SOPA/PIPA and the US Great Firewall

[Silent]

It's not enough! It may slow things down, but that's about it.

No-one really cares if it doesn't pass. If it doesn't pass they will come up with 'repairs'. Easy enough!

Protesters will get tired of protesting, so numbers will decline. As the 'repairs' will look very reasonable compared to the present proposals it will be harder to mobilize people. After a couple of 'repairs' the same effect will be reached.

If the people with the real power (money and network) want something they will get it. If they want control over the internet, they will get it. The only way to prevent it is a powershift. Democracy is no obstacle. In contrary, people can fairly easy be manipulated and brainwashed and the illusion that they're in charge keeps them complacent.

[icebear]

Additionally, this article which shows that under current law, legal teams are able to bring to justice those that are monetizing copyright infringement (and with due process - ooooooh!). More fuel on the anti-SOPA fire...

[imron]

The problem is, mega upload also has a large amount of non-infringing use. I know plenty of people who use it as a quick way to transfer large files to and from computers at other locations.

Also, just my personal 2c. Companies wouldn't be able to "monetize copyright infringement" if copyright holders actually made content easily accessible at a reasonable price. As Tim O'Reilly says:

Any company that is providing great content online in a way that’s easy to use with a fair price has a booming business right now. The people who don’t are trying to fight that future.

That whole article is worth a read.

[icebear]

I fully agree that rights holders should need to do more to ensure online demand can actually be met - providing online sales/subscription services, and across most/all regions (rather than just the US).

My personal impression is that MegaUpload must have been fully aware of the scope of piracy on their network and indeed tacitly encouraged this kind of behavior. Perhaps a 'small' file sharing startup could shrug their shoulders and say they didn't have the resources to self police, but with $50 million in revenue and the entire first page of Google results for "MegaUpload TV" being links to forums devoted to linking to copyrighted material, which streams, on their network its hard to swallow any story regarding their innocence. Again, entirely from my personal experience, but here in Spain the website is used exclusively for streaming copyrighted material; no one in my circles has any allusions illusions that its used for anything else. Just my impressions, of course. Given those impressions, I think they had it coming (and it is fair to shut them down).

That said, my point was that clearly SOPA is not crucial to fighting major pirating services - this is evidence that it is possible under current laws and regulations. Personally, I think a media company should only have the right to utilize those laws if they already offer a online, free or monetized means of accessing said content across all regions. I can say that with a straight face regarding TV and music content, although in other cases (say, reproductions of a work of fine art) my certainty become ambiguous.

Edited January 20, 2012 at 10:58 AM by icebear

[gato]

[Oops. Someone else already posted about Megaupload.]

[imron]

here in Spain the website is used exclusively for streaming copyrighted material; no one in my circles has any allusions that its used for anything else.

Ironically, it's used quite extensively by people in the film, music and entertainment industries for swapping large digital files during production/post-production. Especially when you have a number of people working together but from separate locations. My flatmate uses it all the time for sending/receiving footage to/from editors/sound mixers and so on.