SOPA/ Wikipedia blackout

faustus

Well-known member
I'm sure others have got more to say about the laws themselves, but I wanted to vent for a second

The Guardian has decided to run an oh-so-hilarious Guardipedia whilst Wikipedia is blocked out, where you can ask questions that you normally would use wikipedia for. The comments are mostly people talking about ways round the downtime.

The reason it pisses me off is because it's the second time the Guardian have done this kind of thing, a couple of years ago they did an 'alternative Today programme' when lots of BBC journos were on strike and the real Today programme wasn't broadcast. It seems to me that the fact that these ideas would generate traffic immediately override the fact that maybe just maybe it's going against the whole idea of the thing...
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Erm, it's not exactly a complete wikipedia substitute, is it? And the wikipedia thing isn't a complete denial of access anyway (they actually explain themselves how to get around it if you really want to), it's more a symbolic thing that gets publicity for the issue.

And if anything the graun thing is drawing more attention to it for people who might not have looked at wikipedia today anyway...
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
http://www.thestatecolumn.com/articles/sopa-sponsor-rep-lamar-smith-may-have-violated-copyright/ ha....

the idea that record companies have any part to play in 'protecting intellectual property' rather than exploiting it for financial gain is another of those unbelievably laughable lines they keep on coming out with. I'd have been fine in my teens to pay £5 to cover artists' and other costs in buying CDs, but no, I was paying £15 and probably at the age of 16 funding a few record industry cocaine parties.
 

Bangpuss

Well-known member
So are we for or against online piracy? While I appreciate being able to watch and listen to copyrighted material for free online, is it ethical to do so? What are people's thoughts outside of their own self interest?
 

slowtrain

Well-known member
I am for online piracy. I am for all kinds of piracy.

I think sharing music is no problem.

If I want to buy it then I will.

I always support my friends bands, and most of the stuff I pirate is shit no one has ever even had for sale anyway, or the only way to buy it would be to oivay it off some leeching faggot.
 

luka

Well-known member
bangpuss i dont want to seem like im bullying you but a)stop being a primary school teacher and b)stop trying to sell me stuff.
 

Bangpuss

Well-known member
bangpuss i dont want to seem like im bullying you but a)stop being a primary school teacher and b)stop trying to sell me stuff.

a) I'm not a primary school teacher

b) Nor am I trying to sell you something. If you've interpreted my words to mean that, I can't help it. I guess you're free to attach your own original definitions to language.

If using an Internet forum to solicit other people's opinion rather than to just spout my own ideas is a bad thing, then pardon me. But as with the Pulp Fiction conversation -- do you listen or wait to talk? -- we all know which category you're in.

Regarding piracy, the individual choices we make to rationalise our behaviour can't be legislated for with laws which apply to everyone. While we may justify pirating music and movies by saying, "I support my friends' bands," that's never going to be government policy, i.e. consumers only have to pay for their friends' music.

I find it hard to come up with a philosophically consistent position that allows for pirating music and videos.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
interview with Rapidshare spokesman/lawyer about piracy, Megupload, etc

particularly interesting bit about Rapidshare hiring lobbyists last year to improve its image in Congress

on a related note I never realized just how insane the whole Megupload/Kim Dotcom thing was. not that I'm pro-feds crushing it or anything but if anyone was going to get popped it was definitely that guy. one of the cardinal rules of being a shady conman/king of Internet piracy has to be not pissing off the the powers that be by flaunting your extreme, ill-gotten wealth in the most extravagant ways possible.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
so, a kid I very vaguely know (as in I knew who he was + I hung out w/him once) was arrested on Tuesday in for a bunch of hacking stuff. I'm putting it up here cos the authorities are trying to pin him as the "leader" of Anonymous, which is obviously bullshit, tho they probably will get him on a bunch of real charges. he already did an 18-month bid for some other political hacking stuff. he's from Chicago + has been a prominent figure in the anarchist scene here for years (I remember benefit shows a couple years back to raise legal funds for his first case) so it's a really big deal here. like front page news. probably not very relevant to people here but it hits real close to home for me. anyway.

here's the local paper's coverage. it's surprisingly close to even-handed (by which I mean not very but not nearly as abysmal as I'd expect).

chicago man charged with taking part in anonymous hacking
 
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