Raspberry Pi website to go dark on Jan 18 to protest against SOPA

[JJonas]

Raspberry Pi website to go dark on Jan 18 to protest against SOPA | Raspberry Pi

 

Under the proposed legislation, it would be illegal for us (or you) to link to any website – any website at all, including community-driven behemoths like YouTube, Flickr, Blogspot or WordPress – without checking first that nothing on that site infringes copyright. And we’d have to review those sites continually after a link was made.

[synaesthesia]

Good, I do hope many more follow suit. The whole idea is merely a classic example of how to kill a fly by removing their air supply.

[teejay]

Will Edugeek be doing the same?

[TechMonkey]

Reddit & BoingBoing are too. Full list here.

[synaesthesia]

Been having quite a length discussion about this on IRC today with an interesting thought.

 

SOPA could effectively *help* the UK and EU by making the US far less powerful in the internet stakes. Companies who it would effect would vacate Silicon Valley rather quickly and there are only a couple of possibilities for places they could go - logistically Mexico, but obviously that won't happen. Otherwise it'd be the EU - and quite likely the UK for language and connections reasons.

DNS control could be easily subverted or extra layers added circumventing any control the US has over it. The more we talked about it, the more daft it made the idea sound for the US. The conversation culminated in me promising to shave my head completely if it goes ahead. And I stand by that

[JJonas]

self bump to raise awareness

[LosOjos]

Been having quite a length discussion about this on IRC today with an interesting thought.

 

SOPA could effectively *help* the UK and EU by making the US far less powerful in the internet stakes. Companies who it would effect would vacate Silicon Valley rather quickly and there are only a couple of possibilities for places they could go - logistically Mexico, but obviously that won't happen. Otherwise it'd be the EU - and quite likely the UK for language and connections reasons.

DNS control could be easily subverted or extra layers added circumventing any control the US has over it. The more we talked about it, the more daft it made the idea sound for the US. The conversation culminated in me promising to shave my head completely if it goes ahead. And I stand by that

 

The problem is, if it does go ahead then it will set a precedent for the rest of the world, the EU in particular. I find it highly hypocritical that our western governments are quick to criticise the likes of China and Korea for their strict filtering policies and then have the audacity to try to implement something as repressive as SOPA.

[LosOjos]

I saw this news story the other week, might be of interest to some of you: Hackers work on satellite system, aim for the moon | ZDNet UK

[Arcath]

The problem is, if it does go ahead then it will set a precedent for the rest of the world, the EU in particular. I find it highly hypocritical that our western governments are quick to criticise the likes of China and Korea for their strict filtering policies and then have the audacity to try to implement something as repressive as SOPA.

 

That is my major concern, if it does get passed in america the next day all the companies will walk into parliament and say your close friends over the pond have just passed this bill called "SOPA" we suggest you do the same.

 

There is always the point that sites like TPB are all hosted in europe anyway, so they will still have no power to shut them down.

[LosOjos]

There is always the point that sites like TPB are all hosted in europe anyway, so they will still have no power to shut them down.

 

It appears to me that SOPA is an underhanded way to stop the likes of TPB - you're right, they can't shut them down as they're not hosted in the US, but if they make it illegal for anybody in the US to visit them or even provide a link to the site, they've effectively "shut them down" in the US at least.

[tommej]

SOPA has been shelved for now.

[Theblacksheep]

The problem is, if it does go ahead then it will set a precedent for the rest of the world, the EU in particular. I find it highly hypocritical that our western governments are quick to criticise the likes of China and Korea for their strict filtering policies and then have the audacity to try to implement something as repressive as SOPA.

 

The media makes fun of other countries blocking facebook, twitter and such, yet stays quite or is supportive of western governments blocking systems.

[X-13]

they can't shut them down as they're not hosted in the US

 

Exactly, which is why I laugh at the TPB legal responses page. They ALL mention DMCA, which is American and therefore doesn't apply to Sweden.

 

Also, this.

 

How the hell is that legal? It's a UK guy, with a UK website, hosted in the UK and they're taking him to an American court to possibly sentence him for breaking an American law.

 

Silly America. It doesn't work like that.

 

By that logic, Iran [Or any other country like that] could extradite all openly gay people so they can excecute them for breaking Iranian [or other] anti-homosexual laws.

 

Also, Ryan Giggs could be extradited to Dubai to face charges of adultery.

[localzuk]

SOPA has been shelved for now.

 

It has been shelved to write amendments, and the White House has said they wouldn't let a law pass which undermined freedom of speech.

 

However, the legislators in question are still very much pushing for it.

 

I've sent out an email to staff here to warn them that various sites on the net will be blacked out on Weds, so they don't get upset with us in support for saying we can't do anything about it.

[X-13]

I've sent out an email to staff here to warn them that various sites on the net will be blacked out on Weds, so they don't get upset with us in support for saying we can't do anything about it.

 

 

From what I can see on the list [linked by TechMonkey] most, if not all, of the sites are humour/game/blogging websites.

 

Here at least, they're all blocked or things people aren't allowed to be on. I can't see this being a problem at work.

[Arcath]

The media makes fun of other countries blocking facebook, twitter and such, yet stays quite or is supportive of western governments blocking systems.

 

One of the big arguments against it is that infringes on peoples right to free (which in america is a constitutional right which cant be messed with), as it also allows media companies to control their "public image" for example if I write a review of game/film/tv show and post it on my blog without the copyright holders permission then my blog could be blocked. We might then end up with a culture of "10/10 or your site gets blocked" which is disgusting.

 

Take games like minecraft which live off the youtube community who post tutorials and show off videos, without them minecraft would be a tiny game. If SOPA gets passed all those videos breach Mojangs copyright and would have to be taken down.

 

The worst part of SOPA is that it effects the entire planet, but only congress can vote on it...

[JJonas]

BBC News - Wikipedia joins web blackout in Sopa Act protest