can post links to songs in our album reviews. We have our own section for posting song lyrics. We do not have rock solid guidelines on discussion of potentially illegal material, and users are capable of even promoting illegal activity without censorship. By the rules of this act, our site is a danger to the world of music and should be shut down. Do you think that's right?

If you're living in the US, I'd highly recommend trying to do something to stop this. All the links I've made available give you plenty of chances to fight against this affront to humanity. And if you aren't in the US, you can still help prevent it like I'm currently trying to. Spread the word, tell everyone you can to help get it known that this bill is wrong. And if you're somehow actually for this bill, then maybe you should do some research into what the bill is and how it'll stop your internet box interneting like it used to.

Sorry, I don't quite understand what we who are living in the UK ought to do. Are we going to be affected?

I don't see how this site will be endangered by this, sure, we have links to songs, but we don't infringe any copyright.

There is no ****ting way this will actually happen

*Keep calm. I'm trying to humour him.*

Don't patronise bro

It seems a bit too blown out of proportion. I'm not going to drop the "conspiracy theory" bomb, but it does seem too much like hyperbole.

How is it hyperbole? It's a legitimate thing

I dunno, there's a lot of big names behind it and a lot of support from the US senate, who are, as with all politicians as soon as the internet gets mentioned, a bunch of ****ing idiots who have no idea what they're doing.

@Salami The US has a lot of control over how the internet works across the world. The specifics are complicated, but their laws affect everything in a way. Add to that the fact that you could potentially lose any site that's remotely based in the US.

Is it likely for this bill to be passed?

Well, there's a good question. I'd say that in all likelihood, no. One look at the list of (very powerful) internet companies opposing the bill, not to mention to public appeal against it makes it a dangerous move for the US to take. But there are a scary amount of politicians supporting it as well, and if there's one thing that groups like the RIAA are good at it's casting their humanity aside in favour of deepening their pockets even further. I think there is a small chance that this bill might go through, or its younger sister which is nearly as bad will be passed in the wake of it. That's not a risk I'm willing to take, at all, which is why I started this thread.