Senate 968 (PIPA) and HR 3261 (SOPA)

[Car Guy]

Discuss.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/SOPA

[Prince Valiant]

eh....dislike the "no censorship" cries that surround these bills from their opponents, simply because the internet IS censored by search engines such as google/Yahoo/etc, an example of which is like when each of those search engines screen out and scrub their database of child porn sites. Likewise, I find google's stand a tad hypocritical...why didn't they stand up to China, instead voluntarily censoring the net for China's users? You think Facebook doesn't censor it's content? Try posting pron on it...it'll be flagged and taken down at some point.

Likewise, intellectual property IS private property, and the property rights of those that own such rights do need some form of recourse and protection that many piracy websites avoid currently. Case in point: Should Visa/Mastercard do business with such companies that illegally sell copyrighted items? It's illegal for me to buy such stuff, why should V/MC benefit and/or go unpunished as well off such transactions? As the laws are written right now, there is nothing that says that it is or isn't, so V/MC continues to process such transactions.

But for the myriad of problems with online piracy, is SOPA or PIPA the best way to deal with it? Far less sure on that...so given that I'd rather err on the side of LESS gov't action, rather than MORE, I'm in favor of letting each bill die as written, and instead, piecemeal some legislation that is far more specific in each it's actions, IE, the above transactions b/w V/MC and dealing illegal items be they drugs (illegal and otherwise), movies, books, etc.

I think MOST piracy issues will probably be handled by the market, much like itunes/ieverything diminished greatly mp3 swapping simply because here was a legal, inexpensive way to download music and would be played on a very convenient to use device. But should owners of intellectual property have no recourse until such innovations occur? No...and again, how does one create a framework which this could occur without harming innocent parties? That's the hard part, and the question left unanswered by many proponents and opponents of SOPA/PIPA.

[BR3W CITY]

Great, like we really needed a war against the internet. It won't get interesting until they start using anti terrorism laws against those trying to get around it.

[xxsn0blindxx]

Prince Valiant, you and I are always on the same wavelength, couldn't have said it better myself. The other issue is that even if this bill passed, piracy will adapt and continue and the general law abiding internet community will still be straddled with the burdens imposed by this bill. Like you said the market will ultimately come up with the solution to piracy. The writing is already on the wall for web hosted services and "apps" to be the next wave of how we access electronic media and IP.

For reference, here are the politicians' stances on these bills
http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/sopa#roll_call
http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/pipa#roll_call

[Al]

What I dislike about SOPA and PIPA is that they are not only over-reaching, but they expect the Gov to do what private industry could accomplish with less money, little to no collateral damage, and greater overall effectiveness.

[-stew-]

Great, like we really needed a war against the internet. It won't get interesting until they start using anti terrorism laws against those trying to get around it.

If you don't let eBay shut down Craigslist, the terrorist win.

[pOrk]

Honestly, if movies weren't so DAMN EXPENSIVE more people would probably go to the theatre. 12 bucks + per person? No thanks

[xxsn0blindxx]

LOL best explanation of SOPA/PIPA

http://theoatmeal.com/sopa

[BR3W CITY]

If you don't let eBay shut down Craigslist, the terrorist win.

not sure what level of sarcasm this is, since you and i seem to end up on opposite political ends.
IMO you can call it paranoid or whatever, but a few years ago if you would have proposed "political" censorship of the internet, people would give you the "can never happen" or "not in america" or "how can you censor something you don't own"....and I would have agreed. yet here we are discussing it.

Fuck I'm still scared of the patriot act, and I'm sure I've commited way more internet crimes than acts of global terrorism.

[VroomPshhTsi]

LOL best explanation of SOPA/PIPA

http://theoatmeal.com/sopa

This just made my day.

[British_Ben]

http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/201201191642.jpg