Not only is this happening in America but it is GOING to be happening in Europe soon. SOPA is only a small ripple in the splash corporations are making about copyright infringement. You can tell bills like SOPA go deeper than you think simply because US legislators know something like it is going to pass. Clearly there are players in this game that are darker than you think after you read some of the statements SOPA supporters have made about these blackout protests. Not only that, but a diplomatic message was leaked between America and Spain saying that if S Pain does not pass a SOPA like bill, our ties with them will be majorly strained. Why? Who knows.
This is one huge step onto the route of America being a censored police state, not only will citizens not be able to use the internet to its full potential (especially for something like protests) but we also have the NDAA in affect as well as soldiers coming home from war.
Reminds me of something I said in another thread.
"What if a third world war isn't primarily fought with guns and bombs but more of a cyber war fought with the exchange of information and the attempt to suppress it."
not only will citizens not be able to use the internet to its full potential
Pretty soon every computer will have something like websense, except instead of simply blocking the links from opening, they won't show up at all. They might be doing that already through filtering, but we wouldn't know it. Anyway, in the future when everything's censored to one step above North Korea, people will think they're well-informed because they're still searching things and finding facts, but those facts will be completely bias and simplified.
I hope that another blackout is planned in February as well. I also hope Protect IP is also protested in a similar fashion since I believe Protect IP will be discussed either within the week or in one week.
I don't think any form of this bill or any bill like it will be or should be accepted by the people. It's an attempt to regulate something the government has no business regulating and the cost is in freedom for everyone. All this just so some greedy SOBs can maybe make an extra buck. And Kirby is right this isn't something that will stop with America if it's allowed to pass. Everyone on a global level is at threat but such regulations. If not directly then indirectly.
Google - i can still use it AOL - i can still use it Yahoo! - i can still use it Facebook - i don't have facebook it never works for me =) Twitter - i can still use it Foursquare - dunno what it is but the site seems to be working. PayPal - i can still use it Amazon - i can still use it eBay - i can still use it Mozilla Firefox - i can still use it Netscape - netscape = AOL but w/e, i can still use it Flickr - flickr = yahoo but w/e, i can still use it The Huffington Post. - i can still use it
the only page i can't join is wikipedia the english version. i can still use other versions then the english version of wikipedia.
Also party I hope you know that they'll be going down completely, they can't just shut down in the US since they are based there
Thankfully I can somehow still access it, if not, I can't proceed with my history term paper. Admittedly though ''I can't do my homework because of SOPA'' would be a first rate excuse!
I can read Mandarin, but its in the older form of Mandarin, and gives me headaches reading. And I can read Malay, but the two tend not to have as much info as the English version, in fact they fall short.
And I don't understand a word of Tamil. :P
So I'm counting my lucky stars, that unlike many others, I know the existence of special fonts of wisdom called books.
