ACTA - SOPA and PIPA

[muddyfunkstar]

Megaupload is just the start of it, mediafire and rapidshare will be next. This is the start of bad things for the internet.

[AtreyuKun]

How the hell can the US create laws and hold the entire world to it?

[AtreyuKun]

Aaaaaand Anonymous goes off on the powers that be.

[pris]

I was wondering this

How the hell can the US create laws and hold the entire world to it?

[sgreger1]

Some insiders told me that Megaupload.com was permanently taken down.

Those "tards" over on Reddit provide the following timeline:


"Early 2011" - "The FBI contacted New Zealand Police in early 2011 with a request to assist with their investigation into the Mega Conspiracy." said Detective Inspector Grant Wormald of OFCANZ
28-OCT-2011 - MegaUpload labelled a 'rogue' site by MPAA.
09-DEC-2011 - MegaUpload releases a music video with RIAA artists endorsing MegaUpload.
10-DEC-2011 - UMG doesn't like the video. Has it removed from YouTube.
12-DEC-2011 - MegaUpload files suit against UMG on the grounds that UMG cannot remove the content as MegaUpload holds the copyright, not UMG.
16-DEC-2011 - UMG says "So what? We can take down whatever we want!" and "You can't touch us. This isn't DMCA. We didn't take it down because of copyright. We took it down because we can."
21-DEC-2011 - MegaUpload labelled a "rogue" site by the USTR.
28-DEC-2011 - MegaUpload wants an explaination from UMG.
19-JAN-2012 - MegaUpload shut down by Feds
20-JAN-2012 - New Zealand arrests in US led global copyright infringement investigation of Megaupload.com and related sites.
I might have missed some points, but this is a pretty full timeline. Feel free to add/correct anything I have here.




But fear not, the internet retaliates:

Anonymous has taken down 10 sites in the past 20 minutes. They're going all out warfare for Megaupload right now.



If there's anything that shows SOPA/PIPA are not necessary, this is it. They were able to take down a high profile website such as Megaupload, without those bills being passed. Therefore the current laws already have a means of mitigating the threat of piracy, so why pass 3 new bills to address what can be handled by existing laws?



The day after the largest online protest ever, the government responds by shutting down Megaupload. Our move, guys.

[sgreger1]

How the hell can the US create laws and hold the entire world to it?

*Destroy the American economy: CEO's are immune to prosecution. Golden parachute.

*Someone downloads The Matrix off of your website: International man hunt for CEO.



That's why.

[AtreyuKun]

Anyone want to take some bets on why CNN and other major news sources aren't reporting on this?

[AtreyuKun]

Oh my mistake. It seems the only thing I can find on FOX News is some tool proclaiming how SOPA is going to save this sorry ass country.

[AtreyuKun]

Holy shit. Amazing.

[sgreger1]

Oh my mistake. It seems the only thing I can find on FOX News is some tool proclaiming how SOPA is going to save this sorry ass country.

Yesterday CNN was on doing the same thing. They phrase it as "internet activists shut down webpages in protest of anti-piracy bill. Lawmakers trying to stop internet pirates have met opposition by internet protestors". They don't say "Some people believe this is an attempt by the government to regulate the internet so that they can take down websites that even link to infringing content", they just use buzzwords like "pirates" protesting "completely and totally rational and not at all suspicious bill to save OUR CHILDREN OMG"

[sgreger1]

Holy shit. Amazing.

Hey that's politics. Gotta be a whore and do tricks for them lobbyists if you want to get that cash baby.

[EricHill78]

Meet the douche who wrote SOPA

Lamar Smith

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_S._Smith

Oh guess where he's from? San Antonio... I told you guys I hated moving and living here. This is just another nail in the coffin.

[precious007]

At some point these laws are quite useful for the companies that are losing billions annually due to piracy.

I mean everyone and their grandmother used pirated video hosting sites, torrents etc to watch movies these days. And since almost 20% - 30% of the population used the internet imagine what type of losses these companies have.

It's bad for the users though

[sgreger1]

At some point these laws are quite useful for the companies that are losing billions annually due to piracy.

I mean everyone and their grandmother used pirated video hosting sites, torrents etc to watch movies these days. And since almost 20% - 30% of the population used the internet imagine what type of losses these companies have.

It's bad for the users though

Actually profit in the music/movie industry has increased each year. In fact more music was sold in 2010 than ever before. Piracy has little to no net effect on sales. There is no evidence that they have lost billions, as they have in fact made more money than ever. The economic collapse lead to some decline in sales but Piracy has never been prove to reduce sales in any meaningful capacity. A Norwegian university did a study on it and showed that piracy actually increased sales in some instances.


Don't buy the hype, these 13 year olds may have $10k worth of pirated software on their computer but they were unlikely to spend more than $60 if they did have the money so not much is lost. I pirate shit but I also buy shit in huge quantities if it is in an easily consumable package. I would much rather pay and avoid the hassle than deal with cracked versions of everything. I even donate money to open source projects so even those who give it for free profit off of me. There are millions of others who do this, those who have the money tend to buy it, and those who can't afford it can at least enjoy it and tell a friend who may have money to buy it.

[precious007]

That's not exactly true sgreger, the sales might have increases but they're still losing money (that's for sure)

For example in Romania, no one pays $30 for an original DVD, almost no-one has a genuine copy of windows on their PC and all the music is downloaded from pirated sites, IRC etc.

Now lets do some math, if everyone in Romania would spend on average $100 on genuine products (music,videos,games) that would mean roughly 1.5 billion a year.

Imagine that the entire eastern Europe, the poor countries in the Balkan area all do the same. That means 5 - 10 billions loss.

Assuming the largest corporations such as microsoft only made 50 billion since they introduced their products on the market, now that's quite a loss, and I am pretty sure Bill Gates is pissed off. The studies made probably show just the increase in sales, but they haven't done any math on what type of losses piracy does world wide.

Not to mention asia with billions in population where you can get pirated DVD's - CD's in the corner of the street.

In terms of piracy, the net is just a little kid in the playground :-) The black offline market is way bigger and the losses are insane.

Just do some math, it's pretty hard to tell, but I can assure you that maybe 2 - 3 billion people worldwide don't pay for genuine stuff

According to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the annual estimated loss due to piracy is $13.1 billion (US) worldwide, with a loss of $2.9 billion in the United States alone. Ultimately, software piracy results in the loss of tax revenues, jobs, and growth in the software industry.

HONG KONG: India will account for USD 1.4 billion out of a loss of over USD 2.1 billion that the Asia Pacific region is estimated to witness in 2011 due to piracy, according to CASBAA.

Some recent stats, and they're talking software. Games, music and all the other would probably be another 30 billion.

They're serious numbers I guess if we were to add up all the piracy worlwide in all areas it would around 100 billion which is five times the amount made in one of the highest and most profitable industries world wide the steel industry.