Personally I like my internet.

[paytonpenn]

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-internet-control-bill-now#

This law affects you and I and very much so that other guy.

The IP Act (S.968 - PROTECT IP Act of 2011) establishes a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be "dedicated to infringing activities." The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against the alleged infringer and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. In some cases, action could be taken to block sites without first allowing the alleged infringer to defend themselves in court. The PROTECT IP Act would allow copyright owners movie studios and other content providers simply to accuse a website of infringement, which could lead to that site being shut down by court order and entire links to the site being wiped clean from the Internet. The bill is so poorly written that it would allow any copyright owner to shut down a legitimate retail website, such as Amazon or Best Buy, by alleging that one product being sold on the site could enable or facilitate an infringement. It could even allow any content owner to block access to the Patent Office website if it receives and posts a patent application for a product that is believed to use content without permission. The PROTECT IP Act will hurt American innovation. This bill will give one side the power to put the other side out of business and this is dangerous beyond words.

I torrent a lot of things and I won't lie I have been caught more than 4 times, its not due to lack of trying to hide it or just downloading the wrong thing its just that my service provider does nothing about it but inform me. I have only been caught with movies, I see a pointless Copyright Infringement Notice in my inbox on GMail and carry my way. I have COX and they copy and paste the same message for each once along with the forward they received from the original owners.

If copyright infringement was that big of a deal I think the owners should sue the providers for doing nothing about it. What are your opinions, also if you have time and it goes with what you believe you should spend 15 seconds and sign the petition.

 

[biojuggernaut]

There is actually something called the digital millenninum copyright act that acts as safe harbor for network providers. It is the same concept as youtube getting sued for someone putting up an illegal video. Essentially your network provided you with a cease and desist notice, whether you choose to follow or not all comes down to you.

 

[JDSupreme]

I torrent everything.

Seriously, our govt got more to fuckin worry about

 

[Smokey]

I torrent everything.

Seriously, our govt got more to fuckin worry about

qft

 

[JDSupreme]

I haven't paid for a movie or mp3 in like 10 years.

But I buy concert tickets, occasionally hit the theaters for a flick, etc.

I bought a 2TB hard drive about a year ago that I have been stockpiling movies, music, and software on in anticipation of some sort of torrent ban. I've got a shit ton of stuff and im only at 750 gigs so far.

But like many other things, shut it down and it will open up right next door with a different name under a different loophole. Not too worried about it.

Hey, the less $$ I spend on movies and music, the more $$ for herb and vaporizers

 

[WatTyler]

...If copyright infringement was that big of a deal I think the owners should sue the providers for doing nothing about it. ...

I think we need to be careful with this- the individual users are a much easier/more lucrative target potentially than the providers, especially when it comes to recovering 'losses' (and generating continued work for the inflated legal industry- in my example here below they kept 65% of revenue recovered, and only 30% went to copyright holders!!! I'm sure many lawyers were salivating).

It's been a different story here in the UK. The private sector went after some individuals it identified as having persistently infringed copyrights. A coupe of law firms were sending 'speculative invoices', for thousands of pounds in many cases, demanding payment or threatening court action. Of course many people just paid up rather than go to court, especially when you consider that many of these 'victims' were the parents of teenagers who had been illegally downloading rather than the 'offenders' themselves. A couple resisted and actually took the law firms concerned to court and won (although the main firm concerned (ACS:Law) wound up business the week before the hearing to decide whether it needed to pay damages to the individuals!). So the private sector essentially failed to flex its muscles on these key internet copyright issues under the current framework.

The UK governments last suggestion that I heard was to make ISPs restrict the internet access of anyone found to be persistently file sharing or downloading illegally to just being able to access essential services on a slow connection. There are massive holes in such a proposal, and I've no idea where it currently stands.

So quite a different approach to the issue - but to be honest for me the US has got it slightly better in that at least it isn't targeting individuals to make an example of.

 

[JDSupreme]

Just downloaded the complete Wile E. Coyote & Roadrunner Collection. Score.

Its stuff like this that I love finding, stuff you couldn't buy if you wanted too. Like the complete Beavis and Butthead with all the original videos. Great stuff.