SOPA Blackout Protest

[jmaejr]

If everyone thinks that SOPA and PIPA are NOT an attempt of the US Government trying to control the flow of free information, then have I got a deal on some good beachfront property...

[xg4bx]

i'm just curious, has anyone heard or seen a news story on SOPA from the mainstream press? i haven't.

like i said earlier: corporate censorship>government censorship. SOPA is lock-step in line with the beliefs of the networks and sponsors so why would they report on it? the government isn't blocking the news at all, the media is.


mainstream media is utterly vapid mind-rot. i wouldn't lose sleep if nbc, cbs or warner were pirated into bankruptcy.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by jmaejr

If everyone thinks that SOPA and PIPA are NOT an attempt of the US Government trying to control the flow of free information, then have I got a deal on some good beachfront property...

Hope you've got that property, because its corporate America pushing this, not some neo-communist bureau within the government. Look at how Fox News destroyed Open Internet, despite that being the Obama administration's attempts to prevent this exact thing from happening.

I'm starting to wonder if somewhere in the underworld, there's a goofy little man with a toothbrush mustache saying, "So what if they won the war, they've just proved me partially right."

"A lie told enough times becomes the truth."

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

i'm just curious, has anyone heard or seen a news story on SOPA from the mainstream press? i haven't.

I have, repeatedly. What newspaper do you read?

Google:

sopa site:.nytimes.com

and

sopa site:.washingtonpost.com

and

sopa site:.latimes.com

and

sopa site:.reuters.com

SOPA is lock-step in line with the beliefs of the networks and sponsors so why would they report on it? the government isn't blocking the news at all, the media is.

I'm not a TV watcher. Reading newspapers on an eReader is IMHO a far superior experience. So I am in no position to defend or attack any television news organization. But, for the record, the big US networks also report on SOPA, at least on their web sites. Google:

sopa site:.cbsnews.com

and

sopa site:.abcnews.com

and

sopa site:.msnbc.msn.com

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Indeed, the purpose of copyright libraries is to ensure that EVERY copyrighted work is available to the public.

Wait a second, Harry, I don't think that's right.

For example, Erle Stanley Gardner copyrighted 80 Perry Mason novels. Only 20 are currently in print.

I don't think that the other sixty are "available to the public".

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Wait a second, Harry, I don't think that's right.

For example, Erle Stanley Gardner copyrighted 80 Perry Mason novels. Only 20 are currently in print.

I don't think that the other sixty are "available to the public".

And a lot more works that are out of copyright are not available to you.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by jmaejr

If everyone thinks that SOPA and PIPA are NOT an attempt of the US Government trying to control the flow of free information, then have I got a deal on some good beachfront property...

If you actually do believe that restricting the free flow of information is the purpose of SOPA and PIPA then we know you couldn't possibly possess any good beach front property...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Wait a second, Harry, I don't think that's right.

For example, Erle Stanley Gardner copyrighted 80 Perry Mason novels. Only 20 are currently in print.

I don't think that the other sixty are "available to the public".

Yes, they are. You can go to a copyright library, such as the Library of Congress, and read them there. A copyright library has, by law, to be supplied with a copy of every copyrighted item published in that country.

[LazyScot]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, they are. You can go to a copyright library, such as the Library of Congress, and read them there. A copyright library has, by law, to be supplied with a copy of every copyrighted item published in that country.

True, but I don't think there is a requirement (at least in the UK) that the copyright library retain a copy. Thus it is possible that there are copies that can be accessed.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by LazyScot

True, but I don't think there is a requirement (at least in the UK) that the copyright library retain a copy. Thus it is possible that there are copies that can be accessed.

Are you sure about that? I thought that they did have to keep them all. That's why copyright libraries, such as the British Library, and the Bodleian in Oxford, have to add miles of extra shelves every year. I could of course be mistaken .

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Are you sure about that? I thought that they did have to keep them all. That's why copyright libraries, such as the British Library, and the Bodleian in Oxford, have to add miles of extra shelves every year. I could of course be mistaken .

EDIT: A little research seems to indicate that the British Library does keep everything, but the Library of Congress is "selective about which works it retains", but still adds about 3 million books a year to its collection.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

i'm just curious, has anyone heard or seen a news story on SOPA from the mainstream press? i haven't.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/bu...pagewanted=all

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain...n-at-ces-2012/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...5rP_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...rrP_story.html

http://www.foxbusiness.com/technolog...eir-open-bill/

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/09/tech/w...iref=allsearch

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technolo...et-censorship/

Originally Posted by xg4bx

like i said earlier: corporate censorship>government censorship.

Not even close.

There are plenty of news sources that aren't corporate in nature. In the age of the Internets, it's 1000x easier to find such a source than in earlier eras when you had 3 television networks and 1 or 2 local newspapers.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

If you actually do believe that restricting the free flow of information is the purpose of SOPA and PIPA then we know you couldn't possibly possess any good beach front property...

Well obviously the primary motivation will be financial, there's certainly a lot of money being paid to push it through into law, but that doesn't mean the government won't be fully aware of the fringe benefits that go along with it. Obamma(?)'s government already disproved the entertainment industry's claims about financial loss through piracy, so you can obviously discount that as a motive.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/n...-are-bogus.ars

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Obamma(?)'s government already disproved the entertainment industry's claims about financial loss through piracy, so you can obviously discount that as a motive.

All your link showed is that it's impossible to prove how much piracy costs, not that costs are non-existent.

If declining numbers of CD's and movie tickets purchased aren't due to piracy, then they are probably due to content company leaders being beaten in the marketplace fair and square. And you know they don't believe that. So thinking the worst of the content companies should make you MORE certain they are motivated by a sincere belief in piracy losses.

By the way, I myself sincerely believe that there are fewer good, fulfilling entertainment industry jobs because of piracy. I just don't know how many fewer.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

All your link showed is that it's impossible to prove how much piracy costs, not that costs are non-existent.

If declining numbers of CD's and movie tickets purchased aren't due to piracy, then they are probably due to content company leaders being beaten in the marketplace fair and square. And you know they don't believe that. So thinking the worst of the content companies should make you MORE certain they are motivated by a sincere belief in piracy losses.

More likely they're using piracy as an excuse for their outdated business models. They know they're no longer the gatekeepers, they know they can no longer tell the populace what to listen to or read, and they're trying to find some way to get it back to prolong the inevitable as long as they possibly can.