Woot woot! Once again, the members of the internet proven that we are more powerful than dumb U.S politicians!
Still got PIPA Which is the one which actually has the legislation to shut down internet service to infringing sites.
We'll see. In 2008, tons of people flipped out at the last minute about the Bailouts. They said "oh ok we wont pass this then since you're all so mad" and then they secretly passed the bailouts anyways.
That part alone makes me want to rip off that guys head and take a **** down his throat while I punch him profusely in the adam's apple to mush it up for him. I mean seriously? "Foreign Theives"? He makes it out as if to say there are no Americans pirating any of the content at all. I'd imagine the vast majority of the piracy is conducted in America. I also love how he pulls up that it'd be $100bn extra in the banks if piracy didn't happen. Not sure where they get that figure from because I can safely say there won't be anywhere near as many software downloads as there are now. A single program can cost near $1000 to purchase and you get a YEAR usage from it. Who the hell in the right mind would buy that crap? I don't condone piracy, but hell.. what they were considering just winds me up something rotten. Money grabbing arseholes and thats it. I feel sorry for you guys who have to put up with idiots like him running your country.
Didn't the last two lines of the quote in the OP say that support for it and the bill itself has been dropped for now?
like i said, anyone who thinks it's dead and goes back to their business of not paying any attention to whats going on in the world is a complete fool. they will wait the short amount of time for you all to go back home to your TV sets and then they'll do it again.
He isn't talking about people downloading things over the internet which constitute a tiny % of lost profits. He's talking about the people who own the pirate sites and own the servers which are often in other countries. There are already laws in the US preventing such sites from being made and maintained here. Also real piracy is also covered in the bill (a part few people understand) which covered enforcement of people stealing retail products, copying them, and selling the copy on the streets as well as how to handle that being done overseas. What I would suggest to this politician however and all the people who comprise these "Intellectual Property" committees is to actually learn how to use a computer and what "intellectual property" means.
“The online theft of American intellectual property is no different than the theft of products from a store." That's where you're wrong. Stealing from a store means that you have both robbed someone of a physical item from the store's inventory and a potential sale. Piracy robs corporations of neither. And before you say that they lose a potential sale to piracy, take note of the false notion that, could he not pirate, one would be willing to pay full price for merchandise otherwise. So what are they really losing?
Read the entire thing and while he raises some fair points, people like that are the worst. Basically the point being it doesn't matter what we say or do it doesn't matter. He then goes on at the end to suggest something that at the beginning he said wouldn't work (boycotting). He also doesn't seem to get that the companies behind the bills are SO LARGE that is is almost impossible to do anything without giving them money. That blog alone pays an internet service provider money. The internet service providers are invested in the large media content providers like RIAA. To boycott a company like Time Warner, Universal Music, etc would be to basically sit at home and do literally nothing. Maybe read something? All the large book publishers are either owned by Newsgroup or are invested in them. Such a suggestion is both impossible and pointless. What the person fails to realize is that the point behind these petitions and endless facebook status updates and "talk" is that it raises awareness. If google or wikipedia blacks out a hundred times because of these lame bills then all the better because millions of people will pay attention that way. It takes millions of people to sway stupid politicians who need that kind of support to be re-elected by saying, "you know that bill you all hated, well I didn't back it!" As far as the "straw that broke the camal's back" point of view he was trying to make with what if SOPA passed, he's full of ****. If NDAA, the Patriot Act, or any of the bills that have taken away civil liberties didn't do that then it isn't going to happen. The majority of the United States is either collecting social security or near to collecting it. We're not a third world country with a leader who's killing his people and we don't have a small enough population to have an entire feeling of unrest. Are there problems with the way our government works, sure, most Americans (except the stupid ones) would probably agree on some level with that statement. Would those same Americans be willing to overturn the entire system because of how they feel? No, absolutely no, no to the point that asking that of people is down right stupidity in itself.
I shared it because it amused me. What i got from it, what i felt his point was, was this: that's great that everyone is all weekend warrior on sopa right now, but its not enough. I agree with you about people who think no matter what we say or do nothing matters and we're screwed... they suck. and apathy is consent. we have to make some noise, no matter how seemingly insignificant. raising awareness is important, i agree. very important. he is dead-on right about this: give it a week, everyone will be like "yay we defeated sopa" and forget about it, and then the **** will be slightly altered and passed on the secretness. people need to STAY mad. people need to KEEP caring. but yea. meh.
Just gotta love the U.S. trying to be the police of the world, and the internet. They're determined, you gotta give them that.