There a lot more polictics involved than just passing the bill.
I’m pretty sure that the hardcore conservatives will be angered that the government has more power, so they will pass legislations that will cut off funding for SOPA. The bill could still be in operation, but no one to operate it…
They could also pass legislation that render SOPA pretty much useless.
For example: the Second amendment clearly states that americans can own firearms. But places like DC and maryland have created so many laws that it’s impossible to own a firearm. Some people get a lifetime in jail because they get a speeding ticket when they’re just passing through on a vacation, and the cop asks if they have a firearm or not.
MY OPINON:
Piracy is a bad thing indeed. I’m glad the government is thinking about ways to rid of it. How would you feel if you were an artist that published a song that could normally be worth millions, but everyone just downloaded the file from youtube and stole it.
HOWEVER,
Piracy is going to happen no matter what. They can hack into the system, go overseas, or find new methods.
The government always manages to screw things up. If you put this kind of power into government hands… Where does it stop? could/will they abuse this power?
If artists are so concerned that everyone will steal their music, why do they put it on youtube? Because it gets them publicity. There are still honest people like me who buy music legally from itunes. People like Lady Gaga are going to be rich no matter how much pirating is going on. They’re always on magazines and running concerts etc.
Is SOPA even worth it? Not only will it cost $$, but this bill means that every american will have to sacrifice great internet things, just to get rid of pirating? I bet a ton of yoyo tutorials will be taken down, just because we're trying to rid of piracting?
What the government SHOULD do is close down websites that allow people to download illegally. ZAMZAR lets you convert youtube to MP3. People are using this to steal music. Why not shut this program down? Give me your opinion on this.
Even if yye wasn’t specifically targeted and shut down, if it was my site, I would take it down myself just to pre-empt any possible lawsuit. You can be shut down just by linking to a site that gets targeted. Its completely asinine. I’m a web-developer, and if this passes I’ll probably go out of business because I won’t be able to sell a website to anyone because their fear of a lawsuit with no warning will outweigh their advantages of having a website in their minds and I don’t blame them. If this passes, all my sites are getting shut down until I can go through them and completely sterilize them of anything that could even remotely be considered questionable.
I emailed my representative a few months ago about this and all i got was, “it’ll be good for the economy and make jobs.” They really have no idea what they are talking about. I would guess some of them literally have no idea what this new-fangled innerwebs thing even is.
Obama won’t be around forever. The idea still exists and it got much farther than it ever should have. Maybe we lucked out this time (maybe we didn’t) but this is just the beginning of multiple big industry lobbyists thinking they can do whatever they want because they pay enough for it. There have been many times in history when a president or political figure said something and did another.
It may have been annoying for some people who couldn’t get to their favorite sites, but some people have their whole lives invested in the internet. Your favorite sites aren’t blocked today, but the threat of my entire career going down the tubes is still there.
If anything, the Megaupload bust PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt that the feds don’t need SOPA or PIPA and the current laws in place allow them to do what they need to do.
Over at FunnyJunk, a lot of users wanted our admin to also do a blackout.
He said no. He is hugely against this crap, but he doesn’t see how shutting a site down for a day or two will help.
He can be so lame sometimes.
Actually, this is where I’m confused…I keep hearing things that the vote was postponed, as well as it was canned. I’m seeing more of the 2 bills being canned though and a nice slap in the face to the MPAA and RIAA.
