American Censorship Day

[WizardStan]

That was my suggestion! I came up with it. I totally tweeted it weeks ago. All credit to me!


<_<

 

[Prometheus]

Hahaha... :lol:


I hope they do go through with it, and good for them if they do. This US bill would affect far more than just folks from there, after all.

 

[elwing]

Your government is currently being run by a bunch of children

Very true!


unfortunately:

they won't learn until they've burned themselves at least once.

is very untrue

 

[jeremy]

This reminds me of the very funny quote by senator Ted Stevens. "The internet is a series of tubes". How can these people decide on the future of the internet when they don't fully comprehend what it is or how it works.


And no, it will not stop piracy. piracy will always find a way.


Like when my country, Belgium, tried to block thepiratebay.org. A few minutes later a new website popped up, depiraatbaai.be (thepiratebay in dutch), and has been online ever since.


Of course with SOPA it's going to be a lot harder, but criminals and hackers have always been more creative than the government.

 

[WizardStan]

Of course with SOPA it's going to be a lot harder, but criminals and hackers have always been more creative than the government.

There's already a Firefox addon which bypasses the measures added by SOPA and PIPA. It isn't any harder or requiring of more creativity than any other anti-piracy thing they've tried to implement, it just looks stronger.


It's like spending countless hours and dollars putting iron bars on all the windows and then forgetting that the door doesn't even have a lock on it. And even if it did have a lock on it, all your good stuff is kept in the shed out back anyway.

 

[Mr Rob]

This reminds me of the very funny quote by senator Ted Stevens. "The internet is a series of tubes". How can these people decide on the future of the internet when they don't fully comprehend what it is or how it works.

Well, this isn't anything new. Politicians make decisions on all sorts of things they don't understand. Economics, health care, school lunch programs, prisons, freedom fries, etc.

There's already a Firefox addon which bypasses the measures added by SOPA and PIPA.

Would SOPA in any way prevent Firefox from distributing this addon?

 

[Blue Protoman]

They'll find a way.

 

[WizardStan]

Would SOPA in any way prevent Firefox from distributing this addon?

It is possible that SOPA could prevent Firefox from officially hosting the addon, I think, but SOPA could prevent Firefox from hosting any addon anyone has any sort of beef against at all for spurious claims; If Microsoft makes a claim against the IE tab addon violating their trademark, the entire website goes down.


Wouldn't really make a difference to this particular addon since you can install them from third party websites. Just have it up for download from a .ru or .nl website and there's nothing SOPA can do to stop it.

 

[Blue Protoman]

That extension isn't a cure-all, though. It won't bring back sites that are shut down, or content that was self-censored.

 

[WizardStan]

That's exactly the point though: it won't be of any use to the generally law abiding sites residing in the US that are just being cautious or that may have crossed some lines either unintentionally or with noble goals, it will only allow you to retain access to the pirate bay and other websites which are hosted outside of the US already.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Ah right, the blocking. But I'm sure non-American sites will self-censor themselves so they can keep their American customers or advertisers. The market is simply too huge to lose.

 

[WizardStan]

Indeed, but any site engaging in self censoring is probably doing so because it is a legitimate business and wants to continue doing business with the US: ie, it isn't a pirate site. SOPA was intended to stop piracy, and there's already dozens of workarounds that would allow these pirate sites to continue operating even within the US, meaning that the only people that will be harmed in any way by these bills are the generally law abiding businesses that perhaps were a little less observant of their content then they are expected to be (ie, reddit and other link sharing sites accidentally overlooking a copyright link) or entirely innocent bystanders that were in the wrong place at the wrong time (ie, Joe's Used DVD Emporium wrongly accused of copying DVDs)


The pirates have already found a way, absolutely no good (least of all the good that was intended) will come of these bills so I don't understand why they're even moving forward with them.

 

[Blue Protoman]

By the way, did anyone see that Emulator Zone (no ROMs there!) was C&D'd by Atari for using its name to list its Atari emulators? As a result they took 'em down. The site's got more info.

 

[DaMummy]

couple days old, i guess i should have posted this as soon as i read it, but it is, imho, pure fucking epic

> To Whom It May Concern:


>


> This letter is being written to you on behalf of our


> client, DreamWorks SKG (hereinafter ^ÓDreamWorks^Ô).


> DreamWorks is the exclusive owner of all copyright,


> trademark and other intellectual property rights in


> and to the ^ÓShrek 2^Ô motion picture. No one is


> authorized to copy, reproduce, distribute, or


> otherwise use the ^ÓShrek 2^Ô motion picture without


> the express written permission of DreamWorks.


[...]


> As you may be aware, Internet Service Providers can


> be held liable if they do not respond to claims of


> infringement pursuant to the requirements of the


> Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In


> accordance with the DMCA, we request your assistance


> in the removal of infringements of the ^ÓShrek 2^Ô


> motion picture from this web site and any other sites


> for which you act as an Internet Service Provider.


> We further declare under penalty of perjury that we


> are authorized to act on behalf of DreamWorks and


> that the information in this letter is accurate.


> Please contact me immediately to discuss this matter


> further.


As you may or may not be aware, Sweden is not a state in the United States


of America. Sweden is a country in northern Europe.


Unless you figured it out by now, US law does not apply here.


For your information, no Swedish law is being violated.


Please be assured that any further contact with us, regardless of medium,


will result in


a) a suit being filed for harassment


B) a formal complaint lodged with the bar of your legal counsel, for


sending frivolous legal threats.


It is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are ....... morons, and


that you should please go sodomize yourself with retractable batons.


Please also note that your e-mail and letter will be published in full on


[Removed]


Go fuck yourself.


Polite as usual,


anakata

 

[Prometheus]

Sorry DM - pretty sure I couldn't let the link stay, so I've put the letter into a quote, instead.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Heh. Bureaucracy.

 

[-Tj-]

Just curious, why was the post changed to quote the letter instead?

 

[DaMummy]

the link was on piratebay i understand the reason, no harm done. than again, pirate bay is mentioned in every other post in this thread and is of high importance to the subject. either way, the letter is exposed to a couple more people to enjoy


what i dont appreciate though, is that the 2nd point "letter b and closed parenthesis" was changed to a smiley

 

[Prometheus]

^ That wasn't me. :lol: Stupid automatic emotes. Do feel free to fix it.

 

[DaMummy]

I blame you, smileys are a popular way to censor stuff