Off Topic: Familiarize yourself with SOPA/PIPA.

[sdix00]

If you have not done so, please take a minute to familiarize yourself with SOPA/PIPA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more

These bills threaten ALL user-contributed websites, including U-E. The government has no business policing the internet and having the power to turn off websites.

There are already processes in place for Intellectual Property owners to protect their property and the evolving markets give them new tools each day to increase their own distribution and revenue streams.

SOPA is sponsored by the establishment and seeks to maintain control on the status quo. A condition that keeps the flow of revenue tightly locked up by choking off the new content creators: Us!

SOPA is Big Business and Politicians in bed together like they haven't been since the turn of the century. It is disgusting to think about and a deadly threat to any content curator who cannot pick up the phone and talk to a politician.

[Umpire in Chief]

MST posted earlier abut SOPA earlier and I was a bit dismissive about it.

Now SOPA has been in the spotlight for sometime now. My concern has grown significantly. But while I say this I also recognize that the media is sensationalizing the facts (Notice I did say facts they are true for the most part) and there are fear-mongers out there who think the sky is falling.

Today there are thousands of websites, including Wikipedia and Google to some extent which have shut down in protest of SOPA.

Here's my current thought. It does indeed pose a threat to even small sites like U-E. I agree if implemented as I have been explained the law. U-E could be shut down immediately without giving me the opportunity to fix any issues a claimant might have against me. The law seems to be missing the mark. I 100% agree that piracy & copyright infringement are bad and they cost companies untold millions of dollars. But this law is missing the target. Yes U-E probably has hundreds of copyright violations, but they are pretty much small potatoes where somebody uses a copyrighted avatar or quotes from a rule book, manual or the like. No huge income loss for anybody and actually IMO it may lend itself to someone reading it wanting to buy the source which was quoted. -- I think that's how I got my first J/R manual.

There is a law in place which already serves this purpose the DMCA www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act (follow the link tomorrow). WHere lets suppose Steven Dix owns the copyright to something which is posted here and he'd like to remove.

Hopefully he'd contact me directly and it would end there. But lets say the owner can't be reached or doesn't comply. You serve the owner and the host a DCMA notice If it is sever enough the host may take action, But it can then go through the civil court process. The problem as I see it is that the primary offenders already do not recognize US or International copyright law and are knowingly and intentionally doing this and we have no other means to stop them. And when you do they are probably going to have another site up in 24hrs. So the law misses the intended purpose but puts a horrible burden on the good guys.

[ukce1861]

What is it my dad always said - "Locks will only stop an honest man"?

That's the problem with all these kinds of laws; the knowing violators and egregious offenders will always find a way around whatever they do, it's the people who are doing things the right way and trying to comply that will bear most of the burden.

[yawetag]

U-E could be shut down immediately without giving me the opportunity to fix any issues a claimant might have against me.

Not only that, there's no due process in the shutting down of the site. No notice is given to the owner; their site is simply blocked from users in the United States.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Many of the key founding fathers were lawyers. It's been an uphill battle ever since.

[mstaylor]

Warren, why don't you attach this to my thread so everything is in one spot? I really hate when there is a law in place but doesn't get enforce as intended, then somebody decides they need to bolster it. They make a new law that goes so far over the edge it is rediculous, this is exactly what is going on here.