"Honest Politician: A politician that stays bought." Which makes me wonder how long it'll take before the puppets of the big media companies try again. I'd be willing to bet on "before the summer recess".

So what's the best source to find current status of the whole thing? Dutch newspapers haven't picked it up yet...

The issue that I see it is that it gives any company the ability to go after anyone with material on their website that they don't own - even stuff that company does NOT own.

As we saw in the UMG-vs-megaupload-on-youtube thing, UMG basically used their legality as a weapon to take things they didn't want the public to see, off.

If SOPA/PIPA passes, there are going to be SO MANY lawsuits.
Remember that fiasco with the RIAA being caught torrenting things themselves?
Yeah. Pretty much anyone could hold the RIAA criminally liable for that. Whether or not they owned the material they were downloading.
(we all know the RIAA/mediawatch whatever has their own people watch torrent traffic, snag IPs, and then sue the people they belong to. Or just steal shit anyway.)
But this basically hands a loaded legal gun to anyone who doesn't like the RIAA.

Or dumpshock. Or facebook. Or livejournal and their user icons. Or any other media site with user created content.

I remember a story (Doubt it's true, but who knows), about someone trying to buy off Abraham Lincoln while he was still a lawyer, he kept going "No" as the guy kept increasing the price. Suddenly, Lincoln grabbed the guy and physically threw him out of the office. Someone else that worked in the office asked, "Did he annoy you that much?"

Lincoln replied, "No. He was getting close to my price."

THAT'S honesty. The ability to know your own price, and the ability to remove the influence to sell yourself before it happens.

Me, I'd be a politico for all of ten minutes before the RCMP arrests me for bouncing people off of Parliament's stairs. Head first. Probably use his body to open doors, too.

...

Just looked at the building again. Too damned big. I'll just try to get a ground floor office and throw him out a window. Unless I got a really good mad on.

I'd use public money to constuct a catapult.

Launching people from the top of the Peace Tower would not be a good image for Canada. Not in the least!

What about launching them to the top of the Tower?

Equally in bad taste. It's pointy on top and I'd impale their bodies. Also, I might hit one of the gargoyles or grotesques and damage them, those things are historical relics!

I'm waiting for the part where that's a bad thing.

It's named the PEACE Tower, not the PIECE Tower.

Fixed that for you.

That works too.

I oft times think that things like SOPA and PIPA are just put out there to test what people will put up with.

The old "Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they have resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress."

CNN Money reports PIPA and SOPA are postponed indefinitely. However, new legislation arises to take its place...

They can still have my Internet when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Full disclosure: I'm drunk right now and posting via mobile.

Aren't you from Canada? Do you even have any guns??

Don't need guns if they start screwing with my Internet. I'm a bored nerd with a lot of time on my hands, and access to a lot of information.

"I'd just have to LEARN." That sentence alone has made more of my teachers scared than anything else my class has ever thrown at them.

Just to jump in on this briefly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tD1yaE0GfQ

25% of the internet's users are now culpable for copyright infringement and extradition to the USA, at $150,000 per infringed work.

Anyone know where I can get cyanide tablets? They aren't taking me alive.

Wow, that could close the deficit!

Canray being Canadian shouldn't you be in DC burning down the white house and capital building?

Only if they do it to Toronto, first. Which, in Canray's book, might receive his blessing!

Won´t help. They´ll just make the law to get your family instead.

Even unto the seventh generation. *dramatic music*

I see it's been rebuilt, very nice. Fireproof materials this time. Oh well, ways around that.Hey, gotta have a good reason to do something, right? Good luck, my immediate family is broke and my Father has a heart condition that necessitated him becoming a Cyborg. They're not going to get much out of them.Need a second generation first.

Iiiiiiiiif....it wasn't all going to the MPAA....

And from there to some numbered accounts in the Caymans...

Or Japan, or one of the new countries in Eastern Europe that has bad paperwork when it comes to giving up information, or...

I would like to share this and hope you watch the whole thing:

Ted Talk: Defend Our Freedom To Share (Or Why SOPA Is A Bad Idea)

This fight has been going on for quite a while now and its not over by a long shot.

Don't forget about ACTA. As opposed to our friends SOPA and PIPA, this one is international, and there is much less awareness about it. Sneaky sneaky.

Good link! Well stated and clear.

Yup, I'm aware of it.

ACTA appears to be even more invasive, potentially going as far as allowing customs agents to search your laptop on a whim without a warrant or probable cause. Holy hell.

Well, they can already do that in the United States, when you're crossing a border. Arguably, if you're within 100 miles of a border (including coastline).

Shit, I live within 100 miles of the US border!

So does 2/3rds of the population of the country, apparently.

http://www.aclu.org/national-security_tech...ution-free-zone

Link posted to show some of the articles and events the ACLU has tracked. Not posting any more on it, since it's drift from SOPA/PIPA.

Yeah, I noted that when reading the info on ACTA. It's sad how many rights were taken away after 9/11 and none of us even knew it.

Welcome to this fight of epic proportions Ladies and Gentlemen.

In the left corner, the Policeman of the world, the self-proclaimed country of the free, the country of the honest and brave who fight other countries because they are plain fuckin EBIL.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the UNITED STATES OF A.

And in the right corner, the power from the east, the plain fuckin ebil country that's just to big to invade, the country everybody needs for cheap electronics and toxic toddler toys.
Ladies and Gentlemen, RED CHINA.


Ok you two, FIGHT.

"Whoa, whoa stop it, I said no holding! What do ya mean with 'we are cuddling' ? The golden middle way? You mean compromise? WTF?"


Yay, instead of bringing China to our standards, why not lower our standards little....

I am gonna throw up now....

Many people knew about it, but couldn't do anything to change it, or didn't care. As long as they can keep on living their lives, most people won't do anything. And most of the time, when it starts directly impacting their lives, it's too late to change things.

A few websites were censored by the French government, and not much was said about it. But as soon as MegaUpload disappeared and people couldn't get the latest episode of their TV shows, there were suddenly many people rising against Internet censorship... But the laws have already passed (and when the latest internet censorship law passed, most people only knew/cared about the fact that it was bundled with a more lenient law about traffic tickets).

ACTA may be challenged in the European Tribunal. Whoopee, saved by the bell.

Welcome to politcs & diplomacy 101.

SOPA and PIPA got shleved.
MPAA basically threatens the President and admits to bribing people:
http://boingboing.net/2012/01/21/chris-dod...-hollywood.html

They had better be VERY glad that Obama is President.
Bush would have them declared a Terrorist Organisation for threatening the President.

Hilarious.

As a side note, he's the same senator that promised not to become a lobbyist. And the very same law that prevents him from lobbying congress he voted for.

Certain airports (mainly the ones with the International designation) are considered borders by Customs officials too.

Think about that for a few moments...

I'm surprised unscrupulous electricity generators aren't smashing up the resting places of the US Founding Fathers. The torque they're generating while spinning in their graves could probably power a city for almost no expense, and they could charge whatever they wanted.

I stand firmly opposed to SOPA and PIPA for two reasons, one superficial and one quite serious (and personal). I work evenings, have for most of my life. I don't get to watch prime time television, or even late night for that matter. Supporting a family of five on less than 1500 a month is more than difficult, so I also can't afford a cable/satellite service or Tivo/DVR type device, not when mortgage is due and we need to eat. I use various sites to watch what is broadcast for free. And I mean that, I only "aquire" shows from Fox, NBC, ABC, and CBS. I would no longer be able to watch those shows. [Of course, those companies fail to realize that the surprisingly large number of people like/similar to me will eventually get these tv series on dvd, when we have the money. If we don't watch anything, we won't buy anything.]

On the more serious note, my older brother is/was an aspiring musician. His work was rife with social and musical satire. (Prime examples: "Sprayin' Semen on Stuff" and "MFYMFNMFFY"). He also created a wonderful library of electronic music in a variety of subgenre. One day, he recieved a C & D order from EMI. They demanded he hand over all songs, materials, and moneys earned from one album he self released (and lost money on). The album's title was "Now That's What I Call Arajay". EMI's alleged grounds were the similarity between his album's title and the title of their "popular" series of pop compilation albums. As my brother had neither the money nor the legal knowledge to fight the case; and Fair Use law does not protect Satire in any form or fashion (your parody better not have any deep meanings bro!), he capitulated. His site is finally back up, free and clear of any "infringing" material, but it was still a horrible thing to do. None of the tracks were in any way infringing anything. Just the album title. (Okay, "Born to be Mild" but that really just a nod to another song, easily considered a parody.)

My point in all that, seemingly advertising, rant: I have absolutely no desire to see that kind of power extend any further. Can you imagine what could happen to the literary communities as we (those who push the power of the written word to the current and future generations) fight for our right to publish satires online? Our entire works could be confiscated by the government, by virture of having a single "infringing" work on our site. (I understand this may be a bit of stretch, but I imagine it's not quite as much of a stretch for those reading this, considering where you are reading at)

No thank you.

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever." - Nineteen-Eighty-Four, George Orwell

In related news, a petition to investigate Chris Dodd for bribery.

Toront-owned!

But seriously, the solution is simple. Don't buy, watch, or listen to any movies or music ever again. It's mostly all crap nowadays anyway. Send the MPAA a note telling them they're cut off since they're trying to destroy freedom of expression. If this REALLY bothers you, put your money where your mouth is. Imagine how hilarious it would be if people simply stopped watching movies over this shit.