SOPA - the future of the internet is at risk

I have quite a few stories in this library. Some of them may appear elsewhere that I don't know about. It's even possible that some of them may appear on pay sites without my knowledge, much less my permission. However, that doesn't mean I wish to shut down any and all sites that post my work without due process. The problem with these laws is that mere accusation is sufficient. The United States Constitution provides due process rights for those accused of a crime, and piracy of intellectual property is a crime. However, these two bills seem to overlook that. Current laws provide means of penalizing those who commit copyright violations, just ask those teenagers who have been assessed tens of thousands of dollars in copyright lawsuit judgments for downloading music. And let's be honest. Do you really think these laws are going to stop, or even slow down, the creation of bootleg movies and music OUTSIDE the US? These bills throw the baby out along with the bathwater.

A solution to piracy should not involve jettisoning due process. I would hope that wiser heads prevail, but then again, this is the US of A.

I have read with great interest on the SOPA/PIPA legislation. There is always a reason (good or bad) for the government to step in on these types of legislation. BUT, there is always an underlining reason for a form of legislation on censorship and its really never what they say is the reason. This will turn out to be an outright form of censorship and very little or nothing to do with copy writing of someones creativity. Don't believe it. The expression for government is true: "If you give them an inch, the will always take a mile."

There seems to have been a moderate degree of success in that a handful of SOPA/PIPA sponsors appear to have woken up to what is actually being proposed:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2139934/supporters-backing-away-sopa-pipa

I still wouldn't be confident that they won't go ahead though given the frightening degree of influence the media companies appear to have on politicians. And we are talking about a legal system that initially determined that sharing 24 songs merited a $2 million fine.

Yeah, media companies like Fox News who caters to the teabaggers and the Republican Party. The propaganda they spiel out is tremendous. The piracy thing is something people can be concerned about, but the SOPA going through could end up a kick in the arse/ass to all of us, being that you give these people an inch and they take a yard.

Interestingly enough a Tea Party branch or site was among those protesting the legislation. Murdoch doesn't care personal freedoms, his mantra is: show me the money!

The worry is the massive influence that lobbyists and those with vested interests seem to have in Washington. It's much the same in the UK but at least we have the BBC not Fox News.
At least here Murdoch will never have much more influence after the phone-hacking scandal-huge damages awarded today and plenty more to come.
If I have any hopes its that Google is such an essential and universally used tool that if it and a few other internet prime movers withdrew service for a few days then Washington would have to sit up and listen.
The loss of some companies in the entertainment industry wouldn't unduly bother me, others would take over straight away.
The loss of the internet, Google and Wikipedia would be unthinkable and they couldn't be replaced oivernight.
Not much the rest of the world could do except send possibly send millions of unpleasant emails to US congressmen and block up their inboxes.

The good news today for all the spanking film producers on this board is that MegaUpload.com is dead and buried. The US arrested the owners (whilst they were in New Zealand), seized the domain names and closed them down! Hoorah for Uncle Sam!

This is how to deal with piracy!

Which simply supports the position that the likes of SOPA, PIPA etc are totally unnecessary as previously stated.

The good news is that the protest seems to have had some effect and a number of supporters of the bill are now rethinking their position. However we must remain vigilant, because they'll keep trying to get it through under various guises.