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[catchaserguns]

Her in the USA our congress may pas an anti-piracy law called SOPA. It will block certain sites from the web here in the United States. Especially abandonware sites like this one. I hope it doesn't pass but I'm afraid it will. It will be voted on in January. I don't want to lose this site

[The Fifth Horseman]

They've been running that game for ~2 years by now. The name changes - COICA, Protect IP, SOPA, OPEN and so on - but the entire point is basically the same: They want control over what their citizens can access on the net.
This undead abomination of a law needs to be put down, but their politicians are adamant about keeping it alive.

[DarthHelmet86]

The last time it was around Obama said he would veto it. This kind of nonsense is what happens when you let companies make "donations" and "contributions" to politicians. They stop caring about the people and just care about where the money for the next run is coming from.

Google is dead set against it, Microsoft pulled their support and a few other companies have made their opposition known. If it all goes pear shaped big companies will be moving their hosting out of the US. Google would be leaving the US and that means Youtube as well. But it does lead a sad precedent for other countries, hopefully there are still a few people left in American politics willing to stand up for common sense and listen to the people that vote for them not just the people throwing money at them.

Also once again the "PIRACY IS EVIL!!111" brigade is out quoting made up statistics and facts. Stuff like piracy steals more money then what the whole industry makes, how you can even qualify how much money you are losing when people aren't buying your product or why baffles me. But piracy is the easy target, it is illegal and is easy to blame for people not buying your product rather than admitting that you have a crap product that people don't want to buy.

[Antifederalist]

Originally Posted by DarthHelmet86

The last time it was around Obama said he would veto it. This kind of nonsense is what happens when you let companies make "donations" and "contributions" to politicians. They stop caring about the people and just care about where the money for the next run is coming from.

Google is dead set against it, Microsoft pulled their support and a few other companies have made their opposition known. If it all goes pear shaped big companies will be moving their hosting out of the US. Google would be leaving the US and that means Youtube as well. But it does lead a sad precedent for other countries, hopefully there are still a few people left in American politics willing to stand up for common sense and listen to the people that vote for them not just the people throwing money at them.

Also once again the "PIRACY IS EVIL!!111" brigade is out quoting made up statistics and facts. Stuff like piracy steals more money then what the whole industry makes, how you can even qualify how much money you are losing when people aren't buying your product or why baffles me. But piracy is the easy target, it is illegal and is easy to blame for people not buying your product rather than admitting that you have a crap product that people don't want to buy.

I hope this doesn't pass, but if Congress passes it, then Obama will sign it into law Never believe a word he says.

Anyway, Happy Holidays to all

[DarthHelmet86]

I believe Obama as much as I do any other politician or any other person I don't know in real life.

Anyway the bill discussion has been put off to the new year, so congress was blocked up talking about this drivel rather then things that might help America. One more reason it is a load of bollocks.

[DarthHelmet86]

^^^Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahaha.

That is all. Oh no wait one of these too

The whole American system is simply corrupt for one reason only...lobbyists. Legalised bribery in it's purest form. Oh and if you don't like socialism better get rid of that Army and those police, no more roads for you no going to a public school or a private school that gets tax money as well. I could go into a long discussion about how nearly everything you have said is exaggerated misinformation or just out right lies but this isn't a political forum if you want to argue that go find some site that caters to your tastes. Plus this discussion is doubly not about politics but about the SOPA law, a law being pushed by lobbyists.

[hiraghm]

Originally Posted by DarthHelmet86

^^^Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahaha.

That is all. Oh no wait one of these too

The whole American system is simply corrupt for one reason only...lobbyists. Legalised bribery in it's purest form. Oh and if you don't like socialism better get rid of that Army and those police, no more roads for you no going to a public school or a private school that gets tax money as well. I could go into a long discussion about how nearly everything you have said is exaggerated misinformation or just out right lies but this isn't a political forum if you want to argue that go find some site that caters to your tastes. Plus this discussion is doubly not about politics but about the SOPA law, a law being pushed by lobbyists.

Lobbyists can't bribe politicians who won't be bribed; it's that simple. SOPA is just a variation on the grab for control of the internet by the SOCIALISTS in government. You can't talk about law, particularly SOPA, w/o bringing politics into it, because that's what it's about.

A lot of us would like to get rid of that army; we're not supposed to have a standing army. We don't need socialism for roads, police or firefighters, and we SURE as hell don't need "public" education, and no, private schools shouldn't get tax dollars either.

We have a government, and have had for some time, whose members think it's their job to make America better; to make people better. The Consumer Financial Protection agency is an example of this nonsense. They stick their noses in and regulate something, then when the regulations don't work out (due to lack of enforcement, idiocy in policy, lack of need for regulation), they try to apply MORE regulation. A long time ago I was taught that there's no such thing as perfect software protection; so long as you want someone to be able to run your software, someone else will be able to hack it. Likewise, there's no perfect regulation; so long as you want people to engage in an activity, some will find ways to do it profitably, regardless of your regulation.

The internet has managed for two decades without regulation. So why do we need regulation in the form of SOPA now?

If those "lobbyists" you decry didn't A) know they could buy legislation and regulation and B) weren't convinced it was a better way to make money than by competing with better products at lower prices, they wouldn't be backing SOPA. Again, the problem is corrupt politicians, not people trying to make money.

[Lulu_Jane]

Well... At least we can all agree that SOPA is A Bad Thing.

The rest of this I'm not touching with a ten foot pole

[TheChosen]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/...-online-piracy

And they respond in a good way. Guess there's light at the end of the tunnel.

[Japo]

Well, what they're saying is that they're open to "hearing ideas" (through what channel?), but that they want one or more of the already proposed laws or similar ones to pass.