Statement regarding SOPA

[IchBin™]

Someone should get their DNS provider to shut his site down! The classic definition of hypocrite!

[青山 素子]

http://twitpic.com/88ueqz
I hope those claims are true.  It will really effect the entire SOPA/PIPA to to know this being true.

It's legit. The image was Creative Commons licensed and his site was in violation of the terms on that image. Vice.com broke the news: The Author of SOPA Is a Copyright Violator and TechDirt picked up the story and it's spread quite a bit since then.

The image has since been removed from the website.

[Angelina Belle]

Actually, Wikipedia content was fully available all day long.
The "blackout" was done with CSS and an extra div much like the "please donate" box they normally run at the top of articles.

firebug and IE's F12 developer's tools make this easy to spot, and easy to flip the switch on "display: none".

[live627]

Or, better yet, disable Javascript.

[Arantor]

Technically, it was JS, not CSS, because you could bypass it by turning off JS. Thing is, on the page discussing SOPA, they actually explained that it was possible to get round the blackout by using mobile or by turning off JavaScript... you know, like it was planned that way.

Heck, most browsers let you bypass it by simply pressing Esc during loading.


So, yesterday, we had all the protests against SOPA and PIPA. Today, one of the sites well known for its 'we allow people to share bigger files' mentality - MegaUpload - was shut down for mass copyright infringement.

Putting aside the fact that maybe 0.1% of its users are legitimately entitled to complain about being inconvenienced (as opposed to the other 99.9% who are inconvenienced by having one less route to illegitimately obtain content), explain to me again why SOPA and PIPA are needed to 'protect US innovation' and 'protect US jobs' when it's very clear that the US authorities already have the tools they need to take out infringing sites?

[ApplianceJunk]

explain to me again why SOPA and PIPA are needed to 'protect US innovation' and 'protect US jobs' when it's very clear that the US authorities already have the tools they need to take out infringing sites?

Maybe they want better tools to make their job easier.

[live627]

Could it be another step in a mad quest for power?

[Fustrate]

It's not that Congress wants to do it - they're being paid and lobbied by the massive film, television, and music industries to do it. As long as they get their money, they'll go along with most anything.

[Arantor]

That's the thing. They already *have* the tools they need, they don't need any more tools to do the job.

[busterone]

In a nutshell. It is fueled by the overpaid and greedy Hollywood moguls, and fed to the gullible politicians who have no concept of reality in the first place.  They use the catchphrase "lost American jobs, and in an economy where so many are hurting for jobs, the politicians think that it will make them look like they are earning their keep. 

[青山 素子]

That's the thing. They already *have* the tools they need, they don't need any more tools to do the job.

The government has the tools, but the "IP" industry would rather not have to go through due process and just would like to have sites cut off on their say only. The bills aren't about preventing piracy, they're about gaining control to be the only legitimate means of distribution so they can milk as much profit as they want. With copyright length growing each time the oldest works are nearing the end of their protection, the main drivers behind the bills are hoping to finally become the only gatekeepers of speech.

[Arantor]

-sigh- Yeah, I figured it might be something like that.

Interestingly one of the takes on it all compared the way SOPA is intended to work with what Google did to .co.cc domains a bit back, suggesting that Google has more authority than it should have when it comes to sites and that it is really little better.

[Antechinus]

ROFLMAO. Nice job, Lamar. What a prat.

[ethankcvds]

Looks like they did not need SOPA or PIPA to take down megaupload. http://gizmodo.com/5877612/feds-kill-megaupload

[Arantor]

Exactly as I have been lamenting

[LiroyvH]

In retribution, fbi.gov is completely unavailable right now.
What a shame that megaupload.com is down, only site where you could share things quickly with proper download speeds. (No, not talking about copyright infringing stuff here...)

Wonder if it has got anything to do with their fight with Universal...

[Arantor]

Seriously, though, how many people used MegaUpload for legitimate reasons vs the number of people who used it for illegitimate ones?

[ethankcvds]

Wonder if it has got anything to do with their fight with Universal...

This article says that it was the MPAA http://nerdreactor.com/2012/01/19/megaupload-com-is-mega-gone/

[LiroyvH]

Seriously, though, how many people used MegaUpload for legitimate reasons vs the number of people who used it for illegitimate ones?

That is a question I dont think anyone will know the answer to.
MU did respond to notice & takedown though o0

[Arantor]

See, notice and takedown only works as far as stuff actually has to be reported for it to be taken down. My guess is that the bulk of content was not reported, and I'd be quite willing to bet that under 1% of actual files on there are legitimate.

How many people need to openly share 1GB+ files with the entire internet? The Linux distros, sure, but they arrange their own through mirrors and so on, they don't use a mostly anonymous service to do so.