Reddit to go dark on Jan 18 to protest SOPA

[thret]

blog.reddit -- what's new on reddit: Stopped they must be; on this all depends.

[shodoo]

lol, this is just the same as facebook issue that they will end up on March...

[allena]

I don't understand what SOPA is?

[dr_protocol]

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) is a piece of American legislation (HR 3261) that is on the verge of being introduced.

It has wide ranging implications and scope. Real Big Brother type stuff.
Gives the govt the power to shut down sites like Wikileaks, Child Pornography sites (so it has a positive side), and more specifically torrent sites that are sharing stuff around that they don't own.

Big implications for Youtube, Wikipedia etc. - sites that are share volumes of info around that they didn't actually write/produce. Goes wider into Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites that communicate as-it-happens type stuff. Gives the govt the power to shut down what they see are unauthorised or pirated info. So footage of a couple of white cops unnecessarily beating the crap out of a black guy would be an illegal and prosecutable action.

I guess it was created to prevent an expansion of Wikileaks type sites and to protect the copyrights of those that produce something eg a book, or a song/music video clip etc. and just one person buys a $10 copy and posts it for a million non-payers to see.

So it could be endless sort of legislation that shuts down heaps on the net. Freedom of speech is really challenged. Give a lot of power to a few individuals and away from the masses.

Sites like this would be affected because sometimes copyrighted information is shared between the people who talk in here. It only takes one (as the govt sees it) illegal post and the whole site is smashed.

With online poker, the govt might feel players aren't paying their fair share of poker tax, and the legislation is added to/amended/expanded etc. in the future as a revenue earner. Once it is in (in the US at least) it can be widened and changed in direction to suit any sort of control the govt wants; financial, social obedience, behaviour modification.....skys the limit.

1984 type stuff. Forget the West saying China oppresses its citizens; this would be far worse. Surprised its coming from the Democrats; it really smells Republican. Very dangerous legislation.

So in here, if an equivalent came into Australian law,for example, something as simple as your avatar was of someone else, and not you, the owner of the image could sue, or complain to the SOPA controller and you could be fined/jailed. Whether it would go that far for a chit-chat site like this with no sinister motives is debateable, but who knows?

If it gets in,in full, the internet will change forever. Tread carefully time, despite the fact it is US legislation.

[thret]

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) is a piece of American legislation (HR 3261) that is on the verge of being introduced.

It has wide ranging implications and scope. Real Big Brother type stuff.
Gives the govt the power to shut down sites like Wikileaks, Child Pornography sites (so it has a positive side), and more specifically torrent sites that are sharing stuff around that they don't own.

Filtering out Child Porn isn't necessarily a Good Thing, it's just a marketing stance: The Copyright Lobby Absolutely Loves Child Pornography | TorrentFreak