Protest SOPA/PIPA -- it ain't done yet
Jan. 20th, 2012 06:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianOriginally posted by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nagasvoice at Protest SOPA/PIPA -- it ain't done yet
Excerpt:
...That original $6.1 billion figure, by the way, was produced by a study commissioned from LEK Consulting by the Motion Picture Association of America. Since even the GAO was unable to get at the underlying research or evaluate its methodology, it’s impossible to know how reliable that figure is, but given that MPAA has already had to admit significant errors in the numbers LEK generated, I’d take it with a grain of salt...
===
Wonderful graphic on how the protests have (so far) affected Congressional support for these bills:
http://boingboing.net/2012/01/19/how-the-internet-blackout-affe.html
Pro Publica was the source for that graphic & info on it, BTW.
That's here:
http://www.propublica.org/nerds/item/sopa-opera-update
===
reddit's explanation of the bills in greater (but still clear) technical detail:
http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/technical-examination-of-sopa-and.html
In addition, the LA Times noted that organizations on the rightwing conservative end of things were growing just as unhappy with these bills (due to libertarian concerns about about censorship).
In another article, they discussed with Chinese bloggers who have to deal with serious, completely opaque censorship.
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology-blog/la-fi-tech-china-sopa-20120119,0,1050940.story
Excerpt:
...Another distinction Chinese activists note is that the proposed legislation in Washington is being debated openly in public and ultimately has to adhere to U.S. law. Chinese censorship, on the other hand, operates in an opaque space where no one really knows what’s banned, what isn’t and who is calling the shots.
“It’s hard for people in the U.S. to understand Internet censorship in China,” said Wen Yunchao, a prominent blogger and outspoken government critic who left mainland China recently for Hong Kong. “In China, all the government decisions are done in a dark box. No one knows what’s going on. There’s never any legal reason cited. If these laws are passed in the U.S., every step of the way it will be more transparent. People can challenge it. There’s no comparison when it comes to censorship in China and in the U.S.”
Still, Wen supports U.S. activists challenging the bills, saying it’s a slippery slope to lesser web access. He said China’s so-called Great Firewall, which blocks access to many foreign sites like Facebook and Twitter, was first billed as a strategy to stop piracy and pornography.
“Now it’s being abused and extended to thousands of websites,” he said...
===
twistedchick noted that, in response to the arrest of 7 people at Megaupload for copyright/piracy crimes, there's been a backlash by Anonymous, claiming to shut down major government sites from the FBI to DOJ to the White House. As I wish to avoid spreading any problems with a malformed script on that link (I didn't have problems, but luckily I have help so I don't have to use Microsoft, either). I expect we'll hear more about that.
===
Here's the single clearest, plainest explanation I've seen--and the reason this is just the beginning folks, of media empiures trying to shove us back on the couch and make us shut the hell up, like we used to be back in the 60's.
Clay Shirky in a TED talk on why these bills are a terrible idea:
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/en//id/1329
As clay noted in his talk, these bills are just the start of escalating efforts to turn back the clock to 60's sofa-snoozeland, siddown and shuddup ya buncha amateur clowns.
Well. I'm with morgandawn on this one.
http://morgandawn.dreamwidth.org/1158300.html
I think a lot of folks need to take a break in this dysfunctional relationship. Honestly, I could claim to be doing likewise, but truth is, I don't consume much major media at any time. Too busy making my own stuffs, and reading other cool people's stuffs online, including those giving homage to major media content.
So it's not hard for *me* to join the boycott and say I'll avoid paying anything to major media in the month of March.
I know it's a lot harder on some of my friends.
But maybe we'll all be so busy making original stuffs of our own we really won't miss the stuff made by professionals. Which would be a shame, ya know. Some of those folks are really good at what they do, and it'd be a shame for them not to get paid by their corporate masters.
===
And finally, if you haven't already signed various emails to Congress, or called your representatives, or written them a letter, here's some resources.
Write Congress now:
http://americancensorship.org/
nagasvoice at Protest SOPA/PIPA -- it ain't done yetBoing Boing had a series of articles and links that are very helpful on this topic.
Here, they talk about where all those flakey made-up financials come from in justifying the online piracy argument:
http://boingboing.net/2012/01/19/where-the-funny-piracy-numbers.html
Here, they talk about where all those flakey made-up financials come from in justifying the online piracy argument:
http://boingboing.net/2012/01/19/where-the-funny-piracy-numbers.html
Excerpt:
...That original $6.1 billion figure, by the way, was produced by a study commissioned from LEK Consulting by the Motion Picture Association of America. Since even the GAO was unable to get at the underlying research or evaluate its methodology, it’s impossible to know how reliable that figure is, but given that MPAA has already had to admit significant errors in the numbers LEK generated, I’d take it with a grain of salt...
===
Wonderful graphic on how the protests have (so far) affected Congressional support for these bills:
http://boingboing.net/2012/01/19/how-the-internet-blackout-affe.html
Pro Publica was the source for that graphic & info on it, BTW.
That's here:
http://www.propublica.org/nerds/item/sopa-opera-update
===
reddit's explanation of the bills in greater (but still clear) technical detail:
http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/technical-examination-of-sopa-and.html
In addition, the LA Times noted that organizations on the rightwing conservative end of things were growing just as unhappy with these bills (due to libertarian concerns about about censorship).
In another article, they discussed with Chinese bloggers who have to deal with serious, completely opaque censorship.
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology-blog/la-fi-tech-china-sopa-20120119,0,1050940.story
Excerpt:
...Another distinction Chinese activists note is that the proposed legislation in Washington is being debated openly in public and ultimately has to adhere to U.S. law. Chinese censorship, on the other hand, operates in an opaque space where no one really knows what’s banned, what isn’t and who is calling the shots.
“It’s hard for people in the U.S. to understand Internet censorship in China,” said Wen Yunchao, a prominent blogger and outspoken government critic who left mainland China recently for Hong Kong. “In China, all the government decisions are done in a dark box. No one knows what’s going on. There’s never any legal reason cited. If these laws are passed in the U.S., every step of the way it will be more transparent. People can challenge it. There’s no comparison when it comes to censorship in China and in the U.S.”
Still, Wen supports U.S. activists challenging the bills, saying it’s a slippery slope to lesser web access. He said China’s so-called Great Firewall, which blocks access to many foreign sites like Facebook and Twitter, was first billed as a strategy to stop piracy and pornography.
“Now it’s being abused and extended to thousands of websites,” he said...
===
twistedchick noted that, in response to the arrest of 7 people at Megaupload for copyright/piracy crimes, there's been a backlash by Anonymous, claiming to shut down major government sites from the FBI to DOJ to the White House. As I wish to avoid spreading any problems with a malformed script on that link (I didn't have problems, but luckily I have help so I don't have to use Microsoft, either). I expect we'll hear more about that.
===
Here's the single clearest, plainest explanation I've seen--and the reason this is just the beginning folks, of media empiures trying to shove us back on the couch and make us shut the hell up, like we used to be back in the 60's.
Clay Shirky in a TED talk on why these bills are a terrible idea:
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/en//id/1329
As clay noted in his talk, these bills are just the start of escalating efforts to turn back the clock to 60's sofa-snoozeland, siddown and shuddup ya buncha amateur clowns.
Well. I'm with morgandawn on this one.
http://morgandawn.dreamwidth.org/1158300.html
I think a lot of folks need to take a break in this dysfunctional relationship. Honestly, I could claim to be doing likewise, but truth is, I don't consume much major media at any time. Too busy making my own stuffs, and reading other cool people's stuffs online, including those giving homage to major media content.
So it's not hard for *me* to join the boycott and say I'll avoid paying anything to major media in the month of March.
I know it's a lot harder on some of my friends.
But maybe we'll all be so busy making original stuffs of our own we really won't miss the stuff made by professionals. Which would be a shame, ya know. Some of those folks are really good at what they do, and it'd be a shame for them not to get paid by their corporate masters.
===
And finally, if you haven't already signed various emails to Congress, or called your representatives, or written them a letter, here's some resources.
Write Congress now:
http://americancensorship.org/
