Issues with your account? Bug us in the Discord!
The Day The internet went on strike.
A2597
Fanboy
in Zocalo v2.0
Wikipedia, Google, Wired... the list goes on. A *LOT* of sites are blacking out in protest of SOPA/PIPA.
Most Excellent news!
Most Excellent news!
Comments
[I]"Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me..."[/I]
:)
My question is, what do they need SOPA/PIPA for if they were able to take down that site?
I think that that's generally the point. The FBI spent months gathering evidence against the Megaupload lot and when they had enough to bring a prosecution, they did so (quite rightly, by the sounds of it). Groups like the MPAA don't like this concept because it implies they have to do more than make loud accusations in a shotgun style against the entire Internet.
And do you believe that these won't be pressing countries to implement similar laws globally? Even more so considering that countries like China, Iran, North Korea and Russia surely aren't going to object spreading of laws allowing easier censorship and such.
Beside US this applies quite well to many "democratic" European countries.
[url]http://falkvinge.net/2011/12/16/do-we-really-have-to-prepare-for-the-fourth-box/[/url]
Never been fan of NRA's gun touting ideology but the way liberties and rights of people are constantly eroded piece by piece right to own high power weaponry starts to sound reasonable check against tyranny.
See, this is how our "democratic" governments act:
[url]http://falkvinge.net/2011/09/05/cable-reveals-extent-of-lapdoggery-from-swedish-govt-on-copyright-monopoly/[/url]
The thing I find funny is how many people think that the megaupload guys were innocent/ignorant of the contents of their site. I'm going to repost a repost:
The thing most people don't realize is that the owners were not "just hosting." Here is the link to the [URL='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/documents/megaupload_indictment.pdf']indictment[/URL].
[URL='http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/oouwm/can_someone_explain_why_the_megaupload_takedown/']Paraphrased from reddit[/URL]
First the FBI acted on behalf of the grand jury giving their ruling after weeks/months of building a case (SOPA and PIPA would remove this due process). Is the timing a little suspicious, yes, but that doesn't invalidate the following.
Second, the owners used their site to get pirated material for their own use, and then documented it in emails.
Third, they did not delete files when asked by DMCA takedown requests, just removed the link.
Fourth, they used it themselves to spread pirated material AND THEN TALKED ABOUT IT.
Fifth, they did not qualify for DMCA safe harbor because they knew about the pirated files, used it, and (here is the big one) profited from it.
Sixth, they were attempting to download a 1:1 copy of youtube videosto use on their own video service, which they profit from through ads. This violates copyright as well.
Seventh, they knowingly financially rewarded users who uploaded pirated content.
Here closely resembles my views on the matter.
[quote]
To me, again taking the indictment at good faith, it seems like these guys are pretty much screwed. Not only did they run a file uploading service which can be perfectly legal, but they intentionally did not take the appropriate steps to take down infringing material, and they used it themselves for infringing activities and earned lots of money from it.
They have over 50 different bank accounts, a bunch of nice cars, and so on, which have now been seized as part of the proceeds from the operation. I was hoping for some more juice on the racketeering and money laundering charges, but it's basically just using the money from infringement to buy nice things. No tax evasion and such as far as I can see.
I'm all for copyright reform and I find the current regime lacking, but the law is the law. And most reformists, including myself and actual political entities like the Pirate Party of Sweden, believe there should be copyright protections, albeit limited, on commercial activity.[/quote]
The video in that post makes a good point about the National Defense Authorization Act. It sometimes seems like a lot of people have their priorities wrong.