Gaiz

That law is supposed to be decided today. The one about the internet blockage.
Let us pray. ._.

 

Very doubtful it'll pass, it's pretty much a violation of the first amendment.

 

Yeah... unless if they want the entire nation to riot, I don't see it passing either.

 

What new law are they trying to put through? Something about internet usage?

 

The bill was introduced in May, I was under the impression that it was basically dead on the table.

If they are finally voting I'll be curious as to how the House goes. Far as I can tell this thing has quite a few lobbyists pushing it, but general public opinion on it is very, very, low. I mean there are more organizations supporting than opposing it but finding an article of anyone defending this is proving to be more trouble than it is worth to me.

 

I know wikipedia isn't a source but it says

 

Wait, there's a bill trying to block the internet? Do they know how much of a commotion that would cause? Not too mention, how many schools in the country, jobs, and other things use the internet? It's like putting the world back 30 or so years.
Not too mention, doesn't this go against the 1st ammendment? "Freedom of speech"? I could even get my American Government book and put down all of the first ammendment and show them

 

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s968/money

Looking at that I actually find it rather funny. There is a much longer list of supporting organizations but there has been more "funding" given to the opposing side. Bill is as good as dead.

 

Pretty sure they've got the backing of Creative Commons too, which is a huge thing for artists.

IIRC anything that could involve copyright infringement or something to that effect.
Which...might as well be the entire internet.

 

If Google is against it I don't think we have much to worry about. Add in the other companies and it's basically a non-issue.

 

Exactly, all the opposes come from the "internet powerhouses" if you will. And of course the ones supporting are those getting their stuff stolen lol.

 

I think my real question here is why "funding" is even needed in the first place for this.
Assuming they're discussing this in the Senate and not advertising about it. ._.

 

Not a complete shutdown. Just censorship.

If they declare that a site is "dedicated to infringing activities" then they can take a number of actions to effectively take the site down. Part of the problem is though (on top of being a bad premise to begin with) they have no line in the sand as to what sites are "dedicated to infringing activities" so a site that has any infringment could have this invoked on them. And short of hand approving everything it is impossible to make usergenerated content free of all infringement meaning this becomes really bad news for any site you can think of that allows you to upload stuff.

 

well, if they're actually trying to block sites that have "infringing" activities, they should actually find an actual line for what makes "dedicated to infringing activities"

 

Apparently this was included in the letter sent to the government... all signed by Google, AOL, eBay, Facebook, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo! and Zynga.

 

You'd think they would do that to begin with but that would make too much sense now wouldn't it?

 

What a waste of money and time.

 

well, why are they so concerned about it now, when they've had all these years with the sites up? It makes no sense. It's more like they're just trying to find a bill to pass.

And I really don't see how search engines like Yahoo and Google are "bad". Aren't they just to link you to the sites? It's not like they're really a cause of infringing

 

It is simply the way politics work. Officials are supposed to represent us and share our voice. But think of it like being in a crowded room with everyone trying to talk to you. Gets real messy real quick. So what you would likely do is focus on a sample of people and assume that it represents the larger group. But who would you listen to? The loud ones. So people wanting to be heard have to be loud. Sending money to a representative is like the equivalent of using a megaphone in the crowded room

 

Different people in power. Different issues then before. Think about it, just because something has been there for a long time doesn't mean no bills should ever be passed about it.