SOPA lost for now! Thoughts?

[Deleted]

'Good to hear', is all that came to mind..

[Stir]

If they really want to stop online piracy, then the only way to do that is to enable a government-controlled ceiling to product prices, as well as a controlled ceiling to what a person is allowed to earn for a certain job.

For instance, movie stars and pop artists make such ridiculous amounts of money that it's really not funny anymore. The price on movies and music is still quite high. I don't mind paying for my movies, music and games... Not at all. But in the past few years, I've only paid for arthouse movies and small productions, for independent music labels, and for games which I've at least had the option of testing them beforehand (games are really expensive these days). Why the arthouse and indy customership? Because they don't have the means to pay their employees such ridiculous amounts. True enough; their prices are still relatively high, but in their case, it is because they only have a limited distribution, since only a relatively small audience actually wants their products. I like the thought of them making at least a reasonable profit.

But arthouse and indy gets pirated, too. Usually because it's hard to find copies at your local store. They might not be able to order copies either. So I actually pirated a lot of the movies and music I later on ended up buying when I came across it. Fair's fair, after all.

Now; even though none of us are forced to pay these high prices (after all; it is your choice to use this entertainment), it does set a nasty precedence for other forms of entertainment. And all forms of entertainment become more and more expensive, with the exception of books. And this... This is a problem, because it indirectly does force people to pay more and more.

The internet is the great equalizer. With the internet, it doesn't matter that much if you're rich or poor. Sure; poor people will have to wait ages for their download to finish, but the internet is a kind of refuge, if you will. It is the only place that is free of the modern class difference. Its mode of anarchy is exactly what people need, for at least an aspect of their lives. The lack of regulation makes people equal, and without the direct threat of harm, regulation to prevent violence is hardly necessary. Anonymity can survive and, uniquely to the internet, have merit for humanity.

The whole 'anti-piracy'-thing affects far more than just copyright laws. For starters, the doesn't affect copyright laws at all; no profit is being made by internet piracy, and that is exactly why it's so hard to make it illegal. Participants do it of their own free wills, not out of a desire for income. It fits the spirit of the Great Human Equalizer.

To my mind, the only reason to stop it is to not want or desire equality. To want real-world possession of goods to be the fickle god of the modern nobility class. Now; I'm an atheist, but I most strongly agree with Jesus of Nazareth when he says that greed is the worshipping of false gods, that money is the incarnation of the devil, that, in order to be fully and completely human, you have to be willing to give and share freely and willingly, without restraint, desire or hesitation. And to me, Capitalism embodies everything that Jesus preached against. There's a reason he was the most famous man of the past two millennia. The fact that he could see this problem of greed and gathering earthly possession, the fact that Buddha came to a similar conclusion, the fact that Abraham left Uruk because people worshipped objects... These facts show us that greed and capitalism, essentially the same things, are problems that humanity is facing for thousands of years. The earliest known 'civilization' (complete with bureaucracy) dates back six thousand years, and the drive to collect more possessions has to be far, far older than that. It is a sickness of the human entity, a cancer that eats at us and destroys us. For all the good that it brings, all that 'good' is born from conflicts in which countless of millions, even billions of humans have lost their lives to war, famine and plague, most of which could have been prevented if people weren't that dead-set on claiming possession of objects, thereby denouncing other people's rights to the same resources. After all; the goal of greed is not to collect possession as such, but to make sure that you collect more possessions than anyone else.

The internet has been a safe haven for a while. A place where people weren't affected by this so strongly. A place where open discussion forums and networking sites gave everyone equal social standing. A place where your anonymity protected your reputation, but also kept your reputation from damaging your on-line freedoms. A place where people willingly leave their known class behind in order to be a part of the faceless mass that embodies freedom.

Censoring the internet is one of the biggest crimes you can commit against humanity. By censoring the internet, you prevent people to share. You take away people's voice, and people's freedom to exist, at least partly, outside of a system that rewards only one's ability to tread on one's fellow beings. By destroying 'digital piracy,' you enforce the idea that the ones who own more than you do can control how much you need to spend. Can ultimately control who and what you are, as well as your worth as a person. The complete lie and illusion that is money is now controlling the world completely... But it does not (yet) control the internet. Your worth as a person is no longer tied to your proficiencies, your actual accomplishments, your identity... Instead, it is measured by how much money you make, and thereby completely disregards the truth of the matter: Money does not actually exist.

By denying people the ability to share freely and willingly, without hesitation, without desire, without greed... You deny people the ability to be fully and completely human.

[ComputerNerd]

The DNS blocking may have been a major part of the problem, but the vague wording in open-ended design in what it allows them to twist it to is equally so.
Pre-SOPA a video on on youtube was taken down because of music playing on a radio in the bacground.

SOPA or PIPA allow even more power, where they have even less need to prove the infringement before they can demand the content is removed.
It has been suggested, and is very realistic that it could be used to remove any inflammatory or political content because it can be ordered to be removed without proof of the infringement.

Once you pay for something, particularly music and video in whatever medium then you should have a a reasonable degree of freedom as to what you do with it. On what device you wish to play it on, to make backup copies in case of damage to media etc.

DRM is getting in the way of that, and is I would argue the biggest reason for piracy, to give back the freedom the consumer should have.
That is what the acts are designed to do, to give back control over exactly what we can do with our media back to those who distributed it, rather than to those who actually paid for it.

[Deleted]

I dont really care about usa

This would quite directly affect the entire English speaking world.

[Ais]

Eventually, something does need to be done about online piracy. Not SOPA, not PIPA. Something, though.

Yeah, but not in the legislation. If you provide good enough service, people will buy it.

[Kivimetsan]

I love how people who are twice or three times my age, who have no knowledge of how to use a computer, are so eager to shut down the most prolific man made creation to date. Something that has changed humanity in the most critical way is about to be shut down, by a generation much older and ignorant than us, because they're scared of all the internet pirates, while countries are being raped from the inside by fractional reserve banking and dodgy derivative markets.

Who else loves government as much as I do? Hopefully mine or the next generation realizes how much of a failure it really is...

[Bigbazz]

The battle is won, but the war rages on.

[Wowzersch]

SOPA was like a knee jerk reaction. I dont think people are against copyright protection but the law needs to protect the consumers too.

[Adam Jensen]

SOPA may be dead but we must remain vigilante and make sure that PIPA does not pass and that Congress doesn't try to sneak SOPA into some massive appropriations bill or try to pass it when they think no one is looking.

---------- Post added 2012-01-16 at 11:35 AM ----------

I dont really care about usa

You will when the American Government starts shutting down websites that are hosted in the USA but used internationally.

I'll give you a hint, your posting on one such website.

[Twotonsteak]

The only reason SOPA failed (for now) is because there was so much attention on it. I can assure you that the minute people stop watching SOPA the Government will try to pass it again.

[Anjerith]

PIPPA is a much more reasonable attempt at regulating Piracy. It's still in it's infancy so rather than being lazy and letting it get to the stage that SOPA was at before we bothered to pay attention to it, now is the time to get in on the ground floor.

[Domiku]

They give with one hand and take more away with the other. They will say "oh we didn't put SOPA in place we listened" and then a few months later they will allow PIPA and say "what we got rid of SOPA like you asked and did you a favor"

The governments to this all the time they will give you money of something like fuel and then a few weeks later increase the cost of your food bill by a crap load and say "oh but we helped you"

They are just offering something no wants wants so you argue, they turn it down and look like good guys and then giving you something you don't want but not as bad so they look like the good guys.

You cant win they will say "oh we are going to take £10 from you each week in an extra tax" and then your say no chance and they will say "oh ok we will do this other thing and only take £5" and everyone cheers and says thanks.

[Orby]

I am very glad it didnt pass, being from the Uk it sucked that I coudnt help much, but nice to see it pass... for now!!!

[Deleted]

Awesome!!!!

[Deleted]

Also pleased.

[Deleted]

Hell yeah, there's still hope!!

[Deleted]

Which is why they were going to go to the extreme of shutting down an entire site like "youtube" in order to stop the sharing of copyrighted material even though its not the fault of the website but of the user that uploaded it. An extreme measure that is not necessary.

Which is also why it'll never pass while google controls so much.

[Cptmyname]

Still not worried. Congress is just going to have to grow up and accept that fact that internet censorship isn't happening.

[Aurimas]

My (sarcastic) thoughts?

You'll soon find it buried in the middle of a 3000 page bill that either no one would disagree with, or wouldn't care enough to read such as the "i like hotdogs referendum". It will be very near the line which appropriates womens' uterus...

As if they never tried that before...

[Deleted]

Eventually, something does need to be done about online piracy. Not SOPA, not PIPA. Something, though.

You cannot fight it. That's the problem, and DRM is not the way either. Pirates, will always pirate. If your DRM is too restricting, people who usually don't pirate, are often forced into pirating software.
That's the problem, pirates will never be willing to pay money and stop pirating, and they will always find a way.
SOPA would stop online piracy but in the meanwhile destroy the internet. PIPA will do the same, but in a less extreme fashion. But either will basically ruin the chances of indie developpers getting their games in the spotlight, and that's just bad for industry, since competition provokes innovation, without innovation, you'll be playing CoD 201 by the end of 2015 with no new game modes.