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Author Topic: A ridiculous law is being proposed to shut down basically half of the internet  (Read 14467 times)

Trerro

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https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/index.sjs?action_KEY=8173

This would make it essentially impossible to run ANY website that accepts anything from users. Youtube, Twitter, every social network, and yes, even the companies that provide web hosting would all be basically screwed, permanently. The internet would be reduced to only what Hollywood decides is allowed on it. Even CC would be fucked, as I can guarantee that with hundreds of users and thousands of posts on this forum system, something, somewhere, has been posted to these forums that violates copyright on something. Most US internet businesses would really have no choice but to promptly leave the country, so this would likely be the final blow that sends our country into a full depression as well.

If you live anywhere in the US, please use that link to send a letter against this, and please don't use the default letter (so it's clear that actual effort was involved and you're not just spamming a form letter to them).

This was what I sent:
Quote
Two extremely damaging blacklisting bills are currently being proposed - the PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House.

These laws completely fail to understand how the modern internet works. Most sites have a user:staff ratio of hundreds, thousands, or even millions to one. It is physically impossible for one person to review thousands of submissions at all, much less check them for every possible copyright violation (which would require a paid team of lawyers larger than is possible for any user-driven site). The safe harbor laws were passed with this knowledge, and ensured that service providers could not be held responsible for the actions of their users.

If either of these two new laws were to pass, Congress would essentially destroy nearly every web-based industry in the US, while compromising the stability of the entire net (due to companies springing up to bypass the blocks, many of which would be less than trustworthy to say the least). The damage to both free speech and the US economy would be incalculable - nearly every US net-based company would have absolutely no choice but to immediately leave the country, and most tech workers would have to leave as well. Both the immediate and long-term effects of this (a second depression and a nearly unrecoverable tech gap vs other countries) would be catastrophic to the US economy.

Additionally, the damage to free speech would be enormous, as basically all modern protests are organized and coordinated initially through the types of sites that these laws would shut down - and most anonymous tips are received by the same method.

I realize that these bills are getting virtually no coverage in mainstream media (this grants them an instant monopoly, of course they don't want opposition to it), but be aware that the younger generations get our news from the net, ARE aware of these laws, and very much understand the damage that they would cause. As many in my generation depend on the net for their income, and nearly all use user-driven sites on a daily basis, I can guarantee you that voting in favor of either of these bills will cost you a LOT of votes in the next election.

I strongly urge you to please represent the people that elected you, not a few huge corporations that want to cause horrific damage for personal gain.

Thank you.
Order of Chaos (Ragnarok Online, iRO Ymir) guildmaster - Mwrip (99/70 High Wizzie)

Dragon Code: DC2.Dw Gm L7f W T Palw Sks Cbk Bfl/"puns" A Fr-- M O H-- $- Fo R++ Ac++ J++ S+ I--# Tc++ E+

"I never knew faith had to come with an instruction manual." - Source Unknown
"My political ideal is the democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual, but let no man be idolized" - Einstein
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Hihahahalol

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cool,another revolution XD

umm,well we need uhhh...... you know what i mean :D

Bullseye55

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Horrible U.S. government.
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KhanCipher

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as usual, hollywood is trying to use a pay phone strategy in a smart phone world, and are crying like little babies to the government.

makes me wish they would just go bankrupt already. >.>



oh and the quote in my sig works great for describing it. xD
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This is a Blizzard of Balls, I can't believe Humanity was capable of degrading itself so low as to produce such insulting catastrophe of ass!!

iggy

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as usual, hollywood is trying to use a pay phone strategy in a smart phone world, and are crying like little babies to the government.


Oh dear, what US presidential candidate did you steal that ridiculous quote from? I've heard it before :P

Also, it's not going to happen

Tyred

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I realize that it might be scary that the Internet (as we know it) could go kaput with these two bills, does it not stand to reason that no one, anywhere, could ever actually take down the Internet?

Based on the fact that the Internet is just a collection of computers all linked together (on a fundamental level) is it not possible (and in the event of these bills passing, inevitable) that the people who want to perpetuate the Internet in some form will?

Sure, forums and boards and social networks would get axed by this bill, as would many legitimate businesses. But I think that the lawlessness of the Internet still reigns supreme, and so long as their are enterprising yougn men and women who are willing to step up their own networks, the connectivity among people via their computers will never really be stopped.

Besides, wouldn't it be an interesting social experiment to see what people did without their precious Internet?

Tyred
Back on the old RA, I was the resident counting fanatic, literature snob, Tetris champion, moderator of forums I never used and games I rarely played, Hexxagon champion, stupidest smart person, and incompetent admin. I hope my legacy here will be just as meaningful... or not.

Member as of June 20th, 2004 (yeah, I've been lurking around here for FOURTEEN years...)

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Trerro

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I think it's quite likely that a second internet would indeed be created, much like Usenet was originally made in response to the original Internet being academic and military only.

In a way, it actually is pretty cool, as the younger generations are increasing more connected to each other, and less to existing orders (see Arab Spring, OWS, etc.)

Whether this is a good thing is debatable. The resulting citizen network would unquestionably be freer, but there's serious question as to its reliability. Usenet, though awesome, relies on an ad hoc network infrastructure where it takes a few hours for most people to see posts (and very occasionally a couple of days if posting from a poorly connected server with issues). This works fine for forums and file sharing (which are the 2 things it's for), but setting up that kind of network to serve chats, games, etc, would be much more difficult. Of course, one could also argue the only reason it hasn't been done is because there hasn't been a reason to, and this would change it.

The other possibility, unfortunately, is that paranoia may breed a series of shadow networks, many of which are highly insular, and it could be the end of the whole "one network does everything" ideal that we run on now.

In short - it adds chaos to the system. *If* the right people channel that chaos positively, the result could actually be quite awesome.
Order of Chaos (Ragnarok Online, iRO Ymir) guildmaster - Mwrip (99/70 High Wizzie)

Dragon Code: DC2.Dw Gm L7f W T Palw Sks Cbk Bfl/"puns" A Fr-- M O H-- $- Fo R++ Ac++ J++ S+ I--# Tc++ E+

"I never knew faith had to come with an instruction manual." - Source Unknown
"My political ideal is the democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual, but let no man be idolized" - Einstein
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin

Bullseye55

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I actually think they just put it into effect. A blocker comes on on some flash game and youtube videos.
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