[Indubitably]

God I hope this really is the slap in the face that the American people need in order to realize just how much of a clusterfuck IP law has become. If I see another start up sued into oblivion over "a system for doing stuff to things when actions happen" I think I may just move to Afganistan and take up opium smuggling. At least in that market all you have to worry about is being robbed at gunpoint by highway bandits from time to time.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by stasis To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I think the purpose of these blackouts is to raise awareness about the manner in which this legislation will impact law-abiding sites that millions of people rely upon on a daily basis, and I don't think INTJf has the traffic to be of any real assistance by going offline for a day. Although it's worth noting that SOPA could end this forum. It is far beyond our means to do the kind of offsite content review necessary to ascertain whether or not any given user-generated link "facilitates" infringement by directing traffic to a site with copyrighted material, or even to know anything about the copyright status of media on the web in general - let alone monitor INTJf's content so closely in the first place. For example: one of the first functions everyone here might lose is the private messaging system, as PMs cannot be monitored for the facilitation of copyright infringement without being essentially made public. The operation of INTJf is contingent upon a presumption of use in good faith; that any given user is adhering to the Terms of Use when we (meaning Jezebel, specifically) aren't looking. It seems like SOPA would force us into a position of abandoning that presumption, which is a position that we literally cannot afford to occupy. I bet Time Warner and other large media-generating corporations could afford to occupy it though. And perhaps you could have discussions on forums they host, while reading news they edit and clicking ads they profit from. So there's a gold lining.

Thank you for the reply, stasis, though it was a bit hard to find as this discussion was merged with a different discussion. (A bit confusing now: even though they are both about SOPA--the conversations are different. )

Regarding this site's traffic don't underestimate your impact: As my daddy used to tell me, "every little bit counts"--and this place is more than "a little bit" plus it is both interactive and conversation stimulating--thought provoking.

[Timdotz]

For all you worried about any potential blackouts of Wikipedia in the future, there is
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
.

Or else you could always refer back to the good ol' Microsoft Encarta.

[Paul Siraisi]

Originally Posted by Thinker To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

That of some of the posters above. I recognise that the laws may be sub-optimal....although that wasn't the focus of my point. Bad laws...if they are indeed bad, usually go through a cycle and end up being repealed, amended or the system works around them....at least that is the way things work outside of the US. Surely the country which holds itself out to be the "model democracy" works like that....???? To say that these laws will "kill the internet" is like saying speed limits would kill the automotive industry (in the early history of the car).

Our democracy isn't as good as it could be. One way that it isn't is in the people's representatives (Congress) not actually representing many of their people. So a loud, sloppy noise from us that gets to Congress may in fact be the best available expression of our good democracy at this time in history. On the bill in question, I'm very much in favor of a law to solve the problem this one wants to, but this one appears to have enough obvious technical flaws that it should be sent back for repair before any more time is wasted over it.

---------- Post added 01-19-2012 at 04:38 AM ----------

On a hilarious side note, I use opencongress.org to write my reps, and the site went into voluntary blackout yesterday so I couldn't. Today the site says it's down due to server problems, including possible capacity issues, probably due to all the people flooding in to protest SOPA. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Save the internet! Protest without it!

[Warrior]

Originally Posted by Merak To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

The decision was put to vote. This isn't Wikipedia diving into politics, it is survival. If Wikipedia ceases to exist due to SOPA or future attempts of failed corporate censorship, a 24 hour hold is nothing. Besides, you can still use Wikipedia. Just disable the script or stop the page load before the blackout screen hits. To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Be that as it may, my comments still stand. I'm not going to disable scripts and try to time page loadings. If it is more trouble than it is worth to use, I won't use it.

[Daoist]

It's over now, but I found that using loband.org as a proxy server (which is designed to strip away the bells and whistles of slow-loading sites) worked fine for the same purpose.

[Fox]

Kinda shows you how much power special interest groups have. Seems like most of populace is against SOPA. Only ones for it are large media corporations and law makers who are suppose represent the will of the people.

SOPA will only kill the internet if the major pornographers are supporting it.

[IslandHead]

This Ted talk explains PIPA/SOPA pretty well.

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[RBM]

	Originally Posted by IslandHead To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	This Ted talk explains PIPA/SOPA pretty well. To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Ok, I've been looking for this link expressly through the whole thread so I wouldn't duplicate post.

What Stasis said is well within the cards of happening in the above become law. As a matter of fact Shirky starts with a real life example of one leg of the fundamental strategy with is to raise the bar of what is costs to participate.

The proponents of these very much want to put everyone back on the couch as in days a one directional analog TV. As Shirky points out, there is a fundamental legal shift in the language - you are presumed guilty and have to prove your innocence.

I expect the fight has just begun. That's because this county is an Empire declining.

Got popcorn ?

[SarcasticVlad]

They don't really need SOPA or PIPA. Just look at what they did with Megaupload. No one can possibly expect of anyone to regulate what millions of people upload to file sharing sites. And they always removed copyrighted material when it was found. And what about people who had legitimate business with Megaupload? What about their files? That's just wrong. And they've done it without SOPA and PIPA. Face it folks, America can police almost the entire world. It's fucked up.

[Sumwun]

I'm glad many people are waking up to what SOPA is really about. Protest it while you still can. If SOPA passes, corporate giants will monopolize the internet and there will be no such thing as internet freedom ever again.

	Originally Posted by TimDotz
	For all you worried about any potential blackouts of Wikipedia in the future, there is WikiTaxi. Or else you could always refer back to the good ol' Microsoft Encarta.

I really think you're missing the point here...

	Originally Posted by Daoist
	It's over now, but I found that using loband.org as a proxy server (which is designed to strip away the bells and whistles of slow-loading sites) worked fine for the same purpose.

You also seem to be missing the point.

This is how easy it is to bypass the SOPA block:

Step 1) Punch in the IP address instead of the domain name
Step 2) Press enter

That's it. No special proxies needed.

However, SOPA does more than just block access to websites. It allows Hollywood megacorporations to take down sites.

So your problem isn't not accessing the site because it's blocked. Your problem is not accessing the site because the CEO of Viacom decided that it should no longer exist.

I predict one of 2 things will happen if/when SOPA passes:

1) Large internet companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc will move all of their servers offline and block access to US users voluntarily to avoid legal problems (unlikely).
2) Large internet companies will get phased out by Hollywood corporations and will be bought out after inevitably being sued for every cent they have for "copyright infringement". Youtube will change to Youpay. Facebook will be Facebuy. Uploading a video will cost 99 cents. Viewing one will cost 10 cents per megabyte.

The second one is more likely. Welcome to the future of the internet.

[Ferbguy101]

Im more worried about pipa, sopas not likely to get passed i heard it got postponed at the least