Wikipedia + other sites 'blacked out' in protest of SOPA..

[cresent34]

This is going to be a long day:

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... rotest-day" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[whoistheshadownow]

My brief thoughts on the matter at hand - http://kppresents.blogspot.com/2012/01/ ... k-nut.html

[Nezz]

These symbolic gestures are pointless. I'm all for encouraging grass-roots level action on it but the voices of the people do not make the law. These blackouts are doing as much to prevent SOPA, as changing your facebook profile picture to a cartoon character is to curing children of cancer.

And while we're at it, I'll remember this next time you make a personal appeal to my wallet, Jimmy Wales.

[whoistheshadownow]

These symbolic gestures are pointless. I'm all for encouraging grass-roots level action on it but the voices of the people do not make the law. These blackouts are doing as much to prevent SOPA, as changing your facebook profile picture to a cartoon character is to curing children of cancer.

And while we're at it, I'll remember this next time you make a personal appeal to my wallet, Jimmy Wales.

"Dead! Bluto's right. Psychotic... but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons, but that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part! "

Eric "Otter" Stratton, Delta House, Faber College, 1962-63

[Suicide]

I have to disagree with ya there Nezz. Alerting people to this bill has pretty much put it into light and just what it has the power to do. I've known about it for nearly a year thanks to my frequenting of ThatGuyWiththeGlasses.com. The SOPA bill has gotten considerable flack in the last weeks thanks to the uproar in the online world. So much so that the DNS blocking language is now being pulled from the bill entirely. The momentum has been slowed and support for the bill is lessening (including the White House) when months ago it was on the fast track to passing. Perhaps the symbolic gesture of shutting down the site is a tad theatrical but the more info about this thing the better I think.

[AH-64D Longbow]

I have to disagree with ya there Nezz. Alerting people to this bill has pretty much put it into light and just what it has the power to do. I've known about it for nearly a year thanks to my frequenting of ThatGuyWiththeGlasses.com. The SOPA bill has gotten considerable flack in the last weeks thanks to the uproar in the online world. So much so that the DNS blocking language is now being pulled from the bill entirely. The momentum has been slowed and support for the bill is lessening (including the White House) when months ago it was on the fast track to passing. Perhaps the symbolic gesture of shutting down the site is a tad theatrical but the more info about this thing the better I think.

http://www.examiner.com/computers-in-de ... kills-sopa" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.

Also, Nezz is probably referring to idiotic dA journals saying "Oh I'm doing this to protest SOPA/PIPA!" the reason why support has withered away is because, it appears, people from around the nation have been dogging their politicians, calling in, writing in, and not just putting up silly online protests (such as Wikipedia's oh so adorable black out).

My question to the detractors is "So, what's your alternative?" Just like piracy run rampant as it is? I hate pretty much both sides of this issue: Lazy corporations wanting to pretend it's still 1992 and pie-in-the-sky software and media socialists that don't think Piracy is detrimental. Something needs to be done, something along the lines of companies putting on the big boy pants and reinventing their business model much like Valve did and embrace the internet while those that do download need to cease being a basement gnome for a while to realize that not everyone enjoys programming, and in fact most programmers don't enjoy doing it for fun; it's a job. Face facts: Money is damn good incentive for good work.

[cresent34]

Don't get too excited just yet. More likely they're putting talk on hold till the whole buzz dies down.

As if that's going to work.

[Suicide]

My question to the detractors is "So, what's your alternative?" Just like piracy run rampant as it is? I hate pretty much both sides of this issue: Lazy corporations wanting to pretend it's still 1992 and pie-in-the-sky software and media socialists that don't think Piracy is detrimental.

But there's a point to be made that such legislation doesn't need to take place. Piracy is already illegal. Material can be banned on youtube through basic copyright law. Sites can be sued and charged for infringing content. Many sites were sued during the "music piracy" era of the internet and driven out of business through already existing legal action. The Music Industry adapted with the downloadable music market. The entertainment industry in general is already making that transition. Netflix, Hulu and On Demand are growing, proving that people in this "climate of piracy" will pay for content if it is easily accessible.

The idea of Home Theater accounts is being explored through movie distributors where you can set up movies that are IN THEATERS to play at your home in HD. As you said an adjustment of market supply is needed. Not over-reaching legislation. And let's face it. Is there any other kind?

[AH-64D Longbow]

My question to the detractors is "So, what's your alternative?" Just like piracy run rampant as it is? I hate pretty much both sides of this issue: Lazy corporations wanting to pretend it's still 1992 and pie-in-the-sky software and media socialists that don't think Piracy is detrimental.

But there's a point to be made that such legislation doesn't need to take place. Piracy is already illegal. Material can be banned on youtube through basic copyright law. Sites can be sued and charged for infringing content. Many sites were sued during the "music piracy" era of the internet and driven out of business through already existing legal action. The Music Industry adapted with the downloadable music market. The entertainment industry in general is already making that transition. Netflix, Hulu and On Demand are growing, proving that people in this "climate of piracy" will pay for content if it is easily accessible.

The idea of Home Theater accounts is being explored through movie distributors where you can set up movies that are IN THEATERS to play at your home in HD. As you said an adjustment of market supply is needed. Not over-reaching legislation. And let's face it. Is there any other kind?

Yeah, SOPA is absolutely worthless and pointless. It was impotent and would've been wholly ineffective (lol DNS blocking, come at me bro). In the end, the companies need to really grow up and actually modernize.

Don't get too excited just yet. More likely they're putting talk on hold till the whole buzz dies down.

As if that's going to work.

It ran into so much friction in the House that it'll either come back in some even more impotent and pointless form, since DNS blocking was subtracted. Oh no. PIPA faces a fairly hopeless situation in the Senate, as well. And then it's still facing Presidential veto and it can't acquire the amount needed to over turn. So, yes, I'll get excited and hopeful that people will finally shut up about this legislation. I've grown sick of the hyperbole that's been thrown around and the fact that (it seems) no one opposing SOPA wants to even admit that Google is the poster child of Anti-trust bullshit and their involvement. At least the outrage had something to it, unlike the spasm over S.978.