Because it matters - once more: Kill This Bill!!!
The “Stop Online Piracy Act” (HR 3261), introduced in October in congress and into the USS legislate system, needs to be stopped.
This act is supposed to empowers copyright holders to seek punitive action when their material is reproduced online. However, it will do so (if it does so) with tremendous collateral damage to tzhe Internet as we know it. For example, the rules of Fair Use would allow you to do parodies - and yet, copyright holders have used Copyright claims to try and suppress political remixes of trading spots, have tried to suppress the citation of parts of texts in critical blog posts, or to suppress the redistribution of unwelcome and "leaked" information in the past. In the future, they could use these claims to simply force Internet Service Providers to block access to the websites hosting these unwelcome remixes, articles and blog posts, and force Paypal and other services to transfer your donation money to them. In other words, the possibilities of censure this law includes are alarming.
Aside from that, the danger this law would provide to fannish culture? You guess it. Just imagine live journal blocked, for example, because somebody posted or linked a movie remix. Your beloved icons? movie pictures? fannish articles? All reasons to block access to your sites, if some copyright holder honcho should decide so. And I imagine this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Please, those of you on my f-list who live in the USA - do everything in your power, e-mail or write your senators or representatives in congress, call them, go demonstrating, sign petitions, do whatever you can to STOP THIS. This is serious, and the danger to the Intern et as we know it is immediate. and no, Obama refusing to sign that bill will not be enough - not if instead the bill gets through modified and just a little less bad, but still FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond Repair) enough to wreak havoc with the Internet as it is now.
As I said before, this is serious, and the danger is immediate.
Read more here on AlterNet:
Kill the Bill: The “Stop Online Piracy Act” and Why It Matters by Max Coleman
And at the site of the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
How PIPA and SOPA Violate White House Principles Supporting Free Speech and Innovation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has also created an activist platform where you can contact your representative or Senator: Take Action Now.
Or you can go to the Strike Against Censorship Site to sign that petition.
Those of you who are not citizens of the US can still sign a petition to the state department. I just did!
This act is supposed to empowers copyright holders to seek punitive action when their material is reproduced online. However, it will do so (if it does so) with tremendous collateral damage to tzhe Internet as we know it. For example, the rules of Fair Use would allow you to do parodies - and yet, copyright holders have used Copyright claims to try and suppress political remixes of trading spots, have tried to suppress the citation of parts of texts in critical blog posts, or to suppress the redistribution of unwelcome and "leaked" information in the past. In the future, they could use these claims to simply force Internet Service Providers to block access to the websites hosting these unwelcome remixes, articles and blog posts, and force Paypal and other services to transfer your donation money to them. In other words, the possibilities of censure this law includes are alarming.
Aside from that, the danger this law would provide to fannish culture? You guess it. Just imagine live journal blocked, for example, because somebody posted or linked a movie remix. Your beloved icons? movie pictures? fannish articles? All reasons to block access to your sites, if some copyright holder honcho should decide so. And I imagine this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Please, those of you on my f-list who live in the USA - do everything in your power, e-mail or write your senators or representatives in congress, call them, go demonstrating, sign petitions, do whatever you can to STOP THIS. This is serious, and the danger to the Intern et as we know it is immediate. and no, Obama refusing to sign that bill will not be enough - not if instead the bill gets through modified and just a little less bad, but still FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond Repair) enough to wreak havoc with the Internet as it is now.
As I said before, this is serious, and the danger is immediate.
Read more here on AlterNet:
Kill the Bill: The “Stop Online Piracy Act” and Why It Matters by Max Coleman
And at the site of the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
How PIPA and SOPA Violate White House Principles Supporting Free Speech and Innovation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has also created an activist platform where you can contact your representative or Senator: Take Action Now.
Or you can go to the Strike Against Censorship Site to sign that petition.
Those of you who are not citizens of the US can still sign a petition to the state department. I just did!