SOPA and all that internet business

[piracer]

I'm surprised somebody hasn't started the "internet is going to hell" topic yet but I'm pretty glad that SOPA didn't pass.

As we also now know (i think), megaupload just got shut down and ive read that many file sharing sites have been shut down or they have disabled their services to cover their butts. Filesonic included which is who i use and have a subscription too. Now piracy as we all know is illegal, and this pisses me off for the easy simple reason that i now cant watch my tv shows. I dont have a TV so the internet is my way of keeping up with whats being aired, 'illegal' as it may be. Innovation is another argument being thrown around, that is, the media should be innovative enough in their productions so that consumers would pay for their products.

Ultimately its all business, whether its morally wrong or not (piracy). But I just wanted to see what peoples opinions are on this. I'm pissed I cant download top chef or californication now. So until this all blows over which i hope it does, anyone know what to do?

 

[intoTheRain]

Im watching top Chef as i type this on Food Network. Chewey just got sent home, and Padma looks amazing :O

And no i have no sympathy for people who cant watch their TV shows for free on the internet. Pay for the network it airs on on a television.

People did just fine without watching TV for free online a few years ago, why not now. Im not saying i dont stream stuff occasionally, but you wont hear me bitching when i cant. Anything you can do online for free is just an unwarranted privelage, enjoy it if you can get it, deal with it if you cant.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

A guy whose online name is "piracer" is against the Stop Online Piracy Act? Go figure! I wonder if the bill was made specifically to stop Piracer. Maybe it was the Shut Off Piracer, Already instead.

Yeah, I'm done.

Anyway, agreed. Mostly because I don't believe the internet is one government's affair.

 

[used44]

Gj, google.

 

[GRColin]

There was just a tad bit more at risk than people being able to watch free t.v...

Glad it was postponed indefinitely. Let's see if they can work out some of the kinks and come up with a better proposal.

 

[piracer]

Im watching top Chef as i type this on Food Network. Chewey just got sent home, and Padma looks amazing :O

And no i have no sympathy for people who cant watch their TV shows for free on the internet. Pay for the network it airs on on a television.

People did just fine without watching TV for free online a few years ago, why not now. Im not saying i dont stream stuff occasionally, but you wont hear me bitching when i cant. Anything you can do online for free is just an unwarranted privelage, enjoy it if you can get it, deal with it if you cant.

Yeah i totally get it, maybe i didnt make it clear, i fully understand that there's not to be sympathetic about. It's just when you get used to having a service which made things so easy for you and it suddenly got taken away, it sucks. I dont know how many of you have smart phones but I can't afford a data plan now since its too expensive, but i really miss when i used to get it back home. And somethings just don't stream or air on other countries network.

Rain, I have to say, i think i'm like 5-6 episodes ahead of you, but now that my source is cut off, you'll probably over take me. At least i can still watch Last Chance Kitchen.

 

[intoTheRain]

Im watching top Chef as i type this on Food Network. Chewey just got sent home, and Padma looks amazing :O

And no i have no sympathy for people who cant watch their TV shows for free on the internet. Pay for the network it airs on on a television.

People did just fine without watching TV for free online a few years ago, why not now. Im not saying i dont stream stuff occasionally, but you wont hear me bitching when i cant. Anything you can do online for free is just an unwarranted privelage, enjoy it if you can get it, deal with it if you cant.

Yeah i totally get it, maybe i didnt make it clear, i fully understand that there's not to be sympathetic about. It's just when you get used to having a service which made things so easy for you and it suddenly got taken away, it sucks. I dont know how many of you have smart phones but I can't afford a data plan now since its too expensive, but i really miss when i used to get it back home. And somethings just don't stream or air on other countries network.

Rain, I have to say, i think i'm like 5-6 episodes ahead of you, but now that my source is cut off, you'll probably over take me. At least i can still watch Last Chance Kitchen.

Yea i dont get why it aired so slow this time in Canada.

The chefs this season seem terrible though, its mostly embarassing. Especially when you consider their very impressive backgrounds.

Cant wait for top Chef canada. Top Chef canada was honestly my favorite top Chef to date. Mark Mcewan is a badass and the top 5 were incredible.

 

[Lien]

I'm surprised somebody hasn't started the "internet is going to hell" topic

http://www.gamerevolution.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17583
Sigh... We have a search bar for a reason... been warning everyone about it since november darn it!

But yeah back on topic, it's a big bummer about the megaupload business. I think this will make a dent in piracy but also hurt businesses mostly. Lots of newly created websites depends on mega upload.


and I for one been missing on my little ponies episodes...

 

[cyberjim2000]

Why Megaupload but not say... Pirate Bay? For god's sake, it has "pirate" in the name!

 

[danielrbischoff]

Why Megaupload but not say... Pirate Bay? For god's sake, it has "pirate" in the name!

Don't worry. They've been trying to take down piratebay...

 

[Bretimus_v2]

FBI - you grow thinking they're taking down The Smoking Man and Aliens, but they're really just taking down websites.

 

[NickKmet]

You know, if they're already able to take down sites like Megaupload, why would they possibly need more power and control? Looks like they're doing fine already.

 

[piracer]

In the meanwhile, there was a report in the business sections of the New York Times about how Europe is stepping up in stricter online privacy. It's interesting to see that even European leaders were so heavily against SOPA, as the VP of the EU Commission for Digital Agenda said in a tweet "Glad tide is turning on #SOPA: don't need bad legislation when should be safeguarding benefits of open net", she tweeted. "Speeding is illegal too: but you don't put speed bumps on the motorway #SOPA"

I wonder what would have happened if Kim Dotcom (a ridiculous name btw), was in Europe and not New Zealand and whether he would have still been extradited.

On the going back to me bitching clearly of first world problems on not being able to download my TV shows - isn't having a greater audience better in making money?

I wouldn't mind watching Top Chef with adverts like on Hulu but again, these outlets are pretty limited (hulu doesn't have top chef). I would have thought that advertisements would be able to cover the costs for airing it on TV, kinda like how newspapers make a lot of their revenue.

 

[madster111]

Pay for the network it airs on on a television.

This is great and all, except for the fact that i live in a country where they either simply do not have the shows or they're 1 or 2 seasons behind, which is why i pay fuckmassive money every month for 200gb of download. I need my HD Top Gear, Supernatural and NCIS, dammit.

I'm just happy SOPA died so nobody had to be killed. Can you imagine if all the rednecks with .50cal woke up one day and found out their free porn sites were taken down by the gubmint?
There would be so much blood.

The main thing that bothered me, though, was the fact that SOPA was trying to be passed.
At the same time as the US is pushing their extradition treaties to see how far they can go (See: Megaupload people, that british kid).
Just after the NDAA was passed.

Think about that for a second.
Upload a 31 second long piece of song with your video, while being, say, German or British.
Then wake up to the sound of a team of federal agents smashing through your windows and screaming 'get on the ground'.

You are then taken to a US prison where you are raped for the rest of your life without trial.
Enjoy.


And PIPA still exists.

 

[Chris_Crime]

I'm just happy SOPA died so nobody had to be killed. Can you imagine if all the rednecks with .50cal woke up one day and found out their free HD Top Gear, Supernatural and NCIS were taken down by the gubmint?
There would be so much blood.

I somehow think you'd be the one the carrying the gun.

 

[GiftedMonkey]

Think about that for a second.
Upload a 31 second long piece of song with your video, while being, say, German or British.
Then wake up to the sound of a team of federal agents smashing through your windows and screaming 'get on the ground'.

You are then taken to a US prison where you are raped for the rest of your life without trial.
Enjoy.

Most pirates get sent to minimum security joints with white collar types. No fun in the showers there. Not even so much at supermax places, these days. AIDS and Hepatitis and whatnot. Also, the US government is too fucking broke to fix its highways and bridges, let alone enforce small-fry laws in every corner of the globe. How do you think a bunch of teabaggers are gonna react to overseas agents busting German teens?

Think about that for a second.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

Which is exactly why you're more likely to get a fine/wage garnishment than jail time.

 

[madster111]

It's not that it's likely to happen, is that the US are setting it up so it has the possibility to happen.

Same sort of deal as a Nuclear war. Unlikely to happen, but the fact that it CAN happen is fucking scary enough.
I don't want the possibility to exist that i download a bunch of songs and then get sent to the US to a prison for as long as they want without trial, even if the likelihood of it happening is slim to none. It's still a scary-ass thought and possibility.

 

[StickyGreenGamer]

If I may take a second to get my train of thought going down the proper track....

Over the past decade, I'm not sure that any standing government policy has taken as much of a hit as the War on Drugs. It loses more and more support by the years and is on a slow track to eventually being done away with. Years of failure and wasted money, and pretty soon they are going to have hard time mustering both small and big fries to prosecute and incarcerate. So they have started looking for something new.

The War on Piracy. No longer happy to just deal with those who counterfeit the products, they now want to go after those who use, even though they are not the problem. This is a rabbit hole that has just been kicked into the earth, and they are just making the starting preparations to put their head in and see how far it descends.

While some people are celebrating that "SOPA has been defeated!!!!", it in fact hasn't. It is an election year, and right now that act is akin to political poison. Had they passed it, there would have been a significant amount of turnover come election time. This thing will be back, likely by the early part of 2013, and if not then, 2015 when there is likely to be another shift in the political landscape.

Also, the US government is too f****** broke to fix its highways and bridges, let alone enforce small-fry laws in every corner of the globe.

Where is Urban with that picture of the Joker when you need him? Seriously? This is the US government we are talking about, Team America: World Police. Where they prefer to enforce small fry laws rather than help our own country.

 

[piracer]

Where is Urban with that picture of the Joker when you need him? Seriously? This is the US government we are talking about, Team America: World Police. Where they prefer to enforce small fry laws rather than help our own country.

Agreed, and I never really understood the point of perusing these small fry. Clearly the media backing provides a huge ton of cash to the politicians supporting SOPA, and I will be very surprised if the politicians wouldn't benefit if it did get passed.

The only reason I can see why they would go for the small fry is for a scare tactic more then anything else. After all, it may be easy to sue these individuals but do they even have the money to pay up for it?

And like it was mentioned before, the US govt is so broke - and if that's the case, so why really bother going across continents just to get some guy who downloaded some songs? Hell, I know i've downloaded WAY more stuff then that guy in the UK did.