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Churchy
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Joined: 17 Mar 2007
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Location: The Druit
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 Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:17 pm Post subject: Wikipedia went dark |
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18.01.12
Wikipedia went dark, Google blotted out its logo and other popular websites planned protests to voice concern over legislation in the US Congress intended to crack down on online piracy.
Wikipedia shut down the English version of its online encyclopedia for 24 hours to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate version, the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
Google meanwhile placed a black redaction block over the logo on its much-visited US home page to draw attention to the bills while social news site reddit and the popular Cheezburger humor network planned blackouts.
The draft legislation has won the backing of Hollywood, the music industry, the Business Software Alliance, the National Association of Manufacturers and the US Chamber of Commerce.
But it has come under fire from digital rights and free speech organizations for allegedly paving the way for US authorities to shut down websites accused of online piracy, including foreign sites, without due process and threatening the technical architecture of the Internet.
The founders of Google, Twitter, Wikipedia, Yahoo! and other Internet giants said in an open letter last month the legislation would give the US government censorship powers "similar to those used by China, Malaysia and Iran."
"We oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet," a Google spokesman said Tuesday.
"So tomorrow we will be joining many other tech companies to highlight this issue on our US home page," the spokesman for the Internet search giant said.
Reddit said it will shut down for 12 hours to protest the legislation.
"We wouldn't do this if we didn't believe this legislation and the forces behind it were a serious threat to reddit and the Internet as we know it," reddit said.
"The freedom, innovation, and economic opportunity that the Internet enables is in jeopardy."
Ben Huh, the founder of Cheezburger network, said on his Twitter feed that his 58 sites, which include icanhascheezburger.com, FAIL Blog and The Daily What, will observe a blackout on Wednesday.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales announced plans to shut down the site from 4pm AEDT in a message on his Twitter feed.
"Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday!" Wales said.
"This is going to be wow. I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know!" he said.
Volunteer-staffed Wikipedia turned 11 years old on January 15 and boasts more than 20 million articles in 282 languages
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TvZ
Mr Hipp
Joined: 12 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 4:36 am Post subject: |
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Yip, have been following this for a while. One of the most over the top bills to ever be looked at for something like the internet.
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Tertius (Just call me T or Joe ... whatever)
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Churchy
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Joined: 17 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:08 am Post subject: |
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Looks like the Bill is not going to be passed anyway.
It really did have the potential to be as bad as the Internet Censorship already happening in a few countries. And controlled and implemented by an outside Country!
The repercusions it would have on O/S Countries like Australia, with the ability to just close any sites even if nothing to do with America, would have been a real invasion of rights IMO.
I do understand the issues re piracy, but there has to be a way without removing freedom of speach by gagging
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Boof
Hooligan
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:19 am Post subject: |
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Is that the same as we have here now ?
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Churchy
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:30 am Post subject: |
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Same but far worse  But get yr point, Big brother tho would become Humungus brother.
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Mr Hipp
Joined: 12 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:32 am Post subject: |
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It should be interesting if this would ever go to court.
A lot of people cries freedom of speech, but it will boil down to the "ownership of the internet".
| Quote: | | The origins of the Internet reach back to research of the 1960s, commissioned by the United States government in collaboration with private commercial interests to build robust, fault-tolerant, and distributed computer networks. The funding of a new U.S. backbone by the National Science Foundation in the 1980s, as well as private funding for other commercial backbones, led to worldwide participation in the development of new networking technologies, and the merger of many networks. The commercialization of what was by the 1990s an international network resulted in its popularization and incorporation into virtually every aspect of modern human life. As of 2011, more than 2.1 billion people – nearly a third of Earth's population – use the services of the Internet.[1] |
So is the use of the internet a right or a privilege granted to us. Even though we pay an ISP to use the internet. Do we have the full right to it? I'm not sure who "owns" the internet or the IP at the moment and I think that might start a big debate in the more geeky-hippy forums/groups. Ultimately it is a known fact that post of the internet pipelines and the biggest ones all still go through the US. Which means if they get to enforce such a bill, it might mean they can block anything in US, which could in turn force other countries to create better pipelines outside of US.
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Carlb1058
"Lime E"
Joined: 30 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:40 am Post subject: |
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| Boof wrote: | | Is that the same as we have here now ? |
Yes and no - no being a damn sight more radical. Piracy will continue regardless of what any government does, more pirated material is shifted through torrents than the net proper anyway.
One of the biggest problems as I see it is the obscene costs software companies for example charge for their products. If you have a kid who is great at CAD in school but his parents can't afford said CAD program for home use then of course he's going to go and see if he can find a hacked copy, demo's are a waste of time as the functionality is limited and just because Fred Nurk says a program is good does not make it so. People wet 'emselves over Photoshop, I prefer Fireworks, people wet 'emselves over Adobat Acrobat, I prefer Nitro PDF.
As for music piracy, then BRING DOWN THE BLOODY PRICE!! that's a no brainer that one sheesh.
You tell me someone who hasn't copied a CD, Cassette or a DVD for a mate and I'll show you a hermit.
posted inside this thread intentionally by what could be the Admin or a moderator
In fact I could re write everything carl has just said. Or delete it all or even close this place down with no - one having a say
To an extent, by being able to do this. It is a form of censorship. and one that happens. But for an Oversea's bill to do it and governed oversea's!
thats what worries me
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TvZ
Mr Hipp
Joined: 12 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:49 am Post subject: |
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| Carlb1058 wrote: | | Boof wrote: | | Is that the same as we have here now ? |
Yes and no - no being a damn sight more radical. Piracy will continue regardless of what any government does, more pirated material is shifted through torrents than the net proper anyway.
One of the biggest problems as I see it is the obscene costs software companies for example charge for their products. If you have a kid who is great at CAD in school but his parents can't afford said CAD program for home use then of course he's going to go and see if he can find a hacked copy, demo's are a waste of time as the functionality is limited and just because Fred Nurk says a program is good does not make it so. People wet 'emselves over Photoshop, I prefer Fireworks, people wet 'emselves over Adobat Acrobat, I prefer Nitro PDF.
As for music piracy, then BRING DOWN THE BLOODY PRICE!! that's a no brainer that one sheesh.
You tell me someone who hasn't copied a CD, Cassette or a DVD for a mate and I'll show you a hermit. |
Software product prices = marketing appearances.
As a software developer myself, I can and have scoured the internet for "better" products at lower prices. And it is usually the products not splattered all over the place. Internet explore is pre installed, that makes it easier for anyone to start using it and get use to it. Where firefox, you'll first need to use internet explorer to download it (assume Windows being the operating system). Same goes for CAD. Not pre installed, but they do mass marketing at uni's so students get use to it and will keep on using it. I develop in a range of programming languages and it is always paid but the company I work for. When I started developing "freelance" (after hours), I had too look for better/free frameworks and languages that best use it. I sometimes think we are harsh on development companies prices as it does take a long time to develop a proper product. (time = money). Until you see an equivalent product at 1/3 of the price or even free.
Regulation will not stop piracy, the methods might just change. (I'm not a pirate advocate although I think Blackbeard and Francis Drake were some of the coolest dudes in the early years.)
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Tertius (Just call me T or Joe ... whatever)
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Boof
Hooligan
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:37 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Blackbeard and Francis Drake |
Who would have thought those dudes were into computers
No wonder they had such good luck in the plunder business 
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Carlb1058
"Lime E"
Joined: 30 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:28 am Post subject: |
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| Boof wrote: | | Quote: | | Blackbeard and Francis Drake |
Who would have thought those dudes were into computers
No wonder they had such good luck in the plunder business |
Yep they learned how to plunder from the master - Bill Gates
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TvZ
Mr Hipp
Joined: 12 Sep 2011
Posts: 591
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Carlb1058 wrote: | | Boof wrote: | | Quote: | | Blackbeard and Francis Drake |
Who would have thought those dudes were into computers
No wonder they had such good luck in the plunder business |
Yep they learned how to plunder from the master - Bill Gates |
don't forget Steve Jobs
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Tertius (Just call me T or Joe ... whatever)
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Mr Hipp
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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Good article about consumers and expectations rather than a rant about the act.
From : http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/01/this-is-what-dinosaurs-do/
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This is what Dinosaurs do
This is what dinosaurs do: they stomp on things. They move slowly. Their brains are too small for their massive bodies. They lumber. They shriek at the sky. They go extinct.
Many people have asked me to write about SOPA in Kotaku, and I understand the reasons why. Standing up against tyranny is important. Very important. My opinion was simple, the last thing the world needed was another article/video/post/tweet about a situation that was clearly black and white: they are wrong and we are right. SOPA is a terrible piece of legislation written by dinosaurs and it should not, will not, stand.
What interests me more is content and how we consume it. How will we consume it in the future? How will it be delivered to us?
How will we pay for it?
SOPA is a dinosaur’s response to the slow burn collapse of business models that have existed since media was first sold. You transfer content on to something physical and you sell that thing. If you’re smart, you sell it to them three or four times. I have Star Wars on VHS. I have Star Wars on DVD. I assume, in the near future, I will own Star Wars on Blu-ray.
But we’re fast approaching a point where I will never have to pay money for Star Wars again if I don’t want to. In fact, we’ve hit a point where it’s actually easier for me to not pay for the media I want. It’s easier for me to pirate content than pay for it. Much easier.
This is what dinosaurs do: they stomp on things. If I buy a PC game, if I pay money for it, I have to deal with DRM. If I pirate that game I don’t. If I buy a movie on Blu-ray I have to sit through unskippable trailers for movies I don’t want to watch and, hilariously, deal with advertisements ordering me not to pirate content. If I torrent said movie I don’t have to deal with this.
Seriously, what is wrong with this picture? You advertise to consumers who don’t pay for content, not those who do. You tell people who pirate to stop pirating, not the people who have just bought what you’re selling.
This is what dinosaurs do: they shriek at the sky.
Why not make it easier for consumers to buy your content? Why not price it reasonably? Why not make it easier for consumers to buy your content than it is to pirate it? People will come; in droves.
It’s easier to buy video games on Steam at a reasonable price, so I buy video games from Steam. It’s easier for me to find obscure music on iTunes, so I buy music from iTunes. It was easier for me to purchase then download Louis CK’s latest stand up direct from his site, so I did exactly that.
We don’t need to change what we do, you do. You need to provide us with the alternative. You need to sell us your product — that’s how this whole business thing works. You sell us stuff, you sell it to me in a way that is convenient, you convince us of its value. You don’t introduce bills that crush our abilities to communicate with one another, you don’t sell us software that impedes our ability to consume your product, you don’t arrest us in our homes.
Find a way to sell us the content we want to buy — quickly — because if you don’t, someone else will. Speed up. Surprise me. You have quick, easy access to more consumers than you ever imagined possible, but instead of taking advantage you’re doing your level best to destroy this beautiful thing — this lightning rod for commerce. Lumbering across the landscape, your brains too small for your humongous body; lashing out, fighting to survive in the least effective way imaginable.
This is what Dinosaurs do: they move slowly, they stomp on things. Learn to move faster, or accept your fate. Do what all dinosaurs are destined to do eventually: go extinct.
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Tertius (Just call me T or Joe ... whatever)
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juha
Pro racer
Joined: 13 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:28 pm Post subject: |
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Why pay Microsoft (or pirate) when there are better alternatives that cost nothing ? I think we had this conversation at last WOTS den meet ?? Was happy to see people not using M$. But that's just me maybe ...
The SOPA stuff is politicians being owned by large conglomerates ... whatyagonnado ?
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