You read the title right folks! The stats and online outcry against the Internet Censorship Bill are pretty much amazing! The battle is far from over, and this Nazi internet censorship bill from hell is still trying to be pushed through by beurocrats hell bent on setting the online network back 15 years, but click the jump to read about it, and for a link to a site where you can petition and have your voice heard!....
So it seems Democratic leader Nanci Pelosi is the newest one to come out against SOPA, and over 700,000 anti censorship contracts have been delivered to congress this week. Moments like this give me that small hope that the people truly still have a voice!
However, if I had NEVER seen a comeback (even where the asshole wins), this would make me feel at east. But the fight is not over. Until I actually hear the president himself come out and say "Yeah....that bill was the worst idea since casting all guys in the shake weight commercial, and it is now dead like it was in season 2 on the Fox network"....I am not done fighting this thing.
You can still go to http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/pelosi/ and petition to have this thing eradicated. I urge you to do this as this bill effects you, me, Youtube entertainers, Youtube watchers, Americans, non Americans, hell, Antarcticans. And again, as long as this abomination of free speech and civil rights exists, I will be right here rallying with you guys for the bill to burn!
-Jeremy
I sent a letter to my congressman this morning. Gotta get it done.
ReplyDeleteI live in the UK.....can you explain of send a link to this proposed Bill?? It seems to be based on very shaky grounds....I thought in America you have free speach? and Ammendments to protect you?
ReplyDeleteNot sure how I feel about this. On the one hand it's really easy to get pirated stuff on the internet, and if that's shut down I'll be sad. On the other hand, I've been the victim of piracy before and it's extremely demoralizing. If something's not done about copyright infringement then there will no longer be incentives for artist like me to create more art. If nothing is done then it will continue to be open season on intellectual property - the very key to the financial success of America. America is a country that has freedom of ideas - and our government is suppose to protect those ideas from being taken by others. Ideas are the cornerstone of innovation and cultural progression, and they don't weigh anything, nor are they at all a physical object. Yet ideas are a form of work and productivity. Do we really want to suffocate such creativity? I understand Jeremy feels passionate about this because his hobby is Youtube (Youtube would be in the crosshairs if this bill is passed), but Youtube itself doesn't CREATE anything, it only allows us to display our creations to whomever. It's just a distribution platform with hardly any restrictions. When you look for a song, why is there 300 separate versions of the same music video? We only need it uploaded once: by the owner. America is also a nation of laws - it's one of, if not THE, single most important thing that sets us apart from the rest of the world - if Nancy Pelosi wants to shit all over a bunch of laws in order to gain votes, well then I can't support her side.
ReplyDeleteSorry Jahooba, but saying that you'd be sad if it became harder to steal other peoples' work sort of makes you sound like a hypocrite when you go on to talk about how it's wrong to steal from you.
ReplyDeleteYes, piracy is an issue and measures should be taken to combat it, but this bill is WAY too extreme. Holding a website liable for what its' users upload is akin to holding a town responsible if crime happens there. Should the mayor be arrested because a drug dealer lives down the block? No, absolutely not. That's the problem. This bill aims to destroy entire communities based on the bad deeds of some, rather than rooting out those who actually commit the crimes.
That being said, I'm an artist too, and this bill would completely cripple me. Without facebook, twitter, and youtube I would have a MUCH harder time getting my work out there where people could see it. Hell, my website is run through blogger, and that would be on the chopping block just as fast as any of these other websites. The internet is a great thing and does so much more in the way of helping the arts than it does to hurt it. People have a broader pool of resources to draw from, and that's ALWAYS a good thing. Do you remember the days before where it was almost impossible to find out about indie films or underground music unless you really spent a lot of time and effort trying to dig them up? Now, films and bands have a much stronger avenue for sheer word of mouth to travel, and without community based sites that will all but disappear completely.
I got a letter back from my Congressman
ReplyDelete"The Stop Online Piracy Act would allow the Attorney General to seek an injunction from a federal court against a domain name used by a foreign website that promotes the sale of counterfeit goods. That court order could then be served on domain name servers, Internet advertisers, search engines, and financial transaction providers, which would be required to take action to prevent access to the website in question. Like you, I am concerned that this approach could lead to websites being block unnecessarily and am hopeful that improved safeguards can be added to this legislation if and when it is taken up by the House of Representatives."
So this bill is literally targeting the very core of the internet. (The DNS servers, Google search engines, etc)
That is crazy, This bill basically gives Government direct override control over the entire internet. Just in the prevention of the "sale of counterfeit goods".
News papers are "goods". So when we start sharing news articles without corporate consent.
Will i suddenly be a criminal?
I know that's an extreme... but still !
I've sent 3 emails to my Congressman so far and I'm not stopping now! ;)
ReplyDeleteYou guys have to fight this and win. If it's passed in America it will no doubt crawl across the entire world eventually - shutting down the internet one country at a time.
ReplyDeleteI think illegal downloading doesn’t hurt your economy,
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary it will actually support the artist, because people who would otherwise not go and buy a cd or buy it on itunes will now: download, listen to it and eventually love the music. those people are the ones going to concerts and buy the music.
instead of focussing on how to stop illegal downloading, people should be focussing on how to make money. such as advertisement on YouTube where original artist will get paid. And not the producers who will only fill their pockets.