SOPA strike

[Napoleon54]

Hey Apex, how about joining the strike?

http://sopastrike.com/

[Markel]

The logo at the top of the page says it all.

[The Happy Squirrel]

Down with cheese!!! down with cheese!!! oh wait......... wrong strike. Nice to see the blackout.

[gwilks98]

I approve this strike!

[Napoleon54]

Hell yeah, thank you Apex!

F*ck SOPA, and anyone in congress who votes for it, in the *ss with a splintered baseball bat.

(Yes that's how I really feel, for those who wonder if I'm being too subtle.)

[Leon]

Hell yeah, thank you Apex!

F*ck SOPA, and anyone in congress who votes for it, in the *ss with a splintered baseball bat.

(Yes that's how I really feel, for those who wonder if I'm being too subtle.)

No, thank YOU, Napoleon54 for reminding me. I had a long day and almost forgot to put it up! More people need to know/care about this.

[bachviet]

Yeah I signed the petition from Google.

[Napoleon54]

Yea, I emailed my representative and senators.

[Napoleon54]

glad I could help!

[The Happy Squirrel]

THanks Nap and Apex. Very rarely do I get involved, but this is someting I feel very strongly about. Glad our community could be a part of it.

[Markel]

Both bills (House & Senate) are now on hold.

[Leon]

Both bills (House & Senate) are now on hold.

That's great to hear. I'm keeping the anti SOPA and PIPA on the banner till it's gone for good.

[Napoleon54]

It'll probably go away just long enough for people to forget about it. Then they'll try to reincarnate it with some slightly less intense language, but more vaguely worded, and it'll pass w-out a public uproar and they'll essentially get what they want anyway in the end.

The only reason there's a public backlash is because it wasn't sensitive to the desires of the big Silicon Valley corps (ex. Google, Facebook) and they raised a ruckus and got us (the little people) involved. Throw those big companies a bone in the next version, they'll back off, and we'll all get screwed by Washington YET AGAIN.

The only way to stop it is for us, the citizenry, to pay close attention to everything Congress does. WE MUST STAY VIGILANT!!!!

[Napoleon54]

Glenn Greenwald puts the pieces together and paints a clear picture on this. The shutdown and seizure of Megaupload shows that our victory on SOPA is pretty much meaningless. The government asserts it has the power to do what it wants anyway. This happened THE VERY NEXT DAY AFTER the bills (SOPA and PIPA) were withdrawn. The symbolism can't be ignored.

He writes:

Whether intended or not, the message is unmistakable: Congratulations, citizens, on your cute little “democracy” victory in denying us the power to shut down websites without a trial: we’re now going to shut down one of your most popular websites without a trial.

Link

And you known what'll happen? Absolutely nothing. Nobody's going to care because Google and Wikipedia aren't going to stick their necks out for principle, which would mean rallying behind Megaupload. The SOPA strike was manufactured by Silicon Valley in order to protect their interests. Without Google et al telling us to be outraged it simply won't happen. We won't sign petitions or blank out the name at the top of our websites or write to congress unless the Powers That Be decide that we should.

[Thesifer]

And you known what'll happen? Absolutely nothing. Nobody's going to care because Google and Wikipedia aren't going to stick their necks out for principle, which would mean rallying behind Megaupload. The SOPA strike was manufactured by Silicon Valley in order to protect their interests. Without Google et al telling us to be outraged it simply won't happen. We won't sign petitions or blank out the name at the top of our websites or write to congress unless the Powers That Be decide that we should.

I think there's more to it than that. I think a large part of the problem is that people for whatever reason inherently trust (at least somewhat and probably wrongfully so) law enforcement to an extent.

People won't stick their necks out when they single someone (or some site) out and say 'They did this, this and this. As determined by our X number of years investigation.'
Mostly because those people don't want to be wrong. They don't want to come out in support, only to find out that the founder of MegaUpload was a dirty crook.

For all we know maybe he was, and maybe he did something that he shouldn't have. Without looking into it further I really don't know to be honest.

Although I somewhat disagree with their stance against Megaupload in principal. If they can't provide absolute proof that Megaupload was intentionally making it difficult for copyright holders to get content removed, there is no case.

If Megaupload was intentionally making it difficult for people to get their content removed, there may be a case.

[Napoleon54]

IMHO it's a question of due process. There are existing laws against piracy. The proper, law-based, course of action is to prosecute. If they can go to court and prove that someone or some site has broken the law, then by all means go ahead and take them down. That's how the system is supposed to work. What they're doing w- Megaupload, and what SOPA intended to codify, is a "shoot first and ask questions later approach". Or more accurately it's a "shoot first and put the onus on the victim to litigate" approach. In other words, they presume guilt and the burden is on the accused to prove innocence. It's completely assbackwards as far as how the legal system in a supposedly free and just country is supposed to operate.