Much Ado About SOPA and PIPA

January 18, 2012 Brett Taylor Editorials 95

If you use the Internet, chances are you’ve heard a lot of the commotion about the SOPA and PIPA bills making their way around the United States Congress right now. Today, many sites like Google, Reddit, and Wikipedia are protesting the bills as they are generally considered to be bad for the health of the Internet as a whole. Both bills have the noble goal of eliminating piracy on the Internet, but actually contain clauses that promote extreme censorship that would harm many websites, including ours here at Overclockers.com.

We are not blacking out today because we want to continue providing our community the high level of service they love, but we do want to make sure all of our users are informed on the current events that could impact their lives and this site in the future. So, please take a few moments to browse some of the links below and if you are American, take action by contacting your local representatives.

Of course, you can leave your comments and questions below, too.

– splat

95 replies

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Avatar of ghost_recon88
ghost_recon88

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3,735 messages 3 likes
#1 Jan 18, 2012

Glad OCF put up an article about this, wasn't sure if people were aware a site like OCF, as well as many other forums and tech sites could be shut down if this bill passes. It's too bad the thread in General Discussion got closed.....

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Avatar of I.M.O.G.
I.M.O.G.

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25,037 messages 3 likes
#2 Jan 18, 2012

Good to see awareness raised, as this is an important issue. Unfortunately, the following comment on slashdot rang pretty true to me.

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2626382&cid=38738236

Problem is they all bask in this zero effort activism and then will ignore it when SOPA has a name change and is passed attached to the "its bad to smash puppies and kittens with a club" Act of 2012

They will simply change it's name and slide it quieter next time because the public will stop paying attention in about 5 days.

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Big Mike

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1,158 messages 0 likes
#3 Jan 18, 2012

Despite movement away from the extreme ideas in the original bill I chose to black out my personal site to join in this movement. The legislation as written is far to dangerous and would allow corporate interests to dictate who gets a voice on the internet.

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Big Mike

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#4 Jan 18, 2012

Glad OCF put up an article about this, wasn't sure if people were aware a site like OCF, as well as many other forums and tech sites could be shut down if this bill passes. It's too bad the thread in General Discussion got closed.....

I agree I thought that move was a bit premature, this bill is not yet a dead issue.

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Avatar of I.M.O.G.
I.M.O.G.

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25,037 messages 3 likes
#5 Jan 18, 2012

GD thread is open now as well on this issue.

I think the core problem of these bills, from what I understand, is that they essentially say - "don't worry, we'll only use this against the bad people." But when you ask, "who decides who the bad people are?" It appears the answer is, "the corporations decide".

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Avatar of G33K454URU5 R3X
G33K454URU5 R3X

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346 messages 0 likes
#6 Jan 18, 2012

I find it highly disturbing that people who don't understand technology are making technological decisions with no understanding of what they are doing other than 'protecting intellectual property'. This is clearly evident with Lamar Smith violating the same acts he wishes to impose on everyone:

http://www.dailytech.com/Obama+Admi...Author+Caught+Stealing+Work/article23783c.htm

SOPA and PIPA should be shot down out of the sky with a full barrage of Internet powers. Keep big business out of telling me what I can and can't see based on what they think I need to know. If these pass, there are going to be some real fireworks - foreign hackers will be the least of worries for Lamar and his gang of dummies.

Lamar proposing SOPA and PIPA would be the equivalent of him going to CERN and telling them how to use the LHC to find the Higgs-Boson - he doesn't understand technology, any of it, yet is making decisions that affect us all.

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Avatar of Seebs
Seebs

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3,412 messages 0 likes
#7 Jan 18, 2012

Check out this video guys... I puts into layman's terms what it is that SOPA/PIPA would end up doing.

http://www.ted.com/talks/defend_our_freedom_to_share_or_why_sopa_is_a_bad_idea.html

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Avatar of Bobnova
Bobnova

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20,964 messages 1 likes
#8 Jan 18, 2012

I'm kind of surprised the GD thread didn't stay closed, this being a political topic.
Still, it is a very important one!
Check out "namecoin" if you have a chance, it's an alternate, p2p, DNS type system.

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Avatar of Seebs
Seebs

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3,412 messages 0 likes
#9 Jan 18, 2012

I'm kind of surprised the GD thread didn't stay closed, this being a political topic.
Still, it is a very important one!
Check out "namecoin" if you have a chance, it's an alternate, p2p, DNS type system.

Matt gave the main thread a reprieve based on the fact that the issue is more about legislation and how it affects us than it is about the politics behind the legislation.

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Avatar of Robert17
Robert17

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3,687 messages 129 likes
#10 Jan 18, 2012

Everything about this SOPA/PIPA billing is bad news for the internet, civil liberties, and freedom of speech/expression. The only good I could see in it may be to catch some congress-critters downloading copyrighted material and put them in prison (since we can't seem to get them there by any other means.

Way too much regulation and legislation in our country as it is.

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