Attention All YWS Members

I didn't know whether to put this in the lounge or the serious discussion forum, but considering the severity of this event I thought it best to post it in the lounge so more people could see it. If the moderators feel it best to move this thread to a more suitable forum, go ahead.

For those of you who don't know, a bill was introduced last month in America called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or the SOPA for short. The bill expands the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. To learn more about this bill you can check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

This is all well and good in theory, but in practice this basically gives big named companies in the entertainment industry the power to sue and shut down any website they feel is stealing or using their copywrited material without warning or giving them a chance to remove it. The bill is worded so vaguely that even having a screenshot of a game or movie, or even a discussion about it may be fuel enough for them to take down the site it's on, and to arrest those who are responsible for putting them up in the first place. That means sites for online reviewers like Screw Attack, or That Guy With The Glasses are at risk, as well as countless social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, and even certain search engines depending on the context, which I remind you is extremely vague. I wouldn't be surprised if Youtube is the first to fall if the bill gets passed. If this bill is passed, I'm almost certain YWS will be targetted sooner or later because of our discussion groups on movies and video games, as well as all the fanfiction we post. Not only will YWS, our haven for creative writing, be taken down, but we'll all most likely become wanted felons due to a simple technicallity.

This bill may be news to most of you, and I wouldn't be surprised if you find yourselves asking, "Why haven't I heard anything about this!?" Because of the nature of the bill, those who are pressing to get it passed are doing so as quickly as they can so they won't get as much opposition. I for one am shocked that I hadn't heard anything about it until at least a few days ago. It's got some big names behind it, like Apple, Microsoft, EA, Nintendo, and Sony to name just a few. The reality of the situation is this bill is very likely to pass, and if it does it'll irrevocably change free speech on the internet for the worse.

This video can explain the effects of the bill better than I can:
http://vimeo.com/31100268

This is the entertainment industry we're talking about, people. It's not a matter of if they'll abuse the power this bill will give them, but when. We have to take a stand and fight so this bill will not be passed.

For you American citizens out there, please contact your local congressman and tell them how much of an outrage this bill is: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
Or go to this site: http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/

For those of you Canadian citizens like me, or anyone else who lives outside the States, go to this website and find out how you can help: http://americancensorship.org/infographic.html

YWS is too important to me to see it become a possible target of this monstrosity of a bill, and I'm going to do everything I can to help fight it. I hope all of you will do the same.

Here are two more videos on the subject:
http://vimeo.com/32149733
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... A-and-SOPA

So we can't name drop a movie, like, ever? Mention music? You know, socialise? God this Political Correctness shtick is really getting on my nerves. I live in the UK. Does this mean it will affect me too? I hope not. Either way, I am unhappy about this bill. I am not up for a rebellion. No one is. But eventually someone is going to stand up for us. Nate will flip when he hears this. That's a guarantee. So, my avatar has to change? So we all have no faces? Jeez. Talk about throwing stuff at the wall and seeing if it will stick.

Slowly we're turning into Airstrip One/Oceania.

Hi Big Brother! I know you're watching now! (1984 Big brother as in)

I just sent Nate a PM telling him about this. If you've watched the video I linked, you'll understand that America will not be the only one that's effected. The nature of this bill let's people in the entertainment industry tamper with the inner workings of the net in order to block domain names and such. Such an action will severly reduce the stability and safety of the internet worldwide. Think about how many banks and businesses rely on the internet to survive, and they want to potentially cripple the entire thing?

And you know what the really kicker is? The entertainment industry will escentially be shooting itself in the foot by getting this bill passed, as a lot of the advertisement for their products comes from online reviews and people posting their let's plays on youtube. I recently bought an awesome space game called X3 Terran Conflict which I would have never even HEARD of if it hadn't been for someone's livestream of the game.

Billions of dollars are going into this bill, and it's only going to make online interaction worse in the long run. That's why we all need to getup and take a stand!

Dynamo, stop being hysterical.

For one, you're from Canada. That is why you haven't heard much about it. It's a piece of legislation before the United States Congress. Why would you hear much about it? Here in the good ole USA, anyone who takes the time to read a newspaper or watch the news has undoubtedly heard a lot. In fact, thanks to a rather clever campaign by the opponents of the bill, any Justin Beiber fan is fairly well-informed about the pending legislation.

But at this point, what they're hearing is much ado about nothing. Every year, literally thousands of pieces of legislation are introduced in Congress. I used to know the exact number when I worked in the House of Representatives, but very few pieces of substantial legislation actually get passed. That is because the United States political process ensures that everything gets a thorough discussion. In fact, aside from legislation in response to an emergency, it typically takes about five years for a bill to become law.

Now, in the United States, a bill typically begins with some member introducing it. Most bills never make it past that part and only a very few make it to the next step: the committee process. The Stop Online Piracy Act is currently in that step of the process; that is, it is currently before the House Committee on the Judiciary. At the moment, hearings are being held. If it doesn't die after the hearings (and most do), then it will go to a mark-up session where the committee modifies the bill. After that, it languishes for a long amount of time until the Rules Committee finally takes a look at it. The Rules Committee decides under what House rule the bill will be introduced, and then it finally goes to the floor. In normal circumstances, this all takes several months at the least as Congress is only in session for a few days each week on average.

If the bill passes once it gets to the House floor, then it will go to the Senate, and the entire thing repeats once again. It goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee, hearings are then held, then a mark-up, then the Senate Rules Committee looks at it. Now, the Senate takes a very long time to do anything because it was designed that way. So while it takes the House at least several months to pass something, it can take the Senate years.

After it goes to the Senate Rules Committee, it will eventually make its way to the Senate floor. If the bill passes and the Senate version is no different than the House version, it goes to the President for his signature or veto. If, however, both houses of Congress pass different versions of the bill (this is usually the case), then it goes to Conference. In Conference, the differences are resolved. That forces both houses of Congress once again to vote on the bill; this time on what is called the Conference Report. If the Conference Report passes both Houses, then it goes to the President, who must either sign it or veto it.

So as I hope you and others can see, nothing can pass under the noses of the public. That's absurd.


As for the bill itself, it's a bad bill and I doubt it'll make it past the hearings process. It's simply attracted too much negative attention, and that whole Justin Beiber campaign was very effective at stirring up emotions against it. However, if passed, it would not end YWS. That's absolutely ridiculous to say. It wouldn't even effect YWS in the slightest.

All in all, just calm down. There's no need for the perpetuation of propaganda, and there's certainly no need to demagogue it.

Well that's no fun.

Nate's right. But still, what if say I were to simply post a link to something, and this site got sued, or something? I mean, that is possible, according to this, right?

I understand this, Nate, and maybe you're right. Maybe all of this is all just smoke and I'm getting worked up over nothing. But the bill still worries me, and I'd rather overreact than sit back and do nothing, even if I am Canadian and therefore can do nothing about it. Isn't it better to be safe than sorry? It certainly wouldn't hurt to raise the issue and inform other YWS members who may not have heard about it yet so they can have their say.

But regardless of anything you've said, anything that affects the inner workings of the internet affects the rest of the world, so I have reason to be concerned.

I understand, Dynamo, that this is indeed a little alarming. It's a good thing you pointed this out, so that we would know something more about it.

But, going off what Nate has already pointed out, it's very unlikely for the bill to pass anyway because it directly contradicts one of our Bill of Rights amendments - freedom of speech and freedom of the press - and is therefore deemed "unconstitutional". Plus I'm sure as soon as the public gets word of it, there will be even more rampant behavior than we already have in our streets...

Well, Justin Beiber managed to be of some use.

;D

That darn Canadian. ;D

Just. Forever:

In the worst case scenario, I hope Obama is smart enough not to past this bill.

Lumi, I find that comment derogatory and unnecessary. Yes, he did freak out a little bit, but Dynamo is still my friend. Perhaps the primary reason he posted this is for the sake of warning us - his friends - of a possible development in our own country.

So, Dynamo, THANK YOU for bringing it to my attention, if no one else's.

I think Lumi was talking about Bieber. Even if he was talking about Dynamo, it wasn't an outwardly hostile or condescending remark. Let's just all relax, ok?

AyumiGosu17 wrote:But, going off what Nate has already pointed out, it's very unlikely for the bill to pass anyway because it directly contradicts one of our Bill of Rights amendments - freedom of speech and freedom of the press - and is therefore deemed "unconstitutional". Plus I'm sure as soon as the public gets word of it, there will be even more rampant behavior than we already have in our streets...

Is it freedom of speech to take a poem you wrote, then sell it in a book for commercial gain without your permission?

The below is for everyone

The bill is trying to tackle how to enforce copyright in the digital age, which is something I know every single YWSer is concerned about. There's a lot of misinformation out there from both sides about the bill, and while it is indeed a bad bill as it currently stands (owing to an expansion of what is considered copyright infringement), it is nonetheless trying to take on some very difficult problems.

Unfortunately, rather than try to produce a good bill that handles copyright concerns appropriately, the climate is such that nothing will be done at all. Perhaps that's desirable to some, but I'm not so sure that'd be good for society as a whole. When done correctly, intellectual property rights encourage the development of literature, art, and science. Yet, the digital age has put those rights in jeopardy, and you're literally seeing one of the results of that in the decline of good cinema (due to piracy, Hollywood is increasingly churning out films it deems as safe bets, so films like Casablanca or even like Fast Times at Ridgemont High simply don't get made anymore... instead you get Jack and Jill).

Of course, as the bill stands, it would most likely discourage development of those three fields, but that is an argument for reform rather than to simply do nothing.

On a broader note, the entire intellectual property rights system is completely broken. Piracy is one component of that, but the main issue is too much regulation in some areas and too little regulation in other areas. Copyrights last for an absurdly ridiculous amount of time (life of the creator plus 70 years), which if I live to be 85 years old would mean something I create now would not become part of the public domain until 2139. The patent system is a complete and utter mess, leading to the smartphone patent wars and to pharmaceuticals reluctant to invest in low-profit medications. A saner intellectual rights system would be a tremendous boon to the economy and to the general welfare, but alas, there's simply too many obstacles to change from lobbyists, non-profits (international and otherwise), corporations, politicians, and the people. Everyone agrees the system needs reform, but no one is willing to give up some of their benefits, leading to the dreaded status quo.