Quote:
Originally Posted by xg4bx
could cripple sites like YouTube, Twitter, storage lockers, and more
The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a new bill called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that would grant the state Attorney General to force ISPs, payment gateways and search engines to block “rogue” sites engaging in illegally selling copyrighted material.
While the bill’s main focus is to shut down “rogue” sites from profiting on copyright material, its vague wording means that sites like YouTube and Twitter could be forced to take legal responsibility for content that is deemed as a violation of copyright. Couple that with the AG getting the power of being judge, jury and executioner, this means content hosting sites no longer can turn to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for legal defense. The bill would turn the tables on who is responsible for illegally hosted content. Instead of the content uploaders taking responsibility, the hosts themselves will have to bear the legal costs.
http://www.thefuturereport.com/story...and-policy-470
i guess the entertainment industry is miffed that people are turning off the tv, staying home from the theatre and passing by bookstores in favor of finding entertainment online to the point that they're willing to kill the internet. this has nothing to do with piracy. |
This contradicts with pre-existing law. Currently, any site that allows users to post anything (which is most of them) is considered a service provider, and therefore not held responsible for how that service is used. A bit like how ATT isn't responsible for you dialing a wrong number and wasting your minutes.
Apart from that it's also, ya know, insane. But that's obvious.
The harder they try to control the internet the more creative people will get in getting around it. I guess if that's a hill they wanna die on, they can go right ahead. I do not worry about the continued openness of the internet. It's a juggernaut at this point and they can't stop it. They can make it harder, they can make people have to invent ways to get around it, but they can't stop it. I find it funny more than anything.