SOPA / PROTECT IP Breaks The Internet

I'm surprised that this topic hasn't shown up much if at all on C3 so far, so I decided to create this thread to spread the word. This is something that could affect everyone who is reading this here and many, many others, so I highly encourage you to set some time aside to read this thoroughly.

Here's a FAQ to give you a quick overview of this very important matter:

What is the intent of SOPA/PROTECT IP?

The stated intent of the bills is to provide tools for law enforcement and copyright holders to protect their intellectual property rights. Here's an examination of where these bills fail.

What’s wrong with protecting copyrights?

Nothing! The devil, as they say, is in the details. PROTECT IP and SOPA will cause too much collateral damage, have a high potential for abuse, and won't even be that effective at stopping the crimes they target. Read alienth's examination of where these bills fail.

I'm not in the U.S. Why does this affect me?

Many of the sites that you may use (e.g. Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, etc.) are all affected by this law and will be required to hide offending domains from you.

If a non-U.S. site is blocked in the U.S., the site could suffer financially or even be bankrupted by the loss of U.S. traffic and revenue.

I'm not a U.S. citizen. How can I help?

You can still call or e-mail the U.S. representatives (sponsors of the bills would be a good choice). Alternatively, scroll down to the form below and simply click "Not in the US?" and enter your E-Mail address to petition the State Department!!

More on Protect IP / SOPA:
Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Trashes SOPA On OutFront
Soledad O’Brien Grills Reddit Founder On The Site’s SOPA-Inspired Shut Down
Additional information about SOPA / PROTECT IP

In short...if this goes through it could destroy the internet as we know it and have a huge impact on many people's lives!! SITES YOU USE EVERY DAY COULD BE BLOCKED IF IT PASSES!!

If you can't or don't want to do any of the things mentioned in the FAQ, at least spread the word. Tell your friends and everybody else you know about it!! We can't let this happen!!

Sites that have joined the blackout:

Wikipedia

Google (US visitors only, censored logo)

Reddit

EFF

Michael Moore

Diaspora

Minecraft

Wolfire (creators of Lugaru, Overgrowth and the Humble Bundles)

Rock Paper Shotgun

Destructoid

explosm

DuckDuckGo (search engine)

Michael Geist (Canadian Copyright professor)

More information and those who have come out against the bill:

Over 100 in the legal profession come out against SOPA and PROTECT-IP

Open letter signed by artists including The Lonely Island, Trent Reznor, Neil Gaiman and OK Go against SOPA and PIPA

Ars Technica Sopa Resistance Day - includes various articles being published as part of the resistance day, including " A History of IP Violence" and "SOPA, Internet regulation, and the economics of piracy"

Michael Geist: Why Canadians should participate in the SOPA/PIPA protest

National Post: How Not to Stop Piracy

GOG.com joins against SOPA and PIPA

Frozenbyte (developers of Trine and Shadowgrounds series) are against SOPA

Google on SOPA and PIPA

Mozilla (Firefox, Thunderbird) stance on SOPA/PIPA and Help Stop PIPA and SOPA

Dyn (DNS company) on their opposition to SOPA

Techdirt: Why SOPA & PIPA Are A Bad Idea, Dangerous & Unnecessary



( Edited 19.01.2012 01:15 by Modplan Man )

Surely it's not going to go through? I mean, surely? Does anyone know if there's been any protests in America over it (not just signing a petition, I'm talking about marches etc.)?

I don't know anyone that thinks it's a good idea. On the other hand I'm sure there's a lot of support for it from a lot of rich people. :s

Cheesing it up said:
Surely it's not going to go through? I mean, surely? Does anyone know if there's been any protests in America over it (not just signing a petition, I'm talking about marches etc.)?

I don't know anyone that thinks it's a good idea. On the other hand I'm sure there's a lot of support for it from a lot of rich people. :s

There was already a previous campaign which various blogs joined in, adding a Stop American Censorship banner, which urged people to call, send letters and email representatives. Tumblr alone caused 80,000+ phone calls:

http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2011/11/dontbreaktheinternet-how-the-web-became-a-political-force-vs-sopa322.html

And today, 2 senators have dropped their co-sponsorship of the bills thanks to the protest it seems:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120118/07262317451/senator-marco-rubio-dropping-his-co-sponsorship-pipa.shtml

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120118/02111117450/first-one-down-rep-lee-terry-removes-his-name-as-sopa-co-sponsor.shtml

P.S. Turns out there is a street protest of the bill in New York, no idea on any others, with a live stream here:

http://new.livestream.com/nytm2012

( Edited 18.01.2012 22:06 by Modplan Man )

Good to hear support for the campaigns dropping from those high up and definitely glad Google, Wiki etc are getting into the protest. I do hope YouTube blackout - that would be a huge boost given it's complete user-driven nature.

Ridiculous bills that I for one definitely hope get shot down. Its implications would hurt all the biggest sites and have ramifications for sites all across the world.

Most of us have probably been aware of SOPA/PIPA since we're an internet kind of group. But today has really spread awareness in a big way. I'm a college student in America and throughout the day there was quite a bit of buzz about the issue. It was refreshing to see so many people aware about a "techy" freedom issue.

Maybe the old fogeys in Congress will wake up and take a look at the world. Or get the various corporate hands out of their pants.

*Edit*
Also just found this. It's interesting:

This comment has been found in violation of H.R. 3261, S.O.P.A and has been removed. �-��-��-� �-��-��-��-��-��-��-��-� �-��-��-��-��-��-� �-��-��-��-��-��-��-��-��-��-� �-��-� �-��-��-��-� �-��-� �-��-��-��-� �-��-��-��-��-��-��-��-��-��-� �-��-� .�-��-��-� �-��-��-�

A few more sites to add that are down:

Destructoid
Ctrl Alt Del
Explosm

I really love how effective these boycotts are. I knew about SOPA a long time ago, but today since wikipedia blacked out, everyone is talking about it!!! Yes! VIVA LA REVOLUCION

Well, I heard about it a few weeks ago and never thought anything of it, then it got delayed on Sunday, and now everyone's talking about it (not like Eastenders though).

at least 14 new senators are now opposed to PIPA, several of whom were previously co-sponsors:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/pipa-support-collapses-with-13-new-opponents-in-senate.ars

More are referenced in the comments, and others who have already dropped support can be read about here:

http://torrentfreak.com/pipa-sopa-co-sponsors-drop-like-flies-120118/

Modplan Man said:
at least 14 new senators are now opposed to PIPA, several of whom were previously co-sponsors:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/pipa-support-collapses-with-13-new-opponents-in-senate.ars

More are referenced in the comments, and others who have already dropped support can be read about here:

http://torrentfreak.com/pipa-sopa-co-sponsors-drop-like-flies-120118/

Fantastic. Hopefully more will follow.

Now this is interesting: Jon Stewart on the daily show was asked by a Reddit user in the audience why they hadn't covered SOPA/PIPA at all, and he promised to read up on it. The show yesterday covered it for apparently 8 minutes (can't watch it in the damn UK):

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/wed-january-18-2012-joe-nocera

*cough cough*

Apparently Jon doesn't seem to mind people posting clips on Youtube either in that segment (referencing "hunted down and sued" for posting any of it on YT, saying " and there's nothing I can do about that, it makes no sense").

( Edited 19.01.2012 11:09 by Modplan Man )

Echoes221 said:
A few more sites to add that are down:

Destructoid
Ctrl Alt Del
Explosm

Modplan Man said:
Now this is interesting: Jon Stewart on the daily show was asked by a Reddit user in the audience why they hadn't covered SOPA/PIPA at all, and he promised to read up on it. The show yesterday covered it for apparently 8 minutes (can't watch it in the damn UK):

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/wed-january-18-2012-joe-nocera

*cough cough*

Apparently Jon doesn't seem to mind people posting clips on Youtube either in that segment (referencing "hunted down and sued" for posting any of it on YT, saying " and there's nothing I can do about that, it makes no sense").

That's strange. Colbert did talk about it for a bit though. I'm too lazy to find the clip however lol.

Megaupload.com has been shutdown, not because of this SOPA business I don't think, but worth sharing. I got shitloads of stuff from there :[

Some Hollywood bigshots are claiming that because they gave campaign contributions to Obama, he should've supported them, not, as the White House in general did and effectively come out against the bills:

http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/exclusive-hollywood-moguls-stopping-obama-donations-because-of-administrations-piracy-stand/

This is one of the most bare faced admissions of corruption I've seen. They're saying they bought off Obamas/the White Houses support via campaign contributions and should get it regardless of what the public wants.

Relevant:

According to Abramoff, he started his lobbying career intending to persuade members of Congress to vote for his side based on the merits of a bill. However, he soon realized that “merits are interesting but they don’t necessarily win.” What does win, he said, is money; although members of Congress won’t usually ask for it directly, they will often promise to support a bill �" and then mention a fundraiser they’re giving.“They’re soliciting bribes, is what they’re doing,” Abramoff said. “Unfortunately, it’s spread throughout the system, whether it’s subtle or not.”

He also identified other problems, such as legislators who use congressional hearings as a “weapon” to punish opponents. In addition, he described congressional offices run by staffers whom Abramoff would promise to hire and therefore were beholden to him even as they worked in Congress. When Lessig noted that the problems Abramoff was detailing weren’t associated with his crimes, he replied: “What’s legal in the system is the problem. That’s where America’s attention ought to be focused.”

http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2011/12/09_jack_abramoff_talks_about_corruption.html

Azuardo said:
Megaupload.com has been shutdown, not because of this SOPA business I don't think, but worth sharing. I got shitloads of stuff from there :[

When I read that people from eight countries have been arrested, my initial reaction was that the U.S. was way out of line. However, after reading up a bit more, it seems that government authorities around the world took legal action against these guys. They just worked together to do it all at once. If that is really the case, then it seems like this situation may actually have been handled correctly. I'm cautious to say that, though. What are others' thoughts on it?

Also, Modlplan, I'm about to watch that Daily Show episode you posted. If there's anything particularly interesting, I'll share. Shame that the Daily Show seems so uninformed, but I'm glad that they listened to their audience and are seriously looking into the issue. That's very honest of them. Shame the "real" news shows aren't like that.

*Edit*
I watched the SOPA bit on the Daily Show. It was good. He showed examples of how idiotic the people in charge of this thing are. Mel Watt, the "Ranking Member of the Intellectual Property Sub-Committee" started a speech about SOPA with "From my perspective, just as an old country boy, um -and, you know, this is the only way I can understand this complex stuff- we need parallels on the virtual world to what we have in the real world, and I think this bill draws the appropriate balance..."

Then there was montage of quick clips of senators/representatives using the word "nerd."
"I'm not a nerd."
"I am not a nerd."
"I'm just not enough of a nerd."
"Maybe we oughta ask some nerds this thing really does. ... Let's have a hearing, bring in the nerds."

Then the Daily Show starts using a bunch of clips from obviously copyrighted movies. He even talks sarcastically about how we should worry about what piracy costs big companies. He lists companies like Viacom (who owns the Daily Show), Times Warner, Newscorps, and Disney. As he is naming them off, famous movie villains the companies own are shown on the screen (Viacom is Jabba the Hutt). Two birds with one brave stone. Then he says it makes him sick to see unoriginal people steal others' works and defend it with "fair-use" (the whole time showing clips of himself use copyrighted materials).

Also, Jon Stewart says, "By the way, if you post any of this on Youtube, you will be hunted down and sued! And there's nothing I can do about it. It makes no sense!"

Good for Jon Stewart.

( Edited 20.01.2012 00:41 by TAG )

Thanks for the summary TAG. We only get the "Global Edition" in the UK now, which means a few sections from the week of shows (used to get every episode, but for some reason that changed).

Some updates:

The MPAA is now also publicly stating that because they gave campaign contributions, they should automagically get support for everything they want (which refers to SOPA and PIPA), social consequences be damned.

In recent days, Dodd and other top Hollywood figures have threatened to cut off campaign donations to politicians who do not support their effort to crackdown on online copyright infringement.

"Those who count on quote 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake," Dodd said on Fox News on Thursday.

"Threats like that are no way to conduct the serious, sober discussions needed to figure out exactly what ails the movie industry and to come up with solutions," Harold Feld, legal director of Public Knowledge, said in a statement. "It was Hollywood’s arrogance in pushing bills through Congress without proper vetting that caused them to be withdrawn; these threats also are not helpful to figuring out what ails the industry and how to solve their issues. As the Blackout Day showed, that type of thinking is how the old politics works."

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/205491-consumer-group-accuses-hollywood-of-threatening-politicians

Also, both SOPA and PIPA are now being delayed:

http://democrats.senate.gov/2012/01/20/reid-statement-on-intellectual-property-bill/

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/205345-gop-chairman-postpones-piracy-legislation?

SOPA is particularly interesting seeing as Lamar Smith (writer of SOPA) repeatedly claimed there were no legitimate criticisms of the bill throughout the growing opposition. However, this doesn't mean they are gone for good - both bills may come back in some form in the future, considering how badly it seems the MPAA/RIAA want this.

The public should just give up on Hollywood anyway. Lots of regurgitated shit from them, saturated by talentless, overpaid actors, there are a handful of exceptions but I haven't been interested in major films for some time now.

Wow, and here I thought SOPA and PIPA were some of the most stupid ideas I've ever heard about but ACTA takes the cake. Summary is at 5:45 if anyone just wants a quick overview.

( Edited 22.01.2012 06:48 by SirLink )

Nothing to be feared. It's all died down now.