Wikipedia will be blacked out!

[kamikat]

As I've said elsewhere on the internet:
My husband, who works for a non-profit organization that lobbies for consumer protection and against the entertainment industry (MPAA, Telephone/Cable companies) says the blackout won’t accomplish anything. If you truly want to do something about SOPA and PIPA, the best thing to do is to pick up the phone and call your (USA) congresspeople and senators. Better yet, put pen to paper and send them a real, actual paper letter. This is the only way that your elected officials keep track of things like this.

 

[kamikat]

Except when Wiki is wrong, distorted, and the result of "consensus" rather than "research." Fifty million people agreeing something is a fact doesn't make it one.

As far as SOPA goes, I've had my own work stolen by "online researchers," stripped of my name and copyright notice, and made available for free download. That's cash money picked out of my pocket, and as far as I'm concerned, throw the book at 'em.

The problem with SOPA is it's more than just protecting Lizzie's work. This site is filled with things that would be considered a violation of SOPA and it would be shut down. Any time someone posts ANYTHING that isn't their own, it would be a violation. Say, for example, someone posts an embedded Youtube video of a cute cat video (or 40's hair tutorial or someone modeling their new 1930's hat) and another person in the video is watching TV in the background. You can't see what the person is watching, but you can hear the dialog. That video would be a violation and could shut the Fedora Lounge down and both the owners of the FL and the poster of that video to FL would be criminals. The other issue is that this will spread, as has other such legislation. The US will demand that other countries enforce SOPA in order to remain trade partners with the US.

 

[Yeps]

The problem with SOPA is it's more than just protecting Lizzie's work. This site is filled with things that would be considered a violation of SOPA and it would be shut down. Any time someone posts ANYTHING that isn't their own, it would be a violation. Say, for example, someone posts an embedded Youtube video of a cute cat video (or 40's hair tutorial or someone modeling their new 1930's hat) and another person in the video is watching TV in the background. You can't see what the person is watching, but you can hear the dialog. That video would be a violation and could shut the Fedora Lounge down and both the owners of the FL and the poster of that video to FL would be criminals. The other issue is that this will spread, as has other such legislation. The US will demand that other countries enforce SOPA in order to remain trade partners with the US.

Not to mention our catalog scans.

 

[Connery]

As I've said elsewhere on the internet:
My husband, who works for a non-profit organization that lobbies for consumer protection and against the entertainment industry (MPAA, Telephone/Cable companies) says the blackout won’t accomplish anything. If you truly want to do something about SOPA and PIPA, the best thing to do is to pick up the phone and call your (USA) congresspeople and senators. Better yet, put pen to paper and send them a real, actual paper letter. This is the only way that your elected officials keep track of things like this.

It raises awareness regarding the proposed Act which is more far reaching than a site such as Wikipedia. Generally, people has little or no awareness regarding such things as most are trying to make ends meet. While I do not respect Wikipedia as a source and opt for primary sources for whatever research I need, I do beleive they have done a good turn for the average person who uses Wikipedia in bringing this proposed legislature to light.

 

[skyvue]

As I've said elsewhere on the internet:
My husband, who works for a non-profit organization that lobbies for consumer protection and against the entertainment industry (MPAA, Telephone/Cable companies) says the blackout won’t accomplish anything.

It's not just a blackout. They're also providing contact info for senators and congressmen and women. Raising awareness is the first step; helping people to join the fight is the second.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I would say it would reduce the overall intelligence quotient. If you do not live in a small town or rural area you have no idea how hard it was to get information of any kind before the internet. Even those who lived in cities and had access to public libraries, seldom bothered to visit them.

Without the internet, the only information most people would get, would be from the 5 or 6 media corporations that control everything now. No alternative at all except possibly Soviet style Samizdat publications passed from hand to hand.

That is what they are really afraid of. Free access to information outside the official sources. The copyright thing is just a blind.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

The problem with SOPA is it's more than just protecting Lizzie's work. This site is filled with things that would be considered a violation of SOPA and it would be shut down. Any time someone posts ANYTHING that isn't their own, it would be a violation. Say, for example, someone posts an embedded Youtube video of a cute cat video (or 40's hair tutorial or someone modeling their new 1930's hat) and another person in the video is watching TV in the background. You can't see what the person is watching, but you can hear the dialog. That video would be a violation and could shut the Fedora Lounge down and both the owners of the FL and the poster of that video to FL would be criminals. The other issue is that this will spread, as has other such legislation. The US will demand that other countries enforce SOPA in order to remain trade partners with the US.

Not to mention our catalog scans.

I can't believe it took until the 3rd page of this thread for someone to post this blindingly obvious point...

Disappointed...

From what I've read of SOPA, The Fedora Lounge would quite likely be shut down... Take a look around at our "sticky" reference threads, and our most popular threads in the Radio forum and elsewhere...

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I can't believe it took until the 3rd page of this thread for someone to post this blindingly obvious point...

Disappointed...

From what I've read of SOPA, The Fedora Lounge would quite likely be shut down... Take a look around at our "sticky" reference threads, and our most popular threads in the Radio forum and elsewhere...

Same here.

Look at our avatars, too!

As for Wikipedia, I find it handy to look up a celebrity's birth/death date or maybe get a band discography or cover art for my iPod, but I don't use it for heavy school research.

 

[sheeplady]

I actually encourage my students to go to wikipedia if they don't know a term or want to start researching a topic. I teach cases in a lot of different industries and every industry has technical jargon. I personally always start with wikipedia if I am researching a new topic- I go right to the reference section and look up those citations. If someone mentions a theory in a field outside my own, I go to wikipedia. In my area (I just looked up what I work with) wikipedia is amazingly accurate.

I don't think it's fair that people steal other people's stuff. But the law, the way it is written, automatically blames the landlord rather than the renter if stolen stuff is found on the rented property- and even worse- prevents the other renters from using and entering their own apartments- even though they may have stole nothing. Given the fact that copyright laws are extremely complicated, the law seems near unenforcable in any kind of logical way.

My school (not the university, but my school, which is a school that studies information and communication) has decided to black out their website today. As far as wikipedia and other websites choosing to black out their websites, in my opinion it's fine. I am not paying for their services, except for being exposed to advertising, which I'm not doing if I can't get to their website.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

.

No, for whilst the President has belatedly expressed his opposition th this ill-starred piece of legislation, the leadership in the House, with the unsuprising bi-partisan cooperation members on the other side of the aisle, is determined to push it through, presumably in deference to their paymasters.

Note that SOPA as currently constituted would allow for the pre-emotive blocking of any web address accused of unfair use, with no real chance for appeal, nor with any realistic determination of whether such charges are even justified in fact.

Not to sound political but I'm not very confident that SOPA would be vetoed, despite the President's stated opposition to it, as the entertainment industry is an especially big money contributor.

 

[Edward]

As I've said elsewhere on the internet:
My husband, who works for a non-profit organization that lobbies for consumer protection and against the entertainment industry (MPAA, Telephone/Cable companies) says the blackout won’t accomplish anything. If you truly want to do something about SOPA and PIPA, the best thing to do is to pick up the phone and call your (USA) congresspeople and senators. Better yet, put pen to paper and send them a real, actual paper letter. This is the only way that your elected officials keep track of things like this.

Au contraire, there are many, many people the world over who would never have heard of SOPA without this blackout. Certainly, alone it won't change anything, but it has been a very effective way of raising awareness.

The problem with SOPA is it's more than just protecting Lizzie's work. This site is filled with things that would be considered a violation of SOPA and it would be shut down. Any time someone posts ANYTHING that isn't their own, it would be a violation. Say, for example, someone posts an embedded Youtube video of a cute cat video (or 40's hair tutorial or someone modeling their new 1930's hat) and another person in the video is watching TV in the background. You can't see what the person is watching, but you can hear the dialog. That video would be a violation and could shut the Fedora Lounge down and both the owners of the FL and the poster of that video to FL would be criminals. The other issue is that this will spread, as has other such legislation. The US will demand that other countries enforce SOPA in order to remain trade partners with the US.

Mnn.... I'm not clear on the U equivalent, but here in England that should be covered by "incidental inclusion". I'm pretty sure there is a US equivalent (hazy memory of the mother who took on Prince and his label and won...).

Not to sound political but I'm not very confident that SOPA would be vetoed, despite the President's stated opposition to it, as the entertainment industry is an especially big money contributor.

As I previously posted, the influence of that lobby is very readily apparent when you compare existing intermediary liability for third party content which infringes copyright to that for defamatory material.

 

[kamikat]

My husband has posted a blog post about SOPA and the blackouts, if anyone is interested.
http://thecommandline.net/2012/01/18/big-content-wont-scare-me-off-the-net/

 

[kamikat]

Au contraire, there are many, many people the world over who would never have heard of SOPA without this blackout. Certainly, alone it won't change anything, but it has been a very effective way of raising awareness.

But, to be completely honest, this is an US piece of legislation. Some blogger in Romania blacking out his site does nothing to convince a Congressman from Kentucky not to vote for it. It's good that the large sites like Wiki and Google are doing this, but for indie bloggers, the best thing that they can do is explain the bill and post links to http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ so that American voters can contact their elected officials.

 

[Stanley Doble]

It's not being done to convince the congressmen and women it is being done to raise public awareness of the issue and get them to pressure their representatives. So, a blackout on a site in Romania would be just as good as one in the US if it is visited by Americans.

Of course none of this will do any good because congress stopped paying attention to the voters years ago. For example, public outrage over TARP and other giveaways to the big banks resulted in letters, phone calls and emails running 100:1 to 300:1 against. They passed anyway. This was in 2008. There is no evidence that congress pays any attention to the public, quite the opposite.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

That Congress has long ago stopped paying attention to the voters doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is that the voters keep voting them in!

 

[Undertow]

I definitely support the writer's/artist's/musician's/etc. right to protect his/her work.

On the other hand, I do not support behemoth government interventions lead by a minority of special interests.

[huh]

 

[kamikat]

This is one of the reasons why SOPA and PIPA is dangerous, from news.cnet.com

SOPA and PIPA would give the government the ability to cut off access to foreign-based Web sites accused of piracy and to force credit-card companies and online advertisers to cut business ties to the accused--largely without due process.

From eff.org

In addition to going after websites allegedly directly involved in copyright infringement, a proposal in SOPA will allow the government to target sites that simply provide information that could help users get around the bills’ censorship mechanisms. Such a provision would not only amount to an unconstitutional prior restraint against protected speech, but would severely damage online innovation. And contrary to claims by SOPA’s supporters, this provision—at least what’s been proposed so far—applies to all websites, even those in the U.S.

As First Amendment expert Marvin Ammori points out, “The language is pretty vague, but it appears all these companies must monitor their sites for anti-circumvention so they are not subject to court actions ‘enjoining’ them from continuing to provide ‘such product or service.’” That means social media sites like Facebook or YouTube—basically any site with user generated content—would have to police their own sites, forcing huge liability costs onto countless Internet companies. This is exactly why venture capitalists have said en masse they won’t invest in online startups if PIPA and SOPA pass. Websites would be forced to block anything from a user post about browser add-ons like DeSopa, to a simple list of IP addresses of already-blocked sites.

Just read anything on eff.org about SOPA, please!
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/...white-house-principles-supporting-free-speech

 

[sheeplady]

But, to be completely honest, this is an US piece of legislation. Some blogger in Romania blacking out his site does nothing to convince a Congressman from Kentucky not to vote for it. It's good that the large sites like Wiki and Google are doing this, but for indie bloggers, the best thing that they can do is explain the bill and post links to http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ so that American voters can contact their elected officials.

Most of the people and smaller organizations I know are doing a redirection page and/or linked blog post that has a short blurb about the bill and relevant links, including how to contact your representative. People are not just taking their stuff down- they are trying to get people to pay attention.

 

[Undertow]

I realize it seems silly to blow horns about these measures, but those bills truly could impact all of us on the Lounge, as well as billions of others who use the internet.

(Don't even get me started about the NDAA...:hand

 

[Stanley Doble]

That Congress has long ago stopped paying attention to the voters doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is that the voters keep voting them in!

Voters became irrelevant when the voting machine came in.