American Censorship Day

[Caine]

I have read a couple of horrible claims about this (if they are true), but unfortunately those claims tend to lack a cited source.


Is it true that the House of Representatives is censoring the opposition?

 

[Mr Rob]

I've heard that, too, though at one time I thought it was six people from big media vs. one internet representative.


Strange world is strange. Is there room in the Netherlands for Americans to come over and have sane internet rules?

 

[DaMummy]

i want cookies

 

[WizardStan]

i want cookies

Terrorist!

 

[diligentcircle]

I've made a short video commenting on SOPA:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZwsNbuI_Jg


Probably not interesting to anyone here, but there's no harm in sharing, I figure.

 

[Blue Protoman]

i want cookies

Terrorist!

If the Cold War were still going on (and you knew DaMummy's background), you might call him a Communist.

 

[diligentcircle]

This is americancensorship.org's latest protest (and, it seems, last protest).


To see the uncensored version of the message below, visit:


http://americancensorship.org/posts/7780/uncensor


████ had ██████ not ████.


Of course, I didn't create all that creative of a message, but hey.

 

[Mr Rob]

This is americancensorship.org's latest protest (and, it seems, last protest).


To see the uncensored version of the message below, visit:


http://americancenso...s/7780/uncensor


████ had ██████ not ████.


Of course, I didn't create all that creative of a message, but hey.

Ha, you're right, that wasn't very creative. Interesting idea, though, hopefully it'll muster more support against SOPA (though people being opposed to SOPA is not very effective, I need to buy a congressman).

 

[diligentcircle]

This is americancensorship.org's latest protest (and, it seems, last protest).


To see the uncensored version of the message below, visit:


http://americancenso...s/7780/uncensor


████ had ██████ not ████.


Of course, I didn't create all that creative of a message, but hey.

Ha, you're right, that wasn't very creative. Interesting idea, though, hopefully it'll muster more support against SOPA (though people being opposed to SOPA is not very effective, I need to buy a congressman).

From what I understand, the point is to flood congressmen with phone calls and E-mails, not to get additional support.

 

[Mr Rob]

From what I understand, the point is to flood congressmen with phone calls and E-mails, not to get additional support.

? Isn't the point to stop the legislation from passing? From what I've seen, even if 90% of the American population was against it, and technology people could prove (with science!) that SOPA will hurt the economy and be bad for freedom of expression and all sorts of other things, Congress would still be clueless and pass it.


Also, I'm cynical.

 

[diligentcircle]

From what I understand, the point is to flood congressmen with phone calls and E-mails, not to get additional support.

? Isn't the point to stop the legislation from passing? From what I've seen, even if 90% of the American population was against it, and technology people could prove (with science!) that SOPA will hurt the economy and be bad for freedom of expression and all sorts of other things, Congress would still be clueless and pass it.


Also, I'm cynical.

Well, people being against the bill doesn't stop the legislation from passing. Making sure that people in power know that lots of people oppose the bill could actually have an impact.


Unfortunately, that's all we can do as people (short of violently overthrowing the government).

 

[Caine]

From what I've seen, even if 90% of the American population was against it, and technology people could prove (with science!) that SOPA will hurt the economy and be bad for freedom of expression and all sorts of other things, Congress would still be clueless and pass it.

This sounds awfully familiar. Our secretary of justice wants to introduce legislation to prohibit downloading of copyrighted material (right now we have regulations for compensating artists instead).


[edit]To clarify: downloading of music/movies is allowed, uploading is not.[/edit]


The general population is against this legislation, some artists have argued against it and the parliament is against it. Instead of dropping the effort he decides to go on with it and adds some unimplementable restrictions to the bill in an attempt to pass it. <_<

 

[Mr Rob]

To be honest, I think we're going about this the wrong way. Here's what we need to do:


1. Let SOPA pass. Unopposed.


2. Then get Facebook's Zuckerberg to say "Oh no! riaa.org is using the Facebook logo on their web page. This is clearly a violation SOPA; Attorney General, I command thee to ban riaa.org from the interwebs!" Or Twitter. Or the guy who made the first RSS logo. Or anyone, really.


3. ...


4. Profit!

 

[Mr Rob]

From the MPAA's blog:

The Internet Society argues that DNS filtering ‘has the potential to restrict free and open communications and could be used in ways that limit the rights of individuals or minority groups.’ Of course it could. ISPs or the U.S. government could use DNS filtering to block sites they do not like. But guns can be used by criminals to kill people too and that does not mean that we do not let the police or security guards have guns. It is not the tool of DNS blocking that is at issue, but the legal regime in which the tool is allowed to be used.

Discuss.

 

[WizardStan]

Wow, what a strawman. There are laws governing gun use. If an officer so much as unholsters his gun, there are papers to fill out. If it is pointed at someone, there is more paperwork. If it is fired for any reason, there is yet more paperwork. Heaven forbid if they should actually hit someone, they'll be filling paperwork for hours if not days! And if they use their weapon incorrectly, there are (theoretically) consequences.


SOPA is a blanket, unrestricted "gun". There is no explanation required, no paper work to be filed, no consequences in the event of mistaken filing, just an email which requires websites be taken down "because we said so".


The comparison between this and police shows an incredible amount of ignorance of both topics.

 

[shinifish]

I think this is terrible why would congress even consider this. Well too bad most of the country does not make educated decisions about who to vote for to represent them.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Wow, what a strawman. There are laws governing gun use. If an officer so much as unholsters his gun, there are papers to fill out. If it is pointed at someone, there is more paperwork. If it is fired for any reason, there is yet more paperwork. Heaven forbid if they should actually hit someone, they'll be filling paperwork for hours if not days! And if they use their weapon incorrectly, there are (theoretically) consequences.


SOPA is a blanket, unrestricted "gun". There is no explanation required, no paper work to be filed, no consequences in the event of mistaken filing, just an email which requires websites be taken down "because we said so".


The comparison between this and police shows an incredible amount of ignorance of both topics.

Nail on the head.

 

[diligentcircle]

Comics:


http://www.getyourcensoron.com/


A bit half-assed in the art department, but a bit funny nonetheless.

 

[Mr Rob]

I particularly liked this one:

Spoiler

I'm also trying to watch the web stream online, but it's terrible. I'm on a university with very good internet access, too, and it's laggy as all hell, with no audio.


Perhaps instead of blocking and banning streaming sites from overseas (for the NFL, for example), they ask them to help with their interwebs.

 

[Prometheus]

There's an interesting article here, which claims that some very big online companies and resources, such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook, are considering doing a blackout in protest against SOPA and PIPA sometime this month. It's said that it's believed it will be on January 23rd.