A bill that will make over 1/3 of Americans felons - OPPOSE THIS

[mtmerrick]

A new bill in Congress makes posting a video containing any copyrighted work a felony - with up to 5 years of prison.

this is where i found out about it...
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20128166-281/copyright-bill-controversy-grows-as-rhetoric-sharpens/

our government is out of control. the people in charge either know absoultly NOTHING about how technology, and the internet work, (fairly likely) they're gullible idiots with the brains of toddlers (very likely), or they're just evil, corrupt, and want us to suffer (sadly, the most likely)

chances are, you've posted a video with some sort of copyrighted material somewhere. song lyrics, a picture, a logo, anything. are you prepared to go to jail?

OPPOSE THIS BILL. tell everyone you know. if this bill gets passed, we're one huge step closer to destroying ourselves.

[MsRowdyRedhead]

I dunno, MTM..
Justin Bieber is against the bill... soooo....

Seriously, I think the bill needs to differentiate between use for profit, and non commercial use.

Unauthorized use for profit should carry a penalty, as should pirating music.

Non commercial use takes nothing away from the originator of the material, and should carry no penalty.
Posting on a forum or facebook is free advertising!!

[mtmerrick]

Yeah I know. But his example is valid - and there are plenty of bands that have been discovered through YouTube.

Also, the law DOES NOT differentiate between YOUR copyrighted materials and someone else's. No copyrighted materials at all. This includes brand names, logos, images, screenshots, audio, lyrics, images, and more.

EG, the Lego logo is copyrighted. If you have a poster with the Lego logo on your room, you take a picture of you next to it, and you put it in a slideshow on a YouTube video, you go to jail. 5 years. A felony on your permanent record.

[MsRowdyRedhead]

One more very poorly written law rushed to the floor without sufficient research or consideration of the ramifications.

If the real goal is to stop pirating, this is one of the worst ways to go about it.

[mtmerrick]

Every copyright/antipiracy method EVER put in place has only made it harder to obtain legal content, thus increasing copyright violations and piracy

However, a law like this will damage America like nothing else. Under this law, as an example, there is a copyright violation in some way in practically every YouTube video. Almost eery
American who has posted a video on YouTube will be a felon under this law, including me.

This law has the potential to give a criminal record to an entire generation in one fell swoop.

[MsRowdyRedhead]

More thorough info here
http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/bipartisan-stop-online-piracy-act-spooks-the-web.php
and here
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/189999-house-members-unveil-stop-online-piracy-act

[Mahri828]

 I agree with Mtm. That bill needs to be stopped. While copyright violaters do need to be cracked down on, that violation isn't worthy of a felony; you have a felony, and you're pretty much screwed for life.

[Flipz]

I agree with Mtm. That bill needs to be stopped. While copyright violaters do need to be cracked down on, that violation isn't worthy of a felony; you have a felony, and you're pretty much screwed for life.

I agree.

Note also that this bill, if passed, would kill the "Let's Play" community, which is a MAJOR part of the YouTube and videogame community, and would also kill recorded tournaments and other gameplay videos.  Also note that, unlike current law, this bill lets the government go after violators"\ themselves--under the current law, the copyright holder has to initiate the action, so if the company itself enjoys the free publicity and encourages players to share their experiences online (i.e. Mojang with Minecraft and Valve with...well, everything it touches ), you're safe, because they won't sue you for something they want you to do.  With the government in charge of this, on the other hand...

[mtmerrick]

with this in place, well, i see youtube being shut down very quickly. ANY video posting service will quickly follow. hell, even hulu is succeptivble to this law, there's no "with permission" clause

[MsRowdyRedhead]

OK.. So what we ALL need to do is WRITE to our representatives in Washington and express our concerns. IF you are under 18, use your last name only.. "Mr Smith, Miss Smith" as they will then not be able to tell if you can vote!!
Write, and keep writing!!

[Canama]

First off, this is basically unenforceable.

If I wanted to, I could go download some games illegally right now (I would rather support the developers, of course, so I won't actually be doing this.)

Actually, ~edit for potty mouth~ I downloaded Earth Bound Zero, EarthBound, and Mother 3 a while back. Illegally.

No retribution.

At all.

If they can't enforce laws that are already in effect, they can't enforce this.


-Canama


LANGUAGE!
~MsRR

[MsRowdyRedhead]

Allowing the government to pass a bill into law that infringes so deeply on privacy rights and more is lunacy. Just because not all laws are enforced today does not justify apathy about this law. We are only a few clicks away from the day when a supercomputer can monitor every movement made on the internet, if we allow it. And when that day comes, the laws will be enforced. Why?? INCOME.

So do not go so quietly into that dark place where you give up MY freedoms because you are too lazy or apathetic to defend your own.

[Canama]

I disagree with the law. I don't think it should be passed.

But they can't enforce it if they do pass it, so frankly I'm not that worried.

-Canama

[MsRowdyRedhead]

How sad.

[Canama]

Sad that I'm not jumping on the panic train?

-Canama

[MsRowdyRedhead]

The bill will likely pass if most people your age respond as you have and do nothing.

Jefferson was dead on right.

[Canama]

If this was something they could enforce, then yes, I would be more active in my opposition. But this won't actually change a thing.

-Canama

[MsRowdyRedhead]

Allowing the government to pass a bill into law that infringes so deeply on privacy rights and more is lunacy. Just because not all laws are enforced today does not justify apathy about this law. We are only a few clicks away from the day when a supercomputer can monitor every movement made on the internet, if we allow it. And when that day comes, the laws will be enforced. Why?? INCOME.

So do not go so quietly into that dark place where you give up MY freedoms because you are too lazy or apathetic to defend your own.

[mtmerrick]

if this passes, i for one, will be looking into moving to europe. >_>

[MsRowdyRedhead]

What will you do to stop it from passing?? Besides posting here, which was a good start.