Both SOPA and PIPA basically gave anyone the ability to shutdown any website for almost no reason, with no chance of defending yourself, no accountability and no chance of compensation for being wrongfully taken offline.
That kind of bill has nothing to do with stopping piracy that is a direct attack against freedom of speech.
The shutdown of Megaupload required the cooperation of multiple foreign governments. The point of SOPA was to allow the US to shut down a site without any cooperation.
"Sanchez pointed out that Megaupload's business model depends on hosting large volumes of user-submitted material without scrutinizing their contents." Doesnt this apply to facebook, youtube, flickr and every single website?
SOPA wasn't about piracy. It was never about piracy. It was about being able to kill emergent competition. Supporters like Rupert Murdock, don't like that you can read blogs and newspapers for free online instead of having to listen to his many many media outlets.
Do not let these politicians fool you. SOFA and PIPA are SPECIFICALLY designed to interfere with free speech in a way that scares law abiding sites into simply being too afraid to even discuss about or link to pirated sites. They are preventing the spread of information thereby hoping they reduce the spread of piracy. The poorly worded nature of these bills arent an accident, they are intentional.
The irony in all of this is that these laws do not even remotely impact an intelligent user from obtaining whatever he/she wants to download illegally. You can shutdown a million Megaloads and pass a hundred SOFAs and you cannot stop a pirate until you change the morality and the system.
You have to make media more convient, accessible and reasonable to purchase, otherwise they will keep stealing it. In my opinion, things are improving, most especially with music, however, they need to more fully embrace digital rights management (for users) when it comes to streaming all movies, games, etc and address the blatant price-fixing on things when pruchased in stores.
For example, it shouldnt cost the same fixed $75-100 to purchase the exact same Lord of the Rings Trilogy theatrical edition that has been out for the past 10 years.
just think if the MPAA and RIAA were using their time/money to develop a way to do what mega upload did, all that money would have gone to them and SOPA wouldn't exist. But they are too interested in boneing the little guy and forcing people to try to go back to an out dated distribution system that noone wants/likes/needs.
Well, not quite. Youtube tried to look for copyright content upon upload, and Facebook isn't quite open to the entire internet (most content is private).
However, if the feds decide to be ultra strict, any site with an upload functionality and at least one piece of copyright content on it can be shut down. That is a scary possibility.
Wow. Someone else get's it, I thought I was the only one. They can't really solve anything so they just keep moving the goal posts. No one bothers to ask how well the previous laws work and only listen to the "turn a new corner" BS. No accountability at all.
The task of shutting down Megaupload was an elaborate and complex process. With SOPA, this process would be drastically easier and the occurrence of shutting down websites would skyrocket.
dsmxJan 23, 2012Buried
Both SOPA and PIPA basically gave anyone the ability to shutdown any website for almost no reason, with no chance of defending yourself, no accountability and no chance of compensation for being wrongfully taken offline.
That kind of bill has nothing to do with stopping piracy that is a direct attack against freedom of speech.
zipkoJan 23, 2012Buried
The shutdown of Megaupload required the cooperation of multiple foreign governments. The point of SOPA was to allow the US to shut down a site without any cooperation.
alepennJan 23, 2012Buried
I just buried everything you've submitted. Don't be a douche and play games.
ect5150Jan 23, 2012Buried
Because politicians think they aren't doing their job if they aren't passing some new law. This is exactly why political gridlock can be a good thing.
dennysongJan 23, 2012Buried
"Sanchez pointed out that Megaupload's business model depends on hosting large volumes of user-submitted material without scrutinizing their contents." Doesnt this apply to facebook, youtube, flickr and every single website?
Mudlark48Jan 23, 2012Buried
that just wrong. these bills do NOT just take the freedom of speech away, they are just killing it.
langfordJan 23, 2012Buried
SOPA wasn't about piracy. It was never about piracy. It was about being able to kill emergent competition. Supporters like Rupert Murdock, don't like that you can read blogs and newspapers for free online instead of having to listen to his many many media outlets.
mikeymicronJan 23, 2012Buried
You should be voting the story not the submitter. Plenty of people would have submitted this article
siliconfluxJan 23, 2012Buried
Do not let these politicians fool you. SOFA and PIPA are SPECIFICALLY designed to interfere with free speech in a way that scares law abiding sites into simply being too afraid to even discuss about or link to pirated sites. They are preventing the spread of information thereby hoping they reduce the spread of piracy. The poorly worded nature of these bills arent an accident, they are intentional.
The irony in all of this is that these laws do not even remotely impact an intelligent user from obtaining whatever he/she wants to download illegally. You can shutdown a million Megaloads and pass a hundred SOFAs and you cannot stop a pirate until you change the morality and the system.
You have to make media more convient, accessible and reasonable to purchase, otherwise they will keep stealing it. In my opinion, things are improving, most especially with music, however, they need to more fully embrace digital rights management (for users) when it comes to streaming all movies, games, etc and address the blatant price-fixing on things when pruchased in stores.
For example, it shouldnt cost the same fixed $75-100 to purchase the exact same Lord of the Rings Trilogy theatrical edition that has been out for the past 10 years.
norman619Jan 23, 2012Buried
Law enforcement already has the power to shut down websites which are violating criminal laws. SOPA would have given this power to corporations.
Rien1786Jan 23, 2012Buried
just think if the MPAA and RIAA were using their time/money to develop a way to do what mega upload did, all that money would have gone to them and SOPA wouldn't exist. But they are too interested in boneing the little guy and forcing people to try to go back to an out dated distribution system that noone wants/likes/needs.
ognatovskiyJan 23, 2012Buried
Well, not quite. Youtube tried to look for copyright content upon upload, and Facebook isn't quite open to the entire internet (most content is private).
However, if the feds decide to be ultra strict, any site with an upload functionality and at least one piece of copyright content on it can be shut down. That is a scary possibility.
norman619Jan 23, 2012Buried
Sadly there are many people here who digg or bury an article based on the submitter and not the content of the article.
iprintallJan 23, 2012Buried
Wow. Someone else get's it, I thought I was the only one. They can't really solve anything so they just keep moving the goal posts. No one bothers to ask how well the previous laws work and only listen to the "turn a new corner" BS. No accountability at all.
ognatovskiyJan 23, 2012Buried
Either because he is a fool who doesn't get it, or because he is a corrupt assh**e whose overlords hate the internet. Or both.
ognatovskiyJan 23, 2012Buried
Dropbox also comes to mind. I hope they have a strong legal team!
mlw4428Jan 23, 2012Buried
Except all of those domains still report to ICANN....which itself is a US based company.
ognatovskiyJan 23, 2012Buried
Also, they need to embrace stuff like Netflix and Spotify because those services are how they can compete with piracy.
Instead their execs are fighting to maintain an unsustainable status quo.
kurtvarnerJan 23, 2012Buried
The task of shutting down Megaupload was an elaborate and complex process. With SOPA, this process would be drastically easier and the occurrence of shutting down websites would skyrocket.
paleoroundtableJan 23, 2012Buried
It's more than that though. They make money by selling out the American people and the nation to the 0.1% who own the special interest PACS.