DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Breaking News - "Wikipedia Will Go Dark On January 18 To Protest SOPA And P

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The title is the condensed version... although, being that I first saw the story yesterday, I'd hardly call it "Breaking News", hehe

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Depending on how it's worded, the SOPA could cause people who post on message boards, on Wiki, and other sites that "refer to copyrighted material" to be in violation of the law. In essense, this site could be in violation for just discussing a copyrighted NFL game ..... or by discussing a copyrighted Plain Dealer article. It's an asinine bill ..... once again, poorly worded and full of unintended consequences. This is usually what happens when Congress gets involved in areas it does not need to be involved in. There are already copyright laws. The FBI already prosecutes sites and owners of sites who violate the law. I bet that they could block foreign sites, like those from China, if they found that the Chinese government wasn't doing enough to stop piracy there.

Instead, we will get this convoluted mess full of consequences and penalties for people who are innocent of intent, and who want nothing more than a discussion of current events.

Also, imagine going to Google to look up a site for information, and the link you goes to has some forbidden link on it ..... or forbidden material. You could be in violation of the law simply by having visited the site. This proposed law is so badly written with such broad terms, conditions, and definitions that even poor old grandma might be facing an FBI raid if she visits the wrong site or mentions something she saw or read that was copyrighted. .

I would invite those who enjoy such discussions to write to your Congressman and Senators to express your opposition to this law. Tell them that they should enforce current laws instead of passing laws that could have serious repercussions for the average internet user.

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Tell them that they should enforce current laws instead of passing laws that could have serious repercussions for the average internet user.

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j/c

So - if I have this right - wikipedia won't be available for a day?

Oh, the shame. Oh, the misery they will inflict on the masses.

Wiki might want to be careful lest people decide they don't need wiki to live their lives..................

When is the last time any one here was on wiki?

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When is the last time any one here was on wiki?

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Damn, how am I going to write my research paper now?

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When is the last time any one here was on wiki?

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Damn, how am I going to write my research paper now?

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Wiki is still technically open for "emergencies" - the script which forwards you to the Stop SOPA page was written only in javascript, so disabling javascript on your web browser will allow you to surf wiki as usual

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W00T!

linky-doo

SOPA Shelved After White House Petition Response


The White House has responded to petitions complaining about SOPA and Protect IP, a response that could lead to their demise.

The U.S. online piracy bill causing waves across the Internet may either receive a complete rewrite, or be tossed in the trash thanks to a White House response to several petitions over the weekend.

Just last week the legislation, known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House of Representatives and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate, saw proposed revisions by Senator Patrick Leahy and Representative Lamar Smith that would see the Domain Name System (DNS) blocking provision removed from the impending bill. But now there are talks that the revisions will need to go much deeper than previously realized (aka replacement language) if Congressional staffers don't want to receive a veto by the White House. There's a possibility that they may even need to create an entirely new bill instead.

"While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet," the Obama Administration said in a public statement.

The White House stated that the proposed laws must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS). Before the proposed revisions on Friday, there were fears that users would seek out foreign DNS servers to access blacklisted sites -- a splintering of the internet's architecture, so to speak. Even the White House saw a problem, stating that "analysis of the DNS filtering provisions in some proposed legislation suggests that they pose a real risk to cybersecurity and yet leave contraband goods and services accessible online."

"New legislation must be narrowly targeted only at sites beyond the reach of current U.S. law, cover activity clearly prohibited under existing U.S. laws, and be effectively tailored, with strong due process and focused on criminal activity," the White House stated. "Any provision covering Internet intermediaries such as online advertising networks, payment processors, or search engines must be transparent and designed to prevent overly broad private rights of action that could encourage unjustified litigation that could discourage startup businesses and innovative firms from growing."

News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch didn't appear happy about the White House response on Monday, saying that "Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery." He also seemingly blames Google for piracy, claiming the search engine giant "streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder [we're] pouring millions into lobbying."

The debate over the proposed bill is expected to intensify over the next few weeks. The White House said the organizer behind the We The People petition and a random sample of the signers will be invited to a conference call to discuss the issue further with Administration officials. After that, the White House will host an online event to get more input and answer questions about the bill.

Saturday's White House response was written by Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget, Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff. The full response can be read here.

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Yup, I sent a few message to my reps. I tried not to use too many 4-letter words (to offend them or confuse them.....3-letter words are usually their limit for comprehension).

And don't worry Arch, we all know you're our resident anti-technologist. You don't understand why anyone needs anything technical (phones, internet, computers, etc to live their life). While nobody NEEDS Wikipedia, like how we need oxygen, but it is a very important and useful tool. Like someone said above, it's like the 6th most visited website in the world. I know I use it all the time (my wife asks what other movies actorX has been in....BAM, answer).

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It appears that the Senate site has crashed.

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We all know that no politician does anything without being prodded and poked or paid (in the form of donations to a campaign or similar)

So, who is behind this. Who's pushing politicians to do this..

Find that out and you may get a sense of why people sponsor bills like this.

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