Learn me on SOPA 'net security experts

[WillBrink]

What's the real deal with the SOPA bill people are freaking out over? Have you all seen this Bill called "SOPA" that will impact the 'net?

Some big players, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, eBay, Mozilla, Yahoo, AOL, LinkedIn, etc are against it.

A expected, some are freaking out and think the bill will directly impact your 'net access/experience, on the 'net CNET write up:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/

Is the above accurate? As someone who loses $$$ personally due to people using copy written and or (TM) I produced, being able to enforce it would be a +, but I'm getting the impression the cons may outweigh the pros here, if I'm reading correctly.

Has anyone looked deeper into it? What's the 411 I/we should really be aware of?

[Armati]

As copied from Craigslist, this should tell you everything you need to know:

Supporters of SOPA: RIAA, MPAA, News Corp, TimeWarner, Walmart, Nike, Tiffany, Chanel, Rolex, Sony, Juicy Couture, Ralph Lauren, VISA, Mastercard, Comcast, ABC, Dow Chemical, Monster Cable, Teamsters, Rupert Murdoch, Lamar Smith (R-TX), John Conyers (D-MI)

Opponents of SOPA: Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, eBay, AOL, Mozilla, Reddit, Tumblr, Etsy, Zynga, EFF, ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Darrell Issa (R-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX)


.................................................................................................

When you find Nancy Pelosi AND Ron Paul opposed to the same legislation you know it has got to be ****ed up!

[tb-av]

Will the only thing a small business can do to protect digital media is maintain a good relationship with their intended client base. The people that keep pushing forward usually end up winning.

If your product was so unique you might could go to something like an iLOK but that's probably a stretch.

I don't know all the in's and out's of this SOPA deal but I would suspect it is tied to nations getting the notion of nationalizing the Internet. Basically every Country would have it's own Internet so to speak and govern it via the wisdom of their elected officials.

If you think about it.... this makes a lot of sense for America because Al Gore invented the Internet and people like Nancy Pelosi are stepping up to the plate to run it for him. :confused: :help:


A little-noticed portion of the proposed law, which CNET highlighted in an article, goes further than Protect IP and could require Internet providers to monitor customers' traffic and block Web sites suspected of copyright infringement.


Disclaimer: I'm not a security expert but I have worked as a network admin for a State power company and I know many people in the music industry that are affected/effected/infected in many different ways by the whole piracy / Internet deal. Anyway, that's my 2cent rant

[Armati]

The unpleasant reality of copyright law in the digital age that you are trying to suppress the natural law of information. Information wants to be shared in the same way that water (and money) seek the path of least resistance. There is a natural human tendency to share information. This impulse is so strong that national govts and corporations must enact harsh punishments and threats to prevent the sharing of certain information. Communism failed because it was fighting against the natural human tendency for freedom, free association, and trade. The current digital tyranny will also fail in time.

The effort by govt to protect private copyrights is like the govt trying to protect the horse and buggy industry by mandating that no other industry compete with it. This is just the latest effort of a small powerful minority trying to control the will of the people.

Praise the Lord and pass the bittorrent!

[glocktogo]

Personally, the companies opposing the law are neither government owned or controlled. If I were them, I'd immediately de-link the websites of those companies supporting the law. Internet search rankings are not a right, they're a privilege.

Sauce for the goose, as it were. :D

[An Undocumented Worker]

A short and basic explanation. The net works, it aint broken and the government certainly won't fix it.

The legislation will most certainly be abused in ways that weren't intended (or were they?).

And as far as I know copyright infringement is a mostly civil matter.


Either way I have absolutely no faith in our governments ability to fix problems with new legislation, let alone fix any problem in society at all.

[SeriousStudent]

Will, the corresponding bill in the Senate is called PIPA. It's equally as bad.

Jacking around with DNS is never a good idea. Letting the MPAA and RIAA have this kind of power is about as smart as giving whiskey and car keys to a 12-year-old.

[kwelz]

SOPA and ProtectIP could destroy just about any and every site you can think of. Youtube, Craigslist, ebay. All could be taken down at a whim.

[Armati]

SOPA and ProtectIP could destroy just about any and every site you can think of. Youtube, Craigslist, ebay. All could be taken down at a whim.

AND, this site! And sites like it. Bottom line, it allows govt to pick winners and losers. Any Gop who supports this should be fired in November. This legislation is so dangerous and so powerful that I would rather vote for an anti-gun Dem than a Gop who votes for this abomination. Remember, the Founders enacted the First Amendment and Second Amendment, in that order, for a reason.

[Irish]

When you find Nancy Pelosi AND Ron Paul opposed to the same legislation you know it has got to be ****ed up!

Just like they were both opposed to the NDAA and guess where that got us? Passed and signed into law by Obama.

We live in a nation of politically illiterate dipshits.

[Armati]

5000 websites planning a black out to protest SOPA:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-wikipedia-20120117,0,4565597.story

Just to give you an idea of what the SOPA would do to the internet.

[SeriousStudent]

US Congressman Issa, who has been leading the charge on Fast and Furious, is also working to block this.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223461/Opponent_says_SOPA_may_be_stalled_in_Congress

I like him more and more every day.

[Belmont31R]

Look at the google homepage and wiki is down, too. :D

[Irish]

Look at the google homepage and wiki is down, too. :D

Fan****ingtastic! Maybe it'll wake up some of these dumbshit ****wads and make them pay attention to what the **** is going on in their country and the political game that's being played. I'm tired of spelling it out to people and getting the glazed over, you must be crazy look from the dumbed down masses.

[thopkins22]

It's impact could potentially be profound. And if it's executed "properly" then most folks would never even know something has happened.

Incredibly dangerous to our liberty. The current crop of politicians(as bad as most of them are,) may not be the ones to take us all the way to Orwell...but legislation like this and the NDAA will be used in the future in that fashion. Scary times.

Gentlemen, issues like this should be addressed in court. There is no need for new regulation, and I guarantee that it won't work to curb copyright violations...it will only curb liberty.

It's not that torrent sites and whatnot should be okay...but the notion of letting government decide what I can and cannot view. Keep them the hell out of it. Innovators(and by all accounts Will is one,) will continue to make money, even if they have to adapt.

Look at the music industry in the post Napster world. Do musicians still make money? Yes. Do musicians we've never heard of get a better shot because power has been removed from the record companies and given to the consumer? Yes. And yet, file sharing still exists. I pay to see the occasional movie and I pay for Netflix. Do movies still make money even though there are many ways to see them for free online? Yes they do...they just don't do it in the same way that they did.

It's a changing world, and the old guard(in this case of the music and film industry) never is prepared to change with it and will do whatever it takes to preserve their place in the world.

[PdxMotoxer]

I was shocked when i read about IMDB could be shut down under S.O.P.A.

And even the Food Network site because they "share" free recipes.

Only takes a publishing company to claim their writers copyrighted material is being openly shared and under the Stop Online Piracy Act
shut that site down.

Even sites like this that "share" help and info stand to be pulled from the net.

There is a lot of open ended and vague wording in the Stop Online Piracy Act
that is going to tie up courts forever but also mean a possible end to sites like
MapQuest and others we don't even think we use till one day we realize they are gone and taken from us.

[Reagans Rascals]

Look at the google homepage and wiki is down, too. :D

****in' a

this should explain it all....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxFjQzgkqHk


" Moveable printed type, we must keeps this from the serfs lest they gain literacy and threaten the landed gentry..."

[Reagans Rascals]

holy shit... wikipedia has been out for less than a few hours and I'm already getting pissed. There has literally been more than 10 occasions just this morning since I awoke that I have attempted to procure its services only to find it hidden in the shadows.... I hope the government knows just what kinda shit storm they are getting themselves into...

[opmike]

This is a great explanation of SOPA and the Protect IP written by someone who actually understands how these technologies work (unlike those voting on it).

If you gentlemen can set aside your hatred for reddit for a moment, I think you'll find the information contained here accurate:

http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/technical-examination-of-sopa-and.html

Also, the wiki entries for SOPA and PIPA are still active:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act

[parishioner]

Here's a good summary: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41911.pdf

[Abraxas]

We live in a nation of politically illiterate dipshits.That is sig line material.

[glocktogo]

Here's how I explained it to someone on abother board who was confused:

"Yes and there are already laws on the books designed to protect copyright infringement. You don't combat copyright infringement by violating somone's 1st Amendment rights without due process, which is what this bill does. If you slander me, I don't have the right to slap duct tape on your mouth, I take you to court. If you post my copyrighted material in your store, I don't get to padlock your store, I take you to court. If you libel me or post my copyrighted material on the internet, I don't get to have your DNS cut off or remove you from someone else's search engine, I TAKE YOU TO COURT!

That's how it's always worked and how it should continue to work. No one against this bill is for copyright infringement, we are against a bill that would violate the 1st Amendment of the Constitution!"

[Armati]

Yes, because in our system you are still innocent until PROVEN guilty in a court of law. This law circumvents due process and sets a very dangerous precedent for future legislation.

[montanadave]

It appears some key supporters of this legislation in the Senate are jumping ship, including Rubio of Florida and Cornyn of Texas.

[Abraxas]

It appears some key supporters of this legislation in the Senate are jumping ship, including Rubio of Florida anderson Cornyn of Texas.

I have not researched it much (at all) but I am surprised Rubio was behind it at all. That makes me a little sad.

[tb-av]

I don't know if this true or simply Internet BS, but I've seen someone post that SOPA could result in a person that posts a Michael Jackson mp3 getting more jail time than the doctor that killed him.

[obucina]

It appears some key supporters of this legislation in the Senate are jumping ship, including Rubio of Florida and Cornyn of Texas.


I emailed Rep. Allen West earlier today and was planning on emailing Sen. Rubio, also....I still need to get to Sen. Bill Nelson.

If they vote for it and end up on my ballot screen, the other 'tard gets my vote. Harry Reid already denied postponing PIPA voting, because, apparently it is soooo important that the bill needs to get voted on instead of a federal budget.

[obucina]

I don't know if this true or simply Internet BS, but I've seen someone post that SOPA could result in a person that posts a Michael Jackson mp3 getting more jail time than the doctor that killed him.

wiki says that the law will result in something like five years for every file "shared" within a six month period....but that claim sounds about right.

[Belmont31R]

A bunch of people have been hammering my Rep on FB and he announced today he is removing his name from the supporters list! When crappy bills like this are up for consideration everyone needs to get on their rep's ass and tell them if they vote for this type of stuff they won't have your vote next election.



Carter-TX31



Thank you to everyone who has been so active in communicating your concerns over Internet Issues. Your opinions have had a direct effect on my decision to remove my name as a co-sponsor of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). I believe that we need to protect the intellectual property of our innovators while at the same time ensuring that we have the most innovative, technically advanced, and free Internet in the World.

Let's continue the dialogue! Please leave your comments at the link posted below.

[Belmont31R]

Looks like my Rep is having 2nd thoughts....:rolleyes:





We’ve had a very active discussion on the Internet, one which is constitutionally interesting and important for our future. Many folks correctly quoted the Constitution’s Bill of Rights:

“Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” – Amendment 1, December 15, 1791

But no one in our thread quoted the main body of the Constitution on this issue:

“The Congress shall have the power to…promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” - Article 1, Section 8, September 17, 1787

The Internet freedom debate is fundamentally about how to balance these two parts of our Constitution.

What are your thoughts?



My response....



There are already laws on the books to protect people's property. Just today the DOJ/FBI shut down megaupload.com and there is a guy named Richard O'Dwyer who was a college student in the UK who I guess was extradited to the US to face charges for copywrite infringement even though he has never stepped foot on US soil. You can google his name and rear numerous articles about it. Why does the government need even more power to enforce these laws when they are currently able to charge, and arrest foreign nationals who do not even live here and have never come here? How about we expend more energy right now on getting rid of this oppressive government who is spending 1.6T a year in deficit spending WE have to pay back? How about we do something about the DOJ/DHS sending thousands of guns into MX and arming cartels who kill Fed Agents like Brian Terry doing his job actually keeping us safe? Are there not more important things right now than protecting millionaires in Hollywood and giving DOJ even more power while doing away with due process and rights?

[Moose-Knuckle]

Our big Federal Government is bigger all the time; it's become a power vampire. It wants control of everything and they are getting there way with the passing of each act of legislation.

The internet in its present state is likening to the advent of the printing press a virtual WMD if you will of information. . ."for there is no knowledge that is not power". And like the printing press tyrants want control to censor the information outlet.

USA Patriot Act, NDAA, Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, God I could go on. . .

[RancidSumo]

PIPA vote canceled and SOPA withdrawn.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/285215/20120120/sopa-pipa-controversy-both-bills-pulled-calendar.htm

[Armati]

Oh, don't worry, it will be back after the 2012 election. Mark my words, it will be back...