SOPA / PIPA Megathread

[ibby]

Two U.S. Senators remove support for SOPA/PIPA in light of Wikipedia blackout

Mr. Cornyn, just before 9 a.m, posted on his Facebook page that it was “better to get this done right rather than fast and wrong. Stealing content is theft, plain and simple, but concerns about unintended damage to the Internet and innovation in the tech sector require a more thoughtful balance, which will take more time.”

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01...e-legislation/

[QuickSand]

QuickSand you are complaining about "comments" members make in serious threads like these, the only member who has posted 3 times on the first page already, pure junk, is you. You are the ultimate example of your own description !

Here's my contribution to this megathread:
The January 18 #SOPASTRIKE thread: Here
The January 18 #SOPASTRIKE HOWTO thread: Here

k

[filescan]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p-TV4jaCMk[/ame]

[Daniel]

SOPA and PIPA So Far

Since their inception SOPA and PIPA have raised concerns about blacklisting from online freedom advocates, and tech industry giants. Law professors worry that they could stifle growth and innovation. Other's have warned that the legislation would hurt scientific debate and open discourse on the internet. SOPA and PIPA are not without support however. In fact a wide variety of companies have backed the proposed laws, bringing together an eclectic group. After months of debate, the removal of one of the more controversial provisions, and The White House expressing its own concerns over the law in its current form, Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) announced that he was shelving SOPA. PIPA however remains, and it is likely that a re-worked version of the House bill will be brought up soon.

[ibby]

SOPA would affect Canada
Although SOPA and PIPA are intended to target "rogue" websites, for Canadians, the concern is that if the laws are passed, there might be collateral damage that harms legitimate sites.

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, speaks at the London Cyberspace Conference on Nov. 1, 2011. Wikipedia will black out the English-language version of its website on Jan. 18 to protest anti-piracy legislation under consideration in Congress. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press)
Geist outlined some of the ways the proposed laws could affect Canadians in a Jan. 17 blog post:

In the eyes of U.S. law, websites with domain names ending in .com, .net and .org are treated as American domestic domain names, regardless of where their owners are based, he wrote.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/...pa-canada.html

[Starnova]

Hi All well I found this on wiki and I thought it deserved a posting.. Please do not disregard the injustice this will cause on the net. We all need to stick together for the sake of a free internet:
Here is the wiki post:

Thank you.

The Wikipedia blackout is over ? and you have spoken.

More than 150 million people saw our message asking if you could imagine a world without free knowledge. You said no. You shut down Congress?s switchboards. You melted their servers. Your voice was loud and strong. Millions of people have spoken in defense of a free and open Internet.

For us, this is not about money. It?s about knowledge. As a community of authors, editors, photographers, and programmers, we invite everyone to share and build upon our work.

Our mission is to empower and engage people to document the sum of all human knowledge, and to make it available to all humanity, in perpetuity. We care passionately about the rights of authors, because we are authors.

SOPA and PIPA are not dead: they are waiting in the shadows. What?s happened in the last 24 hours, though, is extraordinary. The internet has enabled creativity, knowledge, and innovation to shine, and as Wikipedia went dark, you've directed your energy to protecting it.

We?re turning the lights back on. Help us keep them shining brightly.

[ShareShiz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p-TV4jaCMk

if SOPA were to pass this would get taken down for copyright

[Daniel]

US Supreme Court Upholds Removal of Works From Public Domain

While much of the web is focused on the SOPA and PIPA blackout, supporters of the public domain today quietly lost a protracted struggle that began back in 2001. The Supreme Court, in a 6-2 decision, rejected the argument that Congress did not have the power to convey copyright upon works that were already in the public domain. The suit was originally filed to challenge provisions that the U.S. adopted when signing the TRIPs agreement. Justices Breyer and Alito dissented, arguing that conveyed copyright on already existing works defied the logic of copyright law. Justice Kagan recused herself. The text of the opinions is available here (PDF).

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...ight-decision/
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/...e/intel2_e.htm
http://www.supremecourt******opinions/11pdf/10-545.pdf