PROTECT IP / SOPA Act Breaks the Internet

[paularoid]

PROTECT IP / SOPA Act Breaks the Internet

Stream this:

http://av.vimeo.com/13315/836/72501095.mp4?token=1321866181_bb64cbfc70b90dfdec2a 5becbbe49fb3

or download this for viewing locally on your system:
http://av.vimeo.com/13315/836/72501095.mp4

[DaveM]

The links brings up an error message....perhaps "they" go the site already?

[paularoid]

The links brings up an error message....perhaps "they" go the site already?

Here's the link that goes direct to the article. The vid's still there and appears to be working. I've got it open in another layer right now. While you're there, read the whole article that's there too.

http://boingboing.net/2011/11/11/stop-sopa-save-the-internet.html

[DaveM]

The Internet became what it is because it was not regulated--or rather, content providers largely regulated themselves. As soon as the government became involved, the net began to stagnate apart from commercial/retail sites and search engines providing "targeted content"--that is, ads that come up in response to your search criteria and the like.

I understand the stated purpose of this legislation--on the surface it sounds like a measure conceived in much the same frame of mind as the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) which, thankfully, was blocked by lawsuits before it could put one big filter on the entire Net. This is much the same old wine in a new bottle.....do not for a moment imagine that if enacted it will be used in any reasonable sense to protect the rights of copyright holders. Have the "wrong" opinions? Watch your site disappear and YOU will have to prove you did nothing wrong.

I cannot imagine that this proposal is Constitutional, but our Constitution appears to lie in tatters, completely ignored for its original purpose: to state what the Government absolutely, positively COULD NOT DO.