EH 370z Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki Saw and heard of soemmthing going on here, to do with freedom of infomation in the US. But does anyone know what going on with it? Cheers T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Perhaps click their "learn more" link Toby http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: ... Learn_more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Something about the US putting through a bill which lets them shut down anything they dont like - in a cynical and short answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 It may be a cynical short answer, but its pretty near the mark. My understanding is that any site which provides links to other sites which have illegal/copyright content can be asked to police such links, or they can be shut down. Now - imagine how this affects people like wikipedia, or indeed google. Every link they offer would need to be policed. As Wikipedia is advert free and run on donations and spare time, it could have disastrous concequences for them. Google would have to increase advertising revenue enourmously to police every link their spiders collect. Hows about facebook? Every link posted by every person on facebook in the world would need to be policed. We would need to police every link ever posted, and in every signature file etc. As per usual it is a law/act that has been concocted to fight internet piracy, by people who havent got a clue how it will actually work in practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 *EDIT* Beaten to it, but I'll say my piece anyway. Essentially SOPA and PIPA will give the US the right to shut down websites and demand data from them regarding individuals accused of breaking copyright laws. It sounds sensible in principle, but the devil is in the detail: As well as folks who download films via torrents, it could also be used to stop sites like Wikipedia quoting sources or linking to websites that might themselves then link to somewhere that distributes naughty stuff. In short, it gives the Man (sponsored by the film, record and gaming industries) freedom to do whatever he wants to whatever he wants, whenever he wants. It's a vastly bloated piece of legislation that is too over-reaching in what it would allow the US government to do. Whilst it might not affect any companies holding data outside the US, how many websites do you use that are based in the US? All the big ones could be shut down overnight, and then once other governments see how easy it is to implement it will start getting bastardised abroad, much like our own people in charge have done with the law that makes ISPs give details of potential file sharers. As ever with these things, it would do very little to prevent file sharing but would inadvertently give power to get rid of the irritating itch in the Federal back. It would be so much easier if people just stopped downloading stuff for free, but that's another debate that always ends up with them saying "But I wouldn't buy it anyway so they're not losing out!", which is a poor way to describe theft IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EH 370z Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 Perhaps click their "learn more" link Toby http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: ... Learn_more Yeah maybe should have clarified that a bit, I hadn’t heard of SOPA & PIPA and dint know quite what the detail was there, picked up on the protest thing, but got lost on the acronyms. Still feel a bit of a **** though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EH 370z Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 *EDIT* Beaten to it, but I'll say my piece anyway. Essentially SOPA and PIPA will give the US the right to shut down websites and demand data from them regarding individuals accused of breaking copyright laws. It sounds sensible in principle, but the devil is in the detail: As well as folks who download films via torrents, it could also be used to stop sites like Wikipedia quoting sources or linking to websites that might themselves then link to somewhere that distributes naughty stuff. In short, it gives the Man (sponsored by the film, record and gaming industries) freedom to do whatever he wants to whatever he wants, whenever he wants. It's a vastly bloated piece of legislation that is too over-reaching in what it would allow the US government to do. Whilst it might not affect any companies holding data outside the US, how many websites do you use that are based in the US? All the big ones could be shut down overnight, and then once other governments see how easy it is to implement it will start getting bastardised abroad, much like our own people in charge have done with the law that makes ISPs give details of potential file sharers. As ever with these things, it would do very little to prevent file sharing but would inadvertently give power to get rid of the irritating itch in the Federal back. It would be so much easier if people just stopped downloading stuff for free, but that's another debate that always ends up with them saying "But I wouldn't buy it anyway so they're not losing out!", which is a poor way to describe theft IMHO. Thanks for that! On the plus side it might sort out the unemployment issues, can you imagine the graft involved in policing all of the net PS not advocating this BTW I'm not some Orwellian loon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 *EDIT* Beaten to it, but I'll say my piece anyway. Essentially SOPA and PIPA will give the US the right to shut down websites and demand data from them regarding individuals accused of breaking copyright laws. It sounds sensible in principle, but the devil is in the detail: As well as folks who download films via torrents, it could also be used to stop sites like Wikipedia quoting sources or linking to websites that might themselves then link to somewhere that distributes naughty stuff. In short, it gives the Man (sponsored by the film, record and gaming industries) freedom to do whatever he wants to whatever he wants, whenever he wants. It's a vastly bloated piece of legislation that is too over-reaching in what it would allow the US government to do. Whilst it might not affect any companies holding data outside the US, how many websites do you use that are based in the US? All the big ones could be shut down overnight, and then once other governments see how easy it is to implement it will start getting bastardised abroad, much like our own people in charge have done with the law that makes ISPs give details of potential file sharers. As ever with these things, it would do very little to prevent file sharing but would inadvertently give power to get rid of the irritating itch in the Federal back. It would be so much easier if people just stopped downloading stuff for free, but that's another debate that always ends up with them saying "But I wouldn't buy it anyway so they're not losing out!", which is a poor way to describe theft IMHO. Thats not why wikipedia cares, its to do with net neutrality. Its the way brutish way the americans tried to push it through and forced companies like godaddy to take it on. The bill would be abused like the one for stopping terrorism. It would and could be used against people, blogs and opinions. The US doesnt own the internet nor should they try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Well, I was amused when I read that some main supporters of the SOPA and PIPA bill within the US Senate withdrew their support. And after the US Department of Defense actioned the shut down of Megaupload, which HQ is in Hong Kong, had the order for arresting a dutch citizen on New Zealand soil granted, that then Anonymous stepped in and shut down the DoD, FBI, RIAA and MIAA as an act of retaliation. This is why SOPA and PIPA are such bad things. Also, there are already laws in place regarding copyright infringement, it's just that the "money people" in the background want to see more enforcement, and using SOPA and PIPA in such sneaky ways is dangerous. Hence why those supporters withdrew once they realised, even Sony withdrew their support, amongst other big name corporations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff-r Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Why does America feel they always have to stick their beaks in? They ruin everything not only for us but for themselves as well. There are some very narrow minded powers that be in America and its dangerous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EH 370z Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Why does America feel they always have to stick their beaks in? They ruin everything not only for us but for themselves as well. There are some very narrow minded powers that be in America and its dangerous. TEAM AMERICA - WORLD POLICE 'nuff said Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff-r Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Why does America feel they always have to stick their beaks in? They ruin everything not only for us but for themselves as well. There are some very narrow minded powers that be in America and its dangerous. TEAM AMERICA - WORLD POLICE 'nuff said too true! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.