Last week, many of you stated on the blog that you wished to learn more about HB 3261, known better as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). You may have noticed yesterday that many of your favorite websites were blacked out in protest to this controversial bill. So what is exactly is it all about?
The bill is an effort to stop copyright infringement, specifically infringement committed by foreign websites. In addition to levying heavy penalties and fines on those who post copyrighted information without permission, the bill would ban online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing any business with the allegedly infringing website, bar search engines from linking to such sites and require internet service providers (ISP) to block access to such sites.
Supporters of the bill say it protects intellectual property and bolsters enforcement of our copyright laws. Opponents say the legislation violates our First Amendment right of free speech and could fatally damage the free flow of information on the internet. To find out what your legislators think about SOPA and to contact them and tell them what you think, go here: http://sopatrack.com/
I’m sure many of you have accessed copyrighted information without permission. At the same time, you are all artists and designers who presumably will create your own work and want to get paid for it. So my question to you this week is, “What do you think about the Stop Online Piracy Act? Do you think internet content should be more regulated like some of our other media sources, or is it fine the way it is?” Answers are due no later than Wednesday, January 25th, 2012.
I personally do not think that we should have regulations like this on the internet but at the same time I understand why people are all for it because they want to protect their information from other people. If information is being pirated so easily maybe people need to use their own desecration when putting certain things on the internet. This issue does not interest me that much and I don't think it is something that will be resolved any time soon.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a very bad idea. It will affect the economy in a tremendous negative way. The US will loose millions of dollars and since most of the country is against it, the government can have many riots and protests to face.
ReplyDeleteI believe that they should not censor the Internet. The Internet is our own free world. And most of the stuff they are wanting to censor is produced overseas where the SOPA does not affect them. TV shows are allowing more adult content than they ever have before so why should they censor something that's so hard to control?
ReplyDeleteA reason people in our country feel we are "the best country" is because we do allow the opportunity of free information, via the internet. There are so many opportunities that the internet provides. When I had first heard about SOPA I was baffled because the internet is something I'm on constantly not just for the "social networking" experiences but I go to youtube or viemo and search tutorials and watch other artists as they work on their own projects. It's how I keep myself connected to the rest of the world since our media is already so regulated.With SOPA we would have started to cut ourselves off from the rest of the world and begin slowing down.
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ReplyDeleteThis is what i think about this: Innocent until proven guilty+(SOPA) Stop Internet Piracy Act /(PIPA)Protect IP Act = GUILTY until proven INNOCENT = raped by the government.
ReplyDeleteI kind of agree with the privacy issues. I work for the FTC and I hear on a day to day basis how so many companies and consumers are being scammed by online companies and in some cases foreign companies. Initially there is no regulation when it comes to the internet,you can pretty much what the heck you please.Many people aren't educated on the dangers of the internet.
ReplyDeleteIm not sure what all SOPA would affect but one thing i know it would affect is Wikipedia. I go to wikipedia for a lot of basic information for everyday things, although im not sure if everything is correct since people say anyone can change the information on it. (Can anyone tell me if that's true?) But i definitely agree with Emily i feel that it would be harder to look things up and maybe getting a hold of information will be harder, which will only cause frustration and a possibility of unaccomplished projects.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to know about added information to Wikipedia. I got a name and logged in and went to a page, I could edit any information I wanted to. So it is true, you can say or put anything you want. I only use Wiki for website links or find official websites
DeleteI don't like the idea of SOPA. It would basically block off information about the world that could be important to us as Americans. If the government can block off certain sites, who's to say they can't shut down the entire Internet? I don't know about anyone else, but I spend a get deal of time on the Internet. If the government completely shut it down, I seriously wouldn't know what to do with my life.
ReplyDelete--Rebekah Cage
I'm not sure SOPA would exactly cure the disease they are trying to cure. I haven't done an extensive amount of research on SOPA, but from what I understand, this might end up doing more bad than good. I think it's great they want to stop online cyber piracy, but almost always do impressive actions call for sacrifice. This actually somewhat reminds me of The Patriot Act George W Bush signed back in 2001. Washington wanted to fight back on terror and in return our privacy as a citizen might as well have been thrown away in my opinion. As SOPA wants to fight the war on piracy what sacrifice will be necessary? Do we want our internet censored? Do we want our internet regulated even more than it already is? I'm not really sure that I, personally, want my internet censored and regulated anymore than it is. This bill might help save the record labels a couple bucks, but there will always be pirates. As an artist I am against copyright infringement, but I am aware that there are going to be people out there to steal my work. This might sound strange, but I think we should somehow try to work WITH the piracy instead of fighting against it. One of the reasons I enjoy Apple so much is because they have done so much right the wrong way. Jailbreaking (a term for hacking your iPhone, iTouch, iPad or any other iOS device), gives you the ability to manipulate the design of your phone with different graphics, colors, fonts, images, etc. Instead of fighting the hackers that designed the jailbreak, Apple hired them, made jail breaking legal and now makes money off of it. Apple has released a program called iTunes Match; you pay $24.99 a year and all your music is stored in iCloud. How it works is that iTunes will read the song information that you have provided in your mp3 in your iTunes library and will proceed to find the exact song in it's database. This might sound pretty simple to some of you, but Apple wanted this to work with previous CD's people have uploaded. When you buy a song from iTunes, all the information of the song is provided. When you upload a CD, a lot of times very little information will appear such as track 1, track 2, etc. So iTunes will search it's own database for a match of that song and fill in all the missing information. With this concept you can take all of your pirated music, pay Apple $24.99/year and all of your music is now legal. You would think at first glance that this would skyrocket the rate of piracy, but I actually think this will lower online piracy. I see it somewhat like the concept of legalizing marijuana; when something is legal it's not as fun. I'm starting to get off track, but it all relates in one way or another. Should we fight the piracy with SOPA and sacrifice our online freedom or should we embrace it to the point where it's not even fun to do anymore? I've always loved reverse psychology.
ReplyDeleteI can see why SOPA wants to do this, but I feel it will do more bad then good. Already finding information, real information isn't easy. This will block us from info we shouldn't be block from. Plus owner of websites will have less people visiting there websites. I am online most of the time, doing homework, talking to oversea friends. I also have a Korean and Japanese blog, will that mean I won't be able to use them? I can't afford to pay a phone bill for overseas calls, the internet is my only way to connect to them.
ReplyDeleteI understand the purpose of the SOPA, however I feel the passing of this bill will cause too many problems. If it was up to me I would keep everything the way it is now. Copyright infringement needs to be stopped, but in reality I think that won't happen. Although internet content should be more regulated, which I feel would be an easy fix.
ReplyDeleteI do think internet content should be more regulated, in regards to illegal file sharing music, movies, etc. Piracy is costing artists millions and there are things that can and should be done to prevent these actions. However, SOPA doesn't seem to be the way to regulate as it will hurt more than help.
ReplyDeleteTim Berners-Lee invented the web. His feelings of his project can be summed up in a few sweet quotes
ReplyDelete"We need diversity of thought in the world to face the new challenges"
.
Obviously without this physicist I would not have grown up in an age full of open exchanges of ideas. Put in perspective both I and the web are the same age 22 and to think of how it has helped me develop skills, socialize(dread days of AIM), and acquire copy-written materials. avoiding obvious moral implications it's molded me into well rounded developer and programmer.
Without this initial creation 22 years ago we would still be in the age of print and land line phone calls.
Consider what it was invented for, sharing ideas...
How can you begin to put censorship on that?
For following up on S.O.P.A.
This fear has been around for a while:
TimBL, 2007-"When I invented the web, I didn't have to ask anyone's permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it freely. I am worried that that is going end in the USA."
It has already started
I think the title of this week's post implies very well what we were all fearing with the prospect of S.O.P.A. The loss of 'the internet' as we have known it. As it stands for American's the web is as open as the skies, to those who know how to use it.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't think that SOPA would have ruined all that we know and love about the internet, I do think that it would change to motive of the internet. I feel that living in a relatively capitalist society benefits our motivation, but also taints it: if there's no money in it, then why would I do it?
So to add a risk-factor to posting online or sharing some helpful tools or information, you are going to scare off the people who are giving freely long before the malicious thieves with anything to gain. My solution is that we just need to become more responsible with our internet presence and more aware of the rights of producers.
- Things will get easier as we work towards defining the value of digital content and data.
Personally, I do not support SOPA. Also, since I tend to talk to fellow digital artists who are often overseas, I feel this would make communicating with them and the ability to see their artwork alot more difficult. I may be wrong, but I also feel that SOPA/PIPA would also put alot of restrictions on what you are able to post as an artist. I may create a 3D model of a Halo character (while making sure to list the character design credits) just to demonstrate how well I can do it, and I may get it "banned" because SOPA considers my work to be a copyright infringement since I do not work for microsoft/bungie (343, whoever). That may be a extreme case, but I am wary of how strict the government would reinforce a bill such as SOPA. I like the ability to post what I want and read what I want. I can find most solutions to problems and beyond by being on the net. This is a wonderful freedom that I would hate to lose and become unnecessarily regulated.
ReplyDeleteThe government regulating our internet with SOPA will be hard to control and maintain and still would not solve the whole problem. If this does take place new problems may arise. The Internet as we know it like Caleb Fruin said will change. The way we stay communicated and updated on day to day events will change. Riots and protests would most likely occur because people would see it as a threat against our First Amendment. I don't think this is the right way to control this situation. I don't know the answer in solving and protecting people's work but I don't believe this is the right solution.
ReplyDeletePiracy is a problem, and costs artists a great deal of money. This is not the solution. SOPA gives to much power to IP owners without due diligence, or a day in court. SOPA is aimed more at foreign offenders, which, when operating out of US jurisdiction, means nothing other than an inconvenience for anyone that relies on the site for information or ideas.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen the situation with Megaupload.com? They have had some rather questionable downloadable material in the past but last Thurday the U.S. government shut down the site without any warning. Then they managed to arest a Dutch citezen in New Zealand for alledged copyright infringement, not proven copyright infringement. Apparently SOPA and PIPA don't need to pass for our government to do what ever they want.
ReplyDeleteSOPA has pro's and con's. The internet does need to be regulated when it comes to protecting companies and website against copyright infringement and sites that children should not be able to access, but as stated it does conflict with the 1st Amendment as well. I'm still not sure how I feel about this act, but I am all for our 1st Amendment rights.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am concerned SOPA is nothing but a bunch of B. S. While trying to stop piracy is fine and dandy I see this as a way for companies to get the government to do the work of protecting their products. If software companies would spend a little time and money making their stuff harder to crack, two things would happen. First,the products would have better protection than they would get from some half baked government program. Second, taxpayers would not be losing money to the creation of a law that will never work as intended.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, a pirate is still a pirate. He/she will simply change locations when a site is shut down.
This is really a difficult issue. I can see both sides of this issue.
ReplyDeleteFor some, the most important thing is protecting a child's eyes from seeing anything that would be disrespectful of their innocence.
I can see that when people work hard, they want their work protected. There are some people who want to keep what they have because they work hard and pay big bucks to get anything out of this world so they feel justified to impose this on others.
And there are those who are just trying to do homework (A.k.a. students ;oD )
Some people also just have no respect or appreciation for how difficult it might have been to get certain information on the website(s) and just want to grab (been guilty of that).
So how do we manage this? where is the balance?
I want to see our freedoms protected. I also want to see innocence protected. I believe that hard work should be recognized and appreciated. Do i know the solution? No. But I believe a compromise is needed here...
I feel like this could be solved in a different matter. It is well known that illegal downloads, file sharing, and copying information is a problem. I agree with Michael that if the companies would invest more in the protection of the information/product that this may be less of a problem. I also agree with Delphine that students use this information. Our freedom should be protected but so should the hard work of the individuals who are creating the work.
ReplyDeleteSOPA really seems like it would be a double edged sword. It sounds nice, stopping piracy, preventing online theft, ect. However, this could greatly injure the internet, and prevent a lot of what we have, to continue going. Youtube is one likely site to be shut down, as well as Newgrounds, some media sites, plenty of entertainment sites.
ReplyDeleteIn previous classes, we have spoke how it's nearly impossible to regulate piracy, and have talked about alternatives. There are things such as the Freemium Model, giving away stuff for free, however finding a way to make money off of free content, such as advertisements, offering "upgrades" for a fee, ect.
With evolving technologies, we can't stay with the same thinking towards how we make money as we have been. No, I do not support Piracy, But SOPA will likely cause more harm than good. We must find new ways around piracy than to block everything that links to it entirely.
I think that SOPA was generally a positive concept, a nice thought, an innocent daydream about ending online piracy. Similar to when a pageant queen wishes for world peace. A dream which if made a reality would of caused devastating damage to the basic purpose of the world wide web. The internet is about sharing information, sites everywhere would be affected some even shut down, such as youtube. Unfortunately for majority of internet users every party has a pooper and because some choose to abuse the privilege of sharing to download illegally.
ReplyDeleteAs an artist of course I do not support piracy, but nor do I support this bill. SOPA was a sad attempt that would grant too much power to a cause that would ultimately be ineffective as well as damaging all at the cost of tax payers money.
I believe the internet is a right and a freedom of speach, however I think it's a little too free. Too much corruption and deciet, criminal and lewd acts are in the faces of our kids (can you tell i"m a parent). On the other hand do we begin to let our rights be taken away by a beaurocratic fist? This could start a snowball affect that could harm us in the end. Catch 22 I say
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