Ethics and Legality of Copyright and Online Distribution

...Enough about the bally copywrite already.

Postponed indefinitely, you say? Is this one a mixed blessing, because it's still sitting there?

back to posting silly pictures

Another here.

I admit it I loled hard.

Especially when those would be banned with these two bills.

Hahaha. So us Europeans are the dorfs?

Eh. I never found "But not this day" to be such a great speech. "They'll never take our freedom" is cliche, but better

I still need to give my senator a mouthful about this.

Well, Blumenthal. Lieberman is a lost cause anyway, and he's leaving shortly. But I supported Blumenthal, I went door-knocking for him, I bothered people over the phone for him, and I voted for him.

they're postponing it to try and lull us into a false sense of security, then they'll sneak it into another amendment and purposefully screw us over.

unbelievably disgusting tactics are gonna be used, and no one will get out of this completely unharmed.

That won't fly. The shitstorm that happened over the bills now means that if anyone tries to sneak them in after this, he can kiss his reelection goodbye.

Except this sort of things has happened before.

What if they do it after reelections?

Then their political careers will be effectively destroyed as far as the public is concerned, since they will never trust their word and hence will no longer support them in any future attempt to further said careers that depends on the public's support for success. Senators and Representatives don't stop being politicians once they stop being Congressmen, you know. Obama was a relatively junior Senator before he campaigned for Presidency, for example.

edited 20th Jan '12 10:10:40 AM by MarqFJA

You have a touching belief in the public memory.

Lamar Smith does kind of have an evil grin, really.

Unfortunately, in our system of representative government, you have to inevitably pick people who you disagree with on certain issues because there are OTHER issues you disagree with the OTHER guy on even more.

Which is why the "Primarily Two-party" system is bullshit.

Eh, there are more core reasons than that it's a two party system-rather, the way we do things it's impossible to feasibly have anything but a two-party system.

I prefer more direct democracy, but unfortunately, the rules we have for implementing direct democracy are so atrocious that it just becomes a perversion-see California.

edited 20th Jan '12 10:25:41 AM by TheyCallMeTomu

True. In a system using election district you either end up with a two party system or regionalist parties.

Which is why proportional representation is better

(though yes, every instrument of direct democracy is even better. *sighs* Why can't we all be Switzerland? )

edited 20th Jan '12 10:27:40 AM by Octo

Anyway, let's not get too off topic

Why is it that when I think of SOPA/PIPA, Censor Decoy is the first thing that comes to mind?

Let me think of the good side of Piracy:

free advertising and free market research. As stated, Americans are pretty law-abiding folk and will buy things legally after the pirated sample. Yes, demos are supposed to be doing the same thing, but companies still have to pay to release demos. What gets pirated where is also important, particularly with imports. It tells them what to sell where, a free service rather than having to keep spending on market research. They can look at what's popular with the click of a button and either try to sell more of it or try to emulate it.

At this point, the only excuse for misunderstanding the consumer is laziness.

Let's not get into discussion of whether piracy is good or not here. We can start a thread for it I guess?

We've had about a bazillion of those and IIRC neither side managed to convince a single opponent in any of'em. Although the rerun is bound to be eerily similar to previous installments, perhaps they still serve to sway the undecided.

edited 20th Jan '12 11:29:21 AM by SavageHeathen

My argument for digital piracy requires a background in economics to truly grasp the nuances of it, so yeah, not really that convincing.

This mustn't register on an emotional level. First, distract lobbyists with attention on Congress. Then block accusations of piracy apologetics. Counter with a "responsible pirate" image of the modern consumer. Discombobulate. Dazed, they'll attempt a reintroduction later once people have forgotten about it. Employ advocacy group, and second round of protests. Block industry propaganda. Weaken jobs argument. Now dismiss it. Break into primaries. Traumatize complacent politicians. Dislocate expectations of November. Crushing electoral defeat to supporters. In summary, lobby chastised, politicians frightened, two chambers of Congress realigned, one smarter. President sympathetic. Media attention: six months. Time before similar legislation is reattempted: six years. Capacity to imprison the Internet: neutralized.