[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

Pity FaceBook isn't blacking out. That would do the trick fast.

I was thinking that.

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Shmuckerberg wouldn't sacrifice the cash.

I was thinking that as well.

I wonder how much revenue they'd lose in a day vs. how much they might use lobbying (assuming they're lobbying).

[lpkmckenna]

Some guys in the gaming community have decided to boycott E3 until the ESA drops support for SOPA. Interesting idea, but I'm skeptical about how much impact this will have.

[The Final Dakar]

It's E3. They turn people away every year, so it'll still be at max capacity.

They need to get publishers on board for people to care.

[Athens]

The day LOLcats died The Day The LOLcats Died - YouTube

[ironknee]

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

there. if SOPA passes, this site can be shut down and sued

[Uncle Skeleton]

That's the first convincing argument in favor of SOPA I've heard all day

[besson3c]

Shmuckerberg...

Right wingers = awesome at word play.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

[ironknee]

^^
bess, did I miss something? Is shmukerberg a socialist?

Besides Facebook I mean

No seriously

[ironknee]

ok...so glen beck is against SOPA...you guys who support it can now withdraw

Glenn Beck Criticizes SOPA (VIDEO)

[l008com]

Glenn Back. Damnit, now I need to support SOPA.

[Athens]

I just can't wait until Wikipedia goes back to normal. As much as I am against SOPA, I realized today how much I read from there.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by l008com 

Glenn Back. Damnit, now I need to support SOPA.

I'd be willing to bet that's exactly what the SOPA backers were planning!

[subego]

Good on all the Republicans in the senate who have seen the error of their ways. That's not something I say often.

WTF Democrats?

This I say more often.

[Big Mac]

The Senate Republicans really delivered like that? Link subego?

[subego]

PIPA support collapses, with 13 new Senators opposed

[that number has since increased]

Roy Blunt (R-MO)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Scott Brown (R-MA)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
James Inhofe (R-OK)
Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
David Vitter (R-LA)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Pat Toomey (R-PA)
Mike Johanns (R-NE)
Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)

These are the Republicans. There's a smattering of Democrats.

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Shmuckerberg...

Right wingers = awesome at word play.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

GWB wasn't awesome at wordplay words.

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by Athens 

I just can't wait until Wikipedia goes back to normal. As much as I am against SOPA, I realized today how much I read from there.

Use the google cache.

[Big Mac]

Thank you subego. Anyone who cares about Internet freedom switching to the Right party? Winning!

[subego]

I hear the secret sauce was someone started calling the bill a "Hollywood bailout".

[l008com]

Originally Posted by subego 

I hear the secret sauce was someone started calling the bill a "Hollywood bailout".

That may be borderline genius.

[The Final Dakar]

Why do we need SOPA?

APNewsBreak: Feds Shut Down File-Sharing Website - ABC News

Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws.

The indictment accuses the company of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed Thursday, one day after websites shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart the online piracy of copyrighted movies and TV programs.

Megaupload.com has claimed it is diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.

The indictment says at one point, Megaupload was the 13th most popular website in the world.

Part of me wonders if this isn't someone trying to show media donors that killing SOPA won't be that bad.

Another part of me laments that this is the same company that was fighting UMG over illegal DMCA pulldowns, as that's a complete non-story now.

[l008com]

I love how they always assume that 100% of illegal downloads would otherwise be legal purchases.

[OAW]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Why do we need SOPA?

APNewsBreak: Feds Shut Down File-Sharing Website - ABC News

Part of me wonders if this isn't someone trying to show media donors that killing SOPA won't be that bad.

Another part of me laments that this is the same company that was fighting UMG over illegal DMCA pulldowns, as that's a complete non-story now.

Interesting. The only times I can recall using Megaupload.com was to download an album of one of my favorite artists that had been shelved by the record label* (against the artist's wishes) because the suits at the label didn't think it would sell. Albums I would have gladly paid for on iTunes if the labels had only released them. Imagine that.

OAW

* - I never have understood the logic of a record label shelving an album. Even if the suits think it's not commercial enough and refuse to "throw good money after bad" by promoting it ... it's pretty silly to let so-called "bad" money go completely to waste by not releasing the album at all. The last time I checked "some sales" is still better than "no sales".

[Waragainstsleep]

They do it sometimes thinking that if its unavailable for a while that somehow a release down the line will be a bigger deal and somehow a bigger profit. More evidence of the music business failing to adapt to the digital age.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by OAW 

The only times I can recall using Megaupload.com was to download an album of one of my favorite artists that had been shelved by the record label* (against the artist's wishes) because the suits at the label didn't think it would sell.

There is a similar problem with scientific books: they sold in very small quantities to begin with and there is usually not a big enough market to fire up the printing press again. But in many cases, you can find scans online on some Russian website.

It can be extremely hard to locate a paper copy, so most scientists these days have djvu files on their laptop. (Even though in many cases, they or their university owns a hard copy, we now have a library with us when we travel and we can search books much more easily.)

Yet another aspect of current copyright law that is in desperate need to be updated: if the copyright owners have no intention of profiting from a work, the works should become public domain.

[Big Mac]

So, OC, that bloc of Republican Senators came forward in a unified fashion right after the black out in strong opposition to PIPA. Certainly many of their offices were bombarded with anti-SOPA calls. Do you still think the only thing that counts in Congress is lobbying money?

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

So, OC, that bloc of Republican Senators came forward in a unified fashion right after the black out in strong opposition to PIPA. Certainly many of their offices were bombarded with anti-SOPA calls. Do you still think the only thing that counts in Congress is lobbying money?

BigMac, if you want to enter a discussion with me, you need to provide information which bolsters your point of view. I have no interest in a one-sided discussion where I try hard to back up my arguments and I get nothing in return.

You're speculating (1) that the offices of Republican Senators were »bombarded« with anti-SOPA calls and (2) that these calls made them change their mind. I don't see any evidence of this; at least you don't give any. Also, your attempt to make it seem as if it were a partisan issue escapes me. All bills under discussion, SOPA, PIPA and OPEN were co-sponsored by Democrats and Republicans.

[hyteckit]

Originally Posted by subego 

Good on all the Republicans in the senate who have seen the error of their ways. That's not something I say often.

WTF Democrats?

This I say more often.

So Republicans flip-flop after not being able to search for porn?

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Do you still think the only thing that counts in Congress is lobbying money?

Yes. This just means Google, Microsoft, and Apple gave them even more money than MP/IRAA.

[The Final Dakar]

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by OAW 

Interesting. The only times I can recall using Megaupload.com was to download an album of one of my favorite artists that had been shelved by the record label* (against the artist's wishes) because the suits at the label didn't think it would sell. Albums I would have gladly paid for on iTunes if the labels had only released them. Imagine that.

Fiona Apple? I remember downloading her unreleased album and playing the hell out of it.

[subego]

Pretty sure I snagged the soundtrack to Baldur's Gate on Megaupload.

[The Godfather]

Y'all want to have Kim Dotcom Schmitz babies.

[subego]

Spoilered for some language:

 

[The Final Dakar]

Carpathia blasts government for hypocrisy on Megaupload servers

In its filing, Carpathia accuses the government of hypocrisy, noting that the government claims to have no interest in the servers at the same time it raises objections to any constructive solution to the impasse. According to Carpathia, the government is "effectively asserting constructive control over the servers," even as it claims it has no interest in what happens to them.

Carpathia also rebutted the government's argument that transferring servers containing infringing materials would itself be a violation of copyright law. Carpathia notes that while it owns the servers, the data itself has always been the property of Megaupload. Giving Megaupload data it already owns is not a transfer under copyright law.

Shady shit.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Why do we need SOPA?

Rut-roh
Mega-victory: Kim Dotcom search warrants “invalid,” mansion raid “illegal” | Ars Technica

Without the specific allegation of a crime, a warrant might veer into over-broad territory, becoming a "general warrant" so vague as to be illegal. According to Judge Winkelmann, that's exactly what happened here. "These were general warrants both in form and reality," she wrote. Proper warrants must be “framed with as much specificity as the relevant context permits."

In this case, the broad nature of the alleged crimes was combined with a broad list of things to grab. For instance, the warrant targeted "all digital devices, including electronic devices capable of storing and/or processing data in digital form."

This was pretty indiscriminate. Everyone involved admits that police must be allowed to grab some information that turns out later to be irrelevant to their case; otherwise, the standard for searches would be so high that much useful material would never be found. But the key point is that the cops need to quickly triage the material taken and return everything not relevant to the investigation.

In this case, the cops had a problem doing so. Because the actual investigators were the FBI, local New Zealand police had no idea which data was relevant. Besides, they had grabbed 150TB of material, and analysts admitted to the court that they couldn't process such a volume without spending a substantial sum of money for more workers and equipment. So the idea was: we'll just ship it all to America and let the FBI do the minimization there.

But that's not an option. The warrant was executed in New Zealand under New Zealand law against a New Zealand resident, and cops can't simply act as agents for another country and then tell aggrieved parties that they have to go deal with that country if they want their irrelevant data back.

"In this day and age computers (and even phones) are used by individuals and families to store a wide range of material information, family photos and films; personal correspondence (e-mails) and generally information of a private and purely personal nature," wrote the judge. Such information must be promptly returned.