Defeat SOPA

1974jh5

1974jh5

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The Stop Online Piracy Act sounds like a good idea- on the surface. In reality, the statute is so poorly and vaguely written that it could lead to legitimate sites- such as this one- being labeled as 'pirate sites' for allowing the resale of legitimate second hand goods, such as if you decided you wanted to sell your personal used DVD collection. Piracy is already well covered under existing intellectual property and copyright laws.

Read up on it and let your representative know!

http://www.craigslist.org/about/SOPA
 
I see SOPA and PIPA is direct infringements on A1. It shows you how ass backwards our politicians are that they would even consider this. They are more concerned with getting paid off by lobbyist than the actual interests of the people.

~ Derek
 
My problem is...Why don't they enforce the damn laws they have now instead of making new ones?????? What are they getting paid for now?
Ask an official what the current laws on the books are about copyright laws, ect. They don't know!!!!!
So how is a new law making it better when the enforcers are completely ignorant of the current laws?

Remember that "Mega Uploads", or something, site? Ya, they were able to shut that whole site down because of copyright laws, but they only shut down that one, which was the biggest of the "cloud" type sites. So they have the ability to enforce these laws, but only pick and choose. Crooks.
 
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AFAICT this is about off loading the governments responsibility to enforce the law on to third parties. IE anything on your site that links to a pirate site whether intentional or not and you are liable. BS pure and simple.
 
Well, SOPA is now shelved. Look for a slimmed down version to rear its ugly head in a year or two. And THAT version will be what the sponsors REALLY wanted.

littlebill made an excellent point: there are laws already on the books to address piracy concerns. Enforce those and the problem is fixed. We don't need more crap dumping the problem on 3rd parties who could be shut down through no fault of their own.
 
1974jh5 said:
Well, SOPA is now shelved. Look for a slimmed down version to rear its ugly head in a year or two. And THAT version will be what the sponsors REALLY wanted.

littlebill made an excellent point: there are laws already on the books to address piracy concerns. Enforce those and the problem is fixed. We don't need more crap dumping the problem on 3rd parties who could be shut down through no fault of their own.
Click to expand...



A few years ago I wrote a program and made a website with paypal to sell it and literally within no more than a week it was available for free download from foreign sites and on file sharing networks. It got about two honest sales per month, and who knows how many illegal downloads.


But then I thought of a straight up diabolical way to make money off of that very piracy. What you need to do is serialize each copy of the program and record that serial number with the purchaser. Then have it "phone home" and leave that number and an ip address the first time it starts up. Then, since you know who purchased the copy with a certain serial number, you can also know who's running illegal copies that have that serial number.

At that point the digital millennium copyright act provides for you to sue for $10,000 the person using the illegal copy. You can get a court order to get his identity using the ip address your program phoned home with. The web program would literally have produced a list of hundreds, if not thousands, of people to sue for $10,000 each.

I had an intellectual property lawyer ready to work with me for a percentage of what we took in. I did not have the heart to do it though. The main reason is that everybody my age, literally everybody, who programs learned to do it using pirated materials themselves. Because in those days programs were so easitly pirated while simultaneously being prohibitively expensive for student types to buy legitimately. I have no doubt that Bill Gates himself used pirated materials somewhere in his education.
 
xjwmx reinforces the point: prosecution for piracy is already covered in current legislation and there are ways to combat it. SOPA is not needed.

Congress is as usual going where the money to line their own pockets comes from and is ignoring the true problems we face. But I will shut up to keep my blood pressure down.
 
As an internet pirate myself and a former MOD of a well known filesharing forum I know quite a bit about pirated software. No matter what you do serial numbers/ server checks the pirates will hack a program if they want to. Look at photoshop. They have 3 or 4 software checks implemented and still you can download and install if for free. They will come out with a "keygen" or a patch to share with the masses.

I will say that software from the "little guy" should be paid for undoubtedly. It's when the big companies charge obscene amounts for the same recycled program updating the year on the box that burns my ass.I get that there is alot of work that goes into programming, I do a little myself. I've written a few over the years and have always released them for free. my opinion and my choice is the battle cry of the internet pirate "keep it free"

Lets say there is a chair maker out there. He has to get the wood, cut and assemble the pieces to make this chair. Then he sells it for his fee. Now he has to make another chair to sell it again. Software, no matter how much work goes into it, is only made once and then copied over and over. Basically you're selling the same product to different people for a jacked up price. it should not cost as much as it does for what it is.

Its the same thing for movies, music and video games to a degree. This bill IMHO was started by the RIAA and MPAA by putting pressure on or buying politicians over the years. It's also a slippery slope to be on because first they can say any site is linked to piracy and who knows maybe porn will be next, then political agenda, and so on. The internet was intended to be wide open and we should leave it that way.

LEAVE MY PORN ALONE!!!
 
What I would like would be, for once, not having to turn on my computer in the morning and have to wait while all these ass "updates are ready for your computer" pop-up things to load and slow my computer down. I have absolutely no want nor need for them or any other pop-ups for that matter. If I wanted them to update my computer, then I would tell it to.
And why the hell doesn't the "X" "Stop" button on any computer work? I click the thing for a reason. My friend writes programs for a company that sends pop-ups out. I think he's a fucking asshole. Leave my computer alone!! I actually write down which ones pop-up and will not purchase anything from them. Sounds stupid, but I don't.
 
Detale, speaking of slippery slopes, every thief considers himself justified in stealing. You're no different from other thieves.
 
I'm not stealing I just want to borrow it for a bit... Speaking of theft: Selling software with willfully poor presale documentation/ features (lack of features) is theft that has been committed against me near countless times. This tactic has become so widespread it's ridiculous. I can't pick up a retail box anymore that has enough information on it to make an informed purchase decision. This is not an accident, the idea is to sell product to people who won't find out it's not suited to their use until after they have it home and open. Then the odds of it getting returned are slim enough to make theft by withholding of product information widespread and profitable.
 
Hey bill you can shut that off just google "turn off automatic updates"

XJ to brand me a thief with reading a single post is just lame. You don't know me or what I feel justified in doing. Do you know "Every thief" out there? Of course not so how the hell would you know what they think of themselves either? I get that you feel harmed by pirates but don't take it personally man.
 
Gary, well, don't start "borrowing" cars because you once bought a Pinto.

Detale, you told me what you considered justified, and why. But you could have been lying. I wouldn't put it past you. You don't become a thief without first becoming a liar :)
 
Again your assumptions are absurd. I told you one of my views and gave an example I didn't proceed to tell shit else. Also I didn't insult you and now you have insulted me twice. Why not lighten the fuck up a bit and relax. Either that or leave the adult conversations to the adults.
 
Detale, you did admit you are or were a thief. Does a victim of theft insult the thief when he points him out? Does a judge insult a thief when he puts him in jaill? No, but the thief does rage on forever ;)
 
You aren't a judge nor did I steal from you directly. I was simply sharing my view on the matter with a bit of background. Instead of trying to justify your insults why not put that energy into something more conducive to the thread like coming up with some real opposing views instead of "They took my lunch money"
 
Detale XJBMX admits he is also a thief.
"I had an intellectual property lawyer ready to work with me for a percentage of what we took in. I did not have the heart to do it though. The main reason is that everybody my age, literally everybody, who programs learned to do it using pirated materials themselves. Because in those days programs were so easitly pirated while simultaneously being prohibitively expensive for student types to buy legitimately. I have no doubt that Bill Gates himself used pirated materials somewhere in his education. "

Pot, kettle , black Etc.
 
The other day I found a wet $5 bill on the lawn, I dried it by the wood stove and walleted it. I did not post any found notices or ask around. Who among us has not gained from the loss of others?
 
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