Happy to be corrected
recently I have found 'el reg' to be a stalking ground for pirate hunters that will brand any one with any knowledge of piracy the scum of the earth. I may have allowed this to bias my judgement.
I stand corrected.
The Register to publish other sites' blacked-out content in SOPA protest
As many Register readers will be aware, websites across the internet have pledged to black out all or part of their content as a protest against the proposed US Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). We at the Register applaud these noble acts of self-sacrifice, in which we will see the English-language Wikipedia sort-of blacked out ( …
-
-
-
-
Wednesday 18th January 2012 21:36 GMT Trevor_Pott
Piracy is bad.
Without things like copyright, how do writers make a living? But SOPA is also bad. There has to be a middle ground here that we can all agree on.
I'm a content creator; I create content, El Reg owns the copyright. That makes me really no different from a band and their relationship to their label. Yet I am also a consumer. I want to be able to read my books on every device I own. Watch my movies on every device I own, and format shift to my heart’s content.
I need people to pay for what I create. I am willing to pay (and reasonably well at that) for what others create. Why does it all have to go so horribly, horribly wrong from there?
-
Wednesday 18th January 2012 22:21 GMT irish donkey
I agree...
we all work because we get paid... I can't think of any other reason to drag my sorry ass out of bed at 6.00 in the morning. I am also happy to pay for my stuff. When I was a student I frequently test drove stuff.... now I earn I pay.
But the polarising nature of the fight between the pirates and content creators leaves me in a quandary of whose side I am on.
I enjoy mash up’s and parody's and the somewhat sideways look the culture around us you find on the internet, but do I think it is justifiable to destroy somebodies life for uploading a couple of songs to the internet or sticking some miniature pop stars picture on their website? Simple answer is no. So I guess I am on the side of the pirates but only because the punishment is far exceeding the crime.
Home taping didn't kill music back in the day and downloading won't kill it now. It won't happen as there are still far too many people making too much money out of it.
One notable exception!
Download U2’s stuff because they refused to pay tax in Ireland and provide no benefit to any society. They steal from their fans (the tax payers) so anybody should be able to steal it back. But their music is $hit anyway so don’t bother.
-
Thursday 19th January 2012 01:59 GMT Meph
In homage to the ancient masters
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
Methinks Sir's Gilbert and Sullivan were more prophetic than they realised. Long gone are my days of "extended software and film trialling" but I still class myself a pirate, if for no other reason than that listed above. Freedom to enjoy life is more important than living in a cage, no matter how gilded. Now, bring me that horizon!
-
-
-
-
-
-
Wednesday 18th January 2012 19:56 GMT agedslacker
Some reasons to protest:
1. Copyright was originally introduced to balance the interests of the creators and the rest of the population; balance is the important word.
2. Originally copyright lasted for some 5 years, considered enough time for the creator to realise a reasonable return for her/his work. The US Congress, influenced by large payments from MPIAA, has again and again increased the period of copyright to an unconscionable level whenever the copyright in Mickey Mouse was about to run out.
3. The reason why Draconian legislation is "necessary" to enforce the law is, with the ridiculous length of time now reaching towards the 100 year mark, any idea of balance has long gone, and the whole idea of copyright has become contemptible to the normal person.
4. Any law which is widely seen to be unbalanced and unjust will always be disregarded by a large proportion of ordinary people.
5. Breach of copyright has always been and should always be a civil offence.
-
-
-
Wednesday 18th January 2012 20:32 GMT Gannon (J.) Dick
.
"The Motion Picture Ass. of America and its cohorts shall not get away with this."
Please, here is your Period back (see title). Even El Reg cannot afford to throw away perfectly good punctuation.
I regret that the Colons of the Entertainment Industry and the Semicolons of Silicon Valley remain far too entrenched for reuse. It's as if they were human.
-
Wednesday 18th January 2012 20:34 GMT Anonymous Coward
The Apotheosis of Dumbness
I don't know which is more moronic -- this worthless non-funny "article" or the moronic comments of many of the readers. I was against SOPA/PIPA because it could destroy the interwebs, but I've changed my mind. Now I'm in favor of destroying the intertubes, because it's morons all the way down.
Back to pigeons I say.
-
-
-
-
Wednesday 18th January 2012 23:04 GMT Richard 120
Semaphore
Can we not use semaphore it's got to be cheaper and cleaner too?
Think of the jobs created getting spotters and signallers installed on all the hills, mounds, mountains over the country, that'd be good for the economy too.
Of course binary data would need to be re-encoded into hexavigesimal.
-
-
-
-
-
Thursday 19th January 2012 01:38 GMT Anonymous Coward
SOPA is a Capital SIN!
According to the Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster, fighting piracy is akin to denying the Saints (e.g. not drinking on St Patrick's, not going on a spending spree before the annual Coming Of Saint Claus).
..
seriously though, in a non-fascist state protests should have a good chance of working. In a democracy politicians should not be so stupid (or just not self-serving enough) as to attempt to pass a legislation that would anger their constituents.
But the masses, on the whole, are made up of individuals with too varying interests to point to a common direction. So they can be easily led like sheep. Individually they may not be idiots. Communally we all are. Sad but true. So stuff like SOPA is easily passed, and do pass without a fuss.
Thing is, SOPA is a USA law. Why it should affect the rest of the world is the real question. WWW is not really World Wide Web, when the Web is actually in custody. WWW should be decentralized. No more GoDaddy, no more US federal whatnot oversight.
-
-
-
Thursday 19th January 2012 08:45 GMT Ben Tasker
It may not, but if it at least gets rid of some of the biggest problems of SOPA (and it has with DNS Blocking being dropped) then it's a good step forward.
Thieving is wrong, but are you telling me that you'd consider it OK for someone to take your hand based on an unsubstantiated accusation? OK I'll accept that's a bit extreme, but the point is valid - due process exists for a reason. The Yanks already try and block DNS for sites when issued with a court order, but that's a bit inconvenient for MPAA etc so they'd like to dispense with having to go to the courts.
I was once told that those who do not oppose something bad are by default supporting it. Call it whining if you want, but at least some are actually bothering to try and keep things right rather than having basic liberties trampled all over.
-
-
Thursday 19th January 2012 09:39 GMT Anonymous Coward
The problem is...
... legislators, pressured to regulate things they don't understand, make bad laws.
A law that is just, reasonable, and well written, won't attract so much opposition, will be passed, and people will learn to live with it.
Lobbyists know this. Hence the pressure to pass bad laws, more favourable to their clients, before the politicians fully understand the implications.
This topic is closed for new posts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
