Attention All YWS Members

Dynamo · 2011-11-22T17:43:14Z

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/view/jimquisition/4993-Sony-Nintendo-EA-and-SOPA

ToritheMonster

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Wed Nov 30, 2011 3:10 am

ToritheMonster says... · Wed Nov 30, 2011 3:10 am

Just in addition, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and the likes are all multi-million to billion-dollar industries. I somehow doubt they're suddenly going to go down without crashing the US economy.

Honey, you should see me in a crown.

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Dynamo

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Wed Nov 30, 2011 3:52 am

Dynamo says... · Wed Nov 30, 2011 3:52 am

A lot of copyrighted material gets put onto those sites: videos, music, pictures. Unless they can remove every single piece of unauthorized copyrighted property that gets posted or uploaded they can get sued for it because they become liable for what their users do. Something that big can bankrupt them simply because of the sheer number of lawsuits that can come out of the woodwork if this bill gets past, even if they are multi-billion dollar corps. The wellness of the economy is inconsequential in the eyes of greed.

At least, that's what my understanding of the situation is.

Chicken <-- Egg <-- Rocket Powered Fist
Take that, science!

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Blues

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Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:58 am

Blues says... · Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:58 am

AyumiGosu17 wrote: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 understood it as Lumi talking about Bieber