Stop SOPA and PIPA

#21 www.techdirt.com is all you need. They have so much info on SOPA/PIPA that it would take a month to read it all.

#22 I wonder if they would censor this image? (No, this is not Jon, and no I do not own the rights to this image.)

The industry needs to be responsible for the protection of it's own assets.
IRL (non-internet) companies use security systems, guards, locks, etc.
We must do the same.
You don't see stationed government guards protecting wallmart (yet).
This is mostly a failure on our part, for not taking the protection of our assets seriously.
I have rented streamed game cheats that had better protection than most "professional" software.
This is just a government ploy to take away more of our privacy, and everyone knows it.
If the creators of SOPA wanted it to be passed, they should have named it "The Free Software Act" following in the footsteps of "The Patriot Act".
I would hate to hear about any company that would be willing to trade American's freedoms for the protection of their own assets...
This isn't Iran (check their laws).
I would like to bring up Apple for a moment.
Having to Jailbreak, GSM unlock, put up with iTunes and several other systems/functions infuriates me.
However, they are doing a better job than most of protecting their assets.
Maybe that's why it makes me mad. ;)
Protect your own assets, be responsible, don't be weak and let the government do it for you at the cost of what this country was founded on.
In the worst case, hire a company to do it for you.
That is what I have done...

#23 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16642369

Ive just read that about megaupload.

regardless of the site and its history etc, the whole story has actually pissed me off a considerable amount, im probably going to get chased out of here with pitchforks and shotguns at my back, but for god sake it just had to be America that thinks its their responsibility to police the intarwebz. going to the extent of getting the FBI, through the Australian police force to arrest someone for the practices of their Hong Kong registered company ?
I've typed this six times, toning it down each time, taking other rants out of it and shit i and still dont know if i should post it for the fear of pissing off people in this community over political views, its just that personally, theres alot of things about Americas actions, that from this side of the pond really leave a bad taste in my mouth due to the arrogance of a few...

#24 @Andy - I get your point, but it's not an American thing. It's a government and corporation thing, not unique to our country's policies. If it was an "American" thing, you would not hear an uproar about SOPA.

#25 @Andy,
You are right. It pisses me off as an American that we have our noses in places we don't belong. A while back I took Charlie Sheen's challenge and am convinced the whole event was constructed to get into Iraq and Afghanistan. This points to the group that is pushing to create a one world government. Yes, this line of thinking is "out there", and it pained me to believe it myself.

For what it is worth, we are often as flabbergasted as the rest of the world. Big hint, trust nothing you see in the major news media, they are tools of the elite.

#26

Quote:When I was young I thought I was liberal, when I got a little older I thought I was conservative, when I woke up I realized I must, for my children, be a defender of the US Constitution. There are very few in Washington that are defending it, and most have set it aside for special interests. I am going to do my best to make sure we do not get a "traditional" Democrat or Republican in office this November.

One of the best posts thus far and I agree totally. :-)
I hear about SOPA/TIPA daily on the radio. NPR says it's the best thing since sliced bread. Talk radio is up in arms about it.
Having read up on it, I'M up in arms about it. It's time for America to get back to a constitutional government and get rid of the trash that keeps getting reelected.

@ Andy, I don't think there's an American around who doesn't feel your pain. None of us likes what has happened in Washington. Our problem..No real person to vote for who will actually stop acting like Pinocchio and start worrying about America first.

@ Michael, Thanks for posting this.

#27 @Michael. Thank you for posting.
@All. Great posts.

From what I understand, the intent of the bill is to make stealing copyrighted material illegal. But that is already illegal, so there is really no need for the bill in my opinion.

Maybe the intent of the government was not to censor web-sites but in fact if the bill is approved into law (and it still can be at this moment) it will plain and simple make possible for this or any future US government to censor the internet like it already happens in some countries.

I don't think the bill will pass as it is written now though; the American psyche and censorship just do not get along.

#28 @Andy, you are not alone there either. More and more people around the world (increasingly including US citizens luckily) is becoming fed up of all this farse.

@Frank, again I agree with you 100%.


One thing I would add, to denote a bit of the modern times hypocresy, is: Michael here mentioned this behaviour of the elite as "a government and corporation thing" and not the people.

Well, to that, we can say: in comparison with the so called "rogue states" US citizens are the ones electing their government. So as opposed to the Iranians, Irakis, Afghanistanians, Lybians, Koreans, and so on, you *ARE* guilty of your countrys behaviour in the world.

Now in practice, that doesn't work like that, so in the end it shows how flawled the modern democracy is, where the people can't stop it's own government from proposing constantly laws against the own people liberties (let alone going into war once per month).

#29

Quote:[...]and so on, you *ARE* guilty of your countrys behaviour in the world.

I wouldn't quite put it so arshly. It's not so much as the people beeing guilty of what the government does, but (and this happens all over not just in US) that they can be guilty if they are complacent with the things the government does.

On the case at hand (SOPA/PIPA) i have seen some americans (both personally and corporatively) beeing very outspoken and non-complacent regarding this bills.

The problem with current day democracy is that people got so fed up with all politicians beeing the same that they got complacent to a large extent. So politicians do what they want and (mostly) get by unchecked.

Money talks and politicians walk.

#30 @Luis - Very astute observation. You and I share the same opinion.

That being said, I highly encourage everyone to focus on the core topic. As soon as the discussion becomes broad and starts comparing the faults of one nation/belief against another, the fight becomes diluted and people stop working together. Progress has been made regarding SOPA/PIPA, which I will update in the original post.

#31 @Michael (regarding the update) - you're quite right in my opinion. I think they will be using this time to change the letter of the bill just enough to look as they have heard the oposition and in hope complacency takes front stage in february.

Beeing on the look out for this in a few weeks when it comes back up with the same name or different one is what needs to be done now.

I feel there's a lot of power, influence and money behind SOPA and PIPA so a come back is more than likelly in my opinion

#32 Look, it's just this simple. If you have something someone else wants, be it protected software or what ever, it's going to be gotten.
Take this example. Microsoft X-BOX.
They did custom CPU with encryption built in, custom graphics chips that
decryption the Rom code to boot up the system from the hard drive, they Locked the hard drive so you couldn't read it without knowing the password to unlock it (that's hardware locking software on the drive its self).

A guy bought 5 X box's, took them apart, dissolved the computer chips and looked at them under a microscope for hidden ROM sections that code could be hidden in, found it, figured out the encryption code, and broke the X box, each X box cost Microsoft $700 to make, they sold them at a loss for $400, expecting to make the cost up as each customer purchased 3 games, it paid for the extra cost of manufacturing the X box.

Now the Gov, thinks they are going to stop Pirates???

Your wasting money putting protection in your software that could be used to make it better or add features. (not talking about GG :) )

The Gov. just wants all the untapped taxes & other potential $$$ they are salivating over.

It's just another way the Rich are trying to keep us 99% poor. You don't ever see any Poor people run for President do you?

Mike

#33 Gamasutra's overview, relevant to our interests:
www.gamasutra.com/view/news/39775/SOPAs_not_dead_yet_the_6_things_every_game_dev...

#34 Piracy is not any real threat at all. It has everything to do with "if you won't buy it, we don't want you to use it, no matter what"

Here is the problem.

Say you sell a song. 1000 people buy that song, and 500 people steal it. How much money have you lost? answer: none
You didn't LOSE anything, you gained 1000 customers. See this is where people lose it. People who pirate songs/movies/Applications, etc.. Have no intentions of buying said item. This means they are NOT potential customers, so you have lost NO money...

"Those that give up a little liberty for the sake security, deserve neither"

#35

Quote:Piracy is not any real threat at all.

This is your opinion, which you can eventually back up with research and stats. The companies that are pushing for legislation to protect their products have a different opinion, which can also be backed up by facts and stats.

I propose something far more challenging with a higher reward. Rather joining either side, look for a compromise. Help the companies find ways to encourage users to want to buy a product. Incentive goes a long way. Sure, people will pirate Torque. It's really easy because we do not have DRM in place for the pro versions of our engines. iTorque 2D 1.5 was on Megaupload in less than a few days.

However, purchasing gives you legitimate access to our forums and support team. You can also get early access to products. If you have pirated Torque, you literally cannot get that because it will show in your account. We also meet people half-way when it comes to purchasing, such as promotional giveaways and goodwill engine grants.

The challenge is helping other companies find their own ways. It's pointless to argue whether piracy hurts a company or not, because neither side will never truly win that debate.

#36 Edited: I support the Thomas expressions. My apologies to Michael, I misunderstood his words.

#37

Quote:The companies that are pushing for legislation to protect their products have a different opinion, which can also be backed up by facts and stats.

Yup, I said that.

#38 I entirely agree on finding new ways. Thats the key concept on all of this.

The plain old "sell" is likely to be the only way the terrified mega corps will support. After all, is the material distribution and selling of content that granted them their gatekeeper status.

For indies, on the other side, is an exciting time for experimenting on new grounds and approaches. New ways are proving to result for small studios to make a living.

Publicity, pre-purchases, crowd funding, pay-what-you-want... The key thing here is that almost any new idea around digital distribution is resulting in success.

Digital distribution made posible what the humanity has pursued all its history: the global instant sharing of information.

We are NOT talking of a few "rogue sites". People around the world by houndreds of millions, are making use of this dreamed common tool in ways that a few rich people don't want to. That cannot be called "piracy", thats humanity making an statement. Thats called "expression".

That cannot be criminalized.

#39

Quote:This is your opinion, which you can eventually back up with research and stats. The companies that are pushing for legislation to protect their products have a different opinion, which can also be backed up by facts and stats.

The only thing they can back up is how much they didn't sell to pirates. That's it. It doesn't prove they lost any money at all. We are talking about products that are digital, that have no real assets and don't have to have anything done to them for each sell (or download) they are already made and available.

So how much money did GG lose to the files on mega upload? nothing..... In fact I can prove that piracy has SOLD some products.

I am pushing the argument that anti-piracy laws do nothing but criminalize non-criminal behavior. Its only about big companies flexing their "screw you" factors. That's it. nothing more, nothing less.

#40 Out goes SOPA, in comes ACTA
Petitio Asks White House to abandon support on ACTA

ACTA won't go through house or Senate for voting

according to wikipedia, ACTA has been met by the same arguments in oposition as SOPA/PIPA (freedom of speech, etc) but both bush and obama administration have denied public access to it's text.

This one involves more than jusr US law. Europe, Mexico and at least half a dozen other countries are currently involved in it's negotiations.