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SOPA censors of the internet


wolfvid

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Around the early 90's the IATSE set up an online discussion forum.

Didn't last for long. They soon discovered that if they were going to allow the members to speak, they were not happy with what they heard... and they quickly shut it down. after all the IA is a solid top down organization.

that started FYIA run by the "lone rangers" (opposition to Tom Shorts iron fisted rule) which withered because it was the critics talking to the critics - and it was spyed on but ignored by the IA.

Well, more than 15 years later, the IA showed its face again... this time on Facebook.

See http://www.facebook.com/iatse.

you can read Facebook without joining.

Take a look at what is currently the 3rd item down... about the SOPA and Protect IP legislation, which is the Producers attempt to recruit the IA to help the studios control the internet...

and then click where it says "View All Comments" so you can read them all. Not exactly what the IA was hoping for.

but encouraging that folks know what SOPA is !!

The Stop Online Piracy Act: Class War in Cyberspace

Monday 5 December 2011

by: Dean Baker, Truthout | News Analysis

120511baker.jpg

(Photo: Kaptain Kobold; Edited: JR / TO)

The One Percent and their employees are masters of word play. They turned the estate tax into the "death tax," life-saving health and environmental rules became "job-killing" regulations and, of course, when it comes to taxes, the richest of the rich are now "job creators" who are supposed to be exempt from paying taxes.

Given this track record, it is hardly surprising that a bill that would require every web site in the country to become unpaid copyright enforcement officers for Time Warner, Disney and The Washington Post comes packaged as the "Stop Online Piracy Act." While the name may lead the public to believe that Congress is trying to keep our email pure and our computer screens safe, the real story is that the One Percent are again trying to rig the rules so that they get as many dollars as possible from the rest of us.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) would place an enormous burden not just on Internet giants like Google and Facebook, but any web site that allows people to post content or includes links to other sites. An owner of copyrighted material would be able to go the Justice Department and claim infringement and request that the whole site be taken down.

While sites are already required to remove material that is determined to be infringing under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the SOPA requires that sites in effect pre-emptively screen material for potential infringements. If they fail, they risk having their whole site taken down for a period of time, in addition to paying damages to copyright holders.

The question that serious people would ask is what problem is the SOPA intended to address? There is still plenty of money being made by online distributors of music, movies, books and software. The problem seen by the top executives at Disney and the other promoters of the SOPA is that they want to make more.

A substantial amount of copyright-protected material does slip through the system, as does an even larger amount of material with ambiguous copyright status such as a homemade video with parts of a copyrighted song or material whose copyright may have expired. The big entertainment companies want to impose large costs on web intermediaries (which will be passed on to consumers) and make it more difficult for people to gain access to totally open material, in order to make them pay more money for their copyright-protected material.

Although the SOPA strategy of reducing access while raising prices could fit the dictionary definition of "job-killing regulation," its advocates have the incredible audacity to be touting the 19 million jobs at stake. People really should take a moment to look at the industry's web site to see what might well rank as the most outrageous misrepresentation of economic reality ever to appear in a Washington policy debate.

The basic story is that if an industry is in any way directly or indirectly dependent on the output of a copyright protected industry, then the jobs in that industry will be put at risk if Congress doesn't approve the SOPA. By this methodology, all the jobs in the shipping industry will be at risk if we end the tax credit for solar power, since some of the materials used in solar panels are imported. This is patently absurd, but if you work for the One Percent, you can get such arguments taken seriously in Washington policy circles.

In reality, the higher costs that the SOPA will impose on consumers both directly and indirectly by raising costs to intermediaries, are money out of their pocket. The additional money that will be collected by the entertainment industry is money that will not be spent in local stores or restaurants.

It's true that some of the money earned by the entertainment industry will get back to writers, musicians, and other creative workers, but this will be a very small amount compared to the additional cost to consumers. If we had forward-thinking politicians in Washington, or economists who didn't sell their services to the highest bidder, policy would be focused on devising more efficient mechanisms for supporting creative work.

Copyright is an incredibly inefficient mechanism dating back from the 16th century. The costs of enforcement are soaring as the Internet makes it ever more difficult. This is a situation where we are relying on toll booths to pay for our roads, but it is becoming ever easier for travelers to evade the toll booths. Rather than looking for alternative ways to finance road construction, we are building bigger, more expensive toll booths and increasing the penalties for not paying tolls.

Of course, the point is to have money going to the road builders, not the people who run toll booths. There are alternative mechanisms for financing creative work. There is already a vast amount of creative and intellectual work that is not supported by copyrights. This includes work done by university faculty, work supported by nonprofit organizations and, even to some extent, work supported by the government.

We should be looking to expand and improve these alternative mechanisms rather than turn cyberspace into a copyright-protected police state. The SOPA is big government at its worst: an intrusion into the market to help the One Percent at the expense of everyone else.

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  • 1 month later...

White House woke up and squished SOPA (for now)

http://www.truth-out.org/white-house-airs-objections-sopa-pipa-anti-piracy-bills/1326637869

curious noone here cares

White House Airs Objections to SOPA, PIPA Anti-Piracy Bills

Sunday 15 January 2012

by: Staff, Los Angeles Times | Report

Score one for Google. The White House raised concerns Saturday about aspects of pending anti-piracy legislation that has been strongly backed by the Motion Picture Assn. of America, Hollywood's chief lobbying arm.

In an unusually blunt statement, Obama administration officials signaled that the White House would not support parts of two bills wending their way through Congress -- the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) that critics say would limit freedom of speech on the Internet and unfairly punish legitimate websites.

"While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet,'' said a statement from Victoria Espinel, intellectual property enforcement coordinator; Aneesh Chopra, U.S. chief technology officer; and Howard Schmidt, cybersecurity coordinator for the national security staff.

The statement is a setback for the major Hollywood studios and unions that have been mounting a lobbying campaign in support of the bills, which would give the Justice Department more tools to shut down foreign websites involved in the piracy of movies and TV shows. Google, Facebook and other tech companies, however, have been fiercely opposed to the bills, particularly provisions that would allow the Justice Department to obtain court orders requiring internet search engines and payment processors to block access to websites involved in piracy.

"We appreciate the Administration's recognition that our ability to innovate, invest, and grow the economy is dependent upon keeping the Internet free and open,'' said Markham Erickson, executive director of the NetCoalition.com, a group of technology companies fighting the anti-piracy bills.

The House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the SOPA bill later this month, while the Senate could take up its PIPA anti-piracy bill next month. Both bills are likely to be modified, now, to reflect the administration's concerns.

[update: The MPAA disputed the notion that the bills impede freedom of speech or innovation and renewed its support for tougher anti-piracy laws. "Every day, American jobs are threatened by thieves from foreign-based rogue websites,'' the MPAA said in a statement. "This deplorable situation persists because U.S. law enforcement does not have the tools to fight back."]

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curious noone here cares

I can't speak for anyone else, but I was very active writing my congressman and senator regarding SOPA and PROTECT IP, because they are sloppy legislation.

It doesn't surprise me there arent more of 'us' vocal about it. Most of you are in 695, depending on these residuals to fill your healthcare fund which is facing quite a defecit. I'm sure many are opposed to this particular legislation but still want something to be done to help the situation, leaving them less than willing to try to stop it completely.

And I agree. It's too bad our governement seems to have an all or nothing attitude about these things, because now nothing will be done for even longer. The fact is that we DO need some policing, but it needs to be done correctly and with respect to the people who currently run their businesses who would be affected by the aftermath.

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Good to hear.

Corporate-owned legislators that don't understand technology should not be tinkering with the internet.

There are many facets to those bills, but pertaining to end users trading mp3's and vids I find it laughable to say that a download is a direct correlation to a 'lost sale'. The RIAA and MPAA's so-called "metrics" are little more than hyperbolic fear-mongering. If you want to address real piracy, go after organized crime and governments who support it. They're the one's with the pressing facilities, stores and websites that are actually selling stuff. Suing your end-users over downloads is a costly and stupid endeavor. Intellectual property owners also need to make it easier for legit outlets like Netflix to obtain content. IATSE badgering us to get on board this crazy train has been a nuisance these last few months.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/13/movie-executives-see-record-profits-salaries-despite-piracy-fear-mongering/

Craigslist has this on its front page right now: http://www.craigslist.org/about/SOPA

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IATSE badgering us to get on board this crazy train has been a nuisance these last few months.

I'm just surprised more people don't realize that they really don't have much of a choice but to throw their support behind it, considering the health care defecit and the contract coming up. It wouldn't be a great time to, essentially, flip off your employer.

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Piracy is a real problem, it is a serious crime. The greatest threat to the media mega-corporation profit does not come from individuals downloading music, movies and whatever. The threat comes from highly organized, systematic and incredibly successful criminals who are running a business that to them is just as important as the business of the companies they are stealing from. These businesses are often based in other countries and with cooperation from individuals within the media conglomerates here in the U.S.

post-1-0-41304500-1326939540.jpg

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If you're in the US and you want to keep track of where your (and other) congressional members stand on SOPA and PIPA, check out SOPA Opera, a nice sortable/searchable (and constantly updated) page on ProPublica's website:

http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/

Interesting factoid: The republican party has led the democratic party in opposition.

Also: This ain't over yet.

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I received a link to this this on Fbook this am. Just getting started but not good news for us.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=304803

Black March, getting people to not go to the movies, buy DVD' s, or music. An old fashioned boycott. Last year was a weak year, this one could get even more interesting. Could the backlash, if this gets passed, hurt the entertainment industry more than it helps? I swear the bigger businesses and governments get, the stupider they get. Just cause you can afford to pay off the politicians doesn't mean you should.

Greed is a real problem along with theft but they are related.

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