DetroitYES will go dark Jan. 18 in protest against SOPA / PIPA

[Lowell]

These bills must be stopped or sites like DetroitYES will stop. So DetroitYES is participating in this one day protest as these bills contain the potential to arbitrarily end our discussions. Please urge you federal congressmen to vote down these bills. Go to www.detroityes.com to see our statement.

Go here to view the main forum discussion threads list.

Protests against SOPA, PIPA go viral

Google, Wikipedia, Reddit, BoingBoing plan unprecedented Internet 'strike' Wednesday

By Jaikumar Vijayan
January 17, 2012 05:02 PM ET

Computerworld - In a remarkable example of a grassroots campaign gone viral, several websites including Google, Reddit, Wikipedia, BoingBoing, Imgur and Tucows, are planning an unprecedented Internet "strike" Wednesday to protest controversial anti-piracy legislation being considered by Congress.

Many of the sites plan to go completely dark on Jan 18 to show opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act [[SOPA) and the Protect IP Act [[PIPA). Google will not go dark, but plans to note its opposition by sticking a protest link on its home page.

"Like many businesses, entrepreneurs and web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet," Google said in a statement. "So tomorrow we will be joining many other tech companies to highlight this issue on our US home page."

According to Fight for the Future, one of the groups organizing the protests, nearly 12,000 websites have said they will join the blackout. That number is still growing.

full article

See also http://sopastrike.com/

[Johnnny5]

I have a feeling I'm going to get more work done tomorrow than I have in quite some time.

[antongast]

Ain't nothin' happenin'...

[Ravine]

I can't see nothin.'

Roq? Over here...!!

[jackie5275]

Still not down, oh well

[Lowell]

The protest page is on the home page www.detroityes.com also http://detroityes.com.

Clicking or entering those links in your browser will take you there.

Visiting the DetroitYES homepage redirects one to the protest page.

If you link directly this forum you may not see it. But if you arrive via link to the home page you will.

At the bottom of the protest page there is a link into the forum which will open in this thread.

Our intention is to make the threat known but not stop the discussion.

[Novine]

I contacted my representative stating my opposition to SOPA and PIPA. Does anyone know how Senators Levin and Stabenow stand on the legislation?

[Dent]

%100 in support of the protest, for the reasons stated, as well as for other's not stated. The internet need to remain free and open unencumbered by these sort of actions by the nanny state.

[Dent]

B-zeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

[Ravine]

Lame. Some protest. No Stars.

[rb336]

I contacted my representative stating my opposition to SOPA and PIPA. Does anyone know how Senators Levin and Stabenow stand on the legislation?

both are undeclared, which makes it vital that we let them know. Easy way to do so:

http://www.opencongress.org/wiki/Pro...ate_whip_count

[old guy]

I agree, this is an important topic and I hope people look into what's going on.

[coracle]

I contacted my representative stating my opposition to SOPA and PIPA. Does anyone know how Senators Levin and Stabenow stand on the legislation?

I'm sure that being Democrats they'll be both FOR and AGAINST the policy depending on who's asking the question; and if it goes to a vote they will vote they way they are instructed.

[Danny]

What does U.S. Congress becoming Communist China all the sudden? If SOPA/PIPA passes our Internet will become "website speakeasies!" Imagine No more Detroityes, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Trendingnews, Google plus, Wikipedia, Wikileaks and many more. To me SOPA/PIPA act is unconstitutional. It violates the first amendment of the Bill of Rights. The big reason the SOPA/PIPA bill was proposed is get the music, TV, and movies corporations the upperhand and get customers to buy their products here and now from their sources. This would be the end of partial internet piracy! Rise up my social network brothers and sisters. The Internet is free not a priviledge!

[Scottathew]

I didn't know DetroitYes had a homepage, I've been linking directly to the forums for nearly two years!

Lowell, thanks for voicing your opinion on SOPA. I most certainly agree with you.

[fryar]

Right on, Lowell.

[Danny]

I have been watching ABC miniseries 'AMERIKA'. These people in the New Soviet occupied America felt that their certian freedoms,liberties, media and communication had been taken away and replaced by western block communist nations where no there is no escape. This is just like the SOPA/PIPA Bill can do our a greatest treasure in the world, the internet! Save the World Wide Web Americans. Freedom of information must be free.

Give the Internet or give me death!

[Danny]

This is truly an act of information war from the 1%. If the 1% want a war they got one. The 99% will win. 'Rise now' said Guy Fawkes!

[Gorath]

I found this list;

U.S. Senators sponsoring the PIPA bill:
Amy Klobuchar [[D-Minn.)
John Cornyn [[R-Texas)
Chris Coons [[D-Dela.).

U.S. Representatives sponsoring the SOPA bill:
Lamar Smith [[R-TX) [house.gov]
John Conyers [[D-MI) [house.gov]
Bob Goodlatte [[R-VA) [house.gov]
Howard L. Berman [[D-CA) [house.gov]
Tim Griffin [[R-AR) [house.gov]
Elton Gallegly [[R-CA) [house.gov]
Theodore E. Deutch [[D-FL) [house.gov]
Steve Chabot [[R-OH) [house.gov]
Dennis Ross [[R-FL) [house.gov]
Marsha Blackburn [[R-TN) [house.gov]
Mary Bono Mack [[R-CA) [house.gov]
Lee Terry [[R-NE) [house.gov]
Adam B. Schiff [[D-CA) [house.gov]
Mel Watt [[D-NC) [house.gov]
John Carter [[R-TX) [house.gov]
Karen Bass [[D-CA) [house.gov]
Debbie Wasserman Schultz [[D-FL) [house.gov]
Peter King [[R-NY) [house.gov]
Mark E. Amodei [[R-NV) [house.gov]
Tom Marino [[R-PA) [house.gov]
Alan Nunnelee [[R-MS) [house.gov]
John Barrow [[D-GA) [house.gov]
Steve Scalise [[R-LA) [house.gov]
Ben Ray Luján [[D-NM) [house.gov]
William L. Owens [[D-NY) [house.gov]

[1953]

I don't see what the big deal is about this bill. So the government is trying to enforce copyright laws in the place where they are widely and openly violated?

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Kudos to Lowell, once again

[antongast]

I don't see what the big deal is about this bill. So the government is trying to enforce copyright laws in the place where they are widely and openly violated?

In addition to all the problems with this bill that are frequently pointed out [[look them up if you're legitimately curious), I'm not sure I understand why copyright violations constitute a pressing policy problem in 2012. Obviously intellectual property needs to be protected, and ending copyright entirely is a bad idea, but perfect enforcement isn't really a feasible or desirable goal. There is lots of new intellectual property being created, and lots of content creators are making unprecedented piles of money from their content, and clamping down more and more on copyright violations seems to me like it's just going to be a massive expenditure of public resources on a war that is a) unwinnable and b) if won, would pretty much just help incumbent content owners make more money. I'm not convinced that expending resources on even stricter copyright enforcement than we already have is really in the public interest at this point.

[1953]

Antongast...you said something I thought about earlier: why is this a pressing policy matter today? It doesn't really seem to be. I think its perfectly reasonable to expect that intellectual copyright law is respected online, though its not what we have grown accustomed to. Still, its just not something anyone in Washington should be bothering with right now. That said, this is a pluralist society and if someone decides to propose such a bill, anytime, they are more than allowed to do so. I would hope the bill gets set aside to work on other, more significant matters [[can anyone say jobs, debt, or war?), but if it passes, it would just be an extension of the law into the web. It would not be the end of the world and any part of it that can be struck down as unconstitutional will be, quickly.

[Wesley Mouch]

Antongast...you said something I thought about earlier: why is this a pressing policy matter today? It doesn't really seem to be. I think its perfectly reasonable to expect that intellectual copyright law is respected online, though its not what we have grown accustomed to. Still, its just not something anyone in Washington should be bothering with right now. That said, this is a pluralist society and if someone decides to propose such a bill, anytime, they are more than allowed to do so. I would hope the bill gets set aside to work on other, more significant matters [[can anyone say jobs, debt, or war?), but if it passes, it would just be an extension of the law into the web. It would not be the end of the world and any part of it that can be struck down as unconstitutional will be, quickly.

This is pressing today because some buggy whip manufacturers want to make it illegal to drive cars today.

I do hope you're right -- that if its passed, it would be struck down quickly.

The laws and their ideas make sense in a non-internet world, but don't apply well to the internet. High penalties for violations, where violations are defined very broadly will stifle lots of good behavior, and won't do anything to stop piracy.

To a great degree, this is the RIAA [[record industry) trying to put a genie back into a bottle, instead of innovating. Until recently, there were no good ways to even purchase music online. Did the RIAA create it? No. They stonewalled, sued mothers, and bribed legislators. It took Apple to realize that people WANT TO PAY for music, if given a reasonable way to do so.

This battle has little to do with copyright, and lots to do with control and loss of revenues by some dinosaurs.

End of rant.

Semper fi, detroityes.com

[Coaccession]

Bravo, Lowell and Nicolas Boileau!

News reports say Congress feels the heat, and is seeing the light.