211–220 of 294 posts
The answer is no, people who say yes are wrong. You black out your website to raise awareness to the cause. I think it is a fair bet that an extremely high number of HN users know a lot about SOPA / PIPA. So there is no point doing this to educate regulars. Perhaps news will spread. Sure, it will spread in the tech community. In the tech community knowledge of SOPA / PIPA is well known. Shock waves from HN being blac…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The world doesn't give a toss or have an iota of awareness about HN. Blacking out HN would be like switching off your computer in the privacy of your own home. Nobody knows or cares. All that would achieve is to remove an important vector for communication and information spread in the tech community.
I'm English and would be annoyed if a site I used vanished for a reason that is nothing to do with me. You don't like what your govt is doing, vote it out.
The UK have been trying to pass a load of crazy crap like this. If the US pass it then we will follow.
This is why everyone should be protesting against regardless of your geographical location, unless you want a web in which every country sees different.
No because anyone who already reads HN already knows SOPA. The only thing that will be effective is if sites that normal non-tech people visit go dark.
Making a public stand isn't just about using shock-and-awe to create an educational moment. It's also about making headlines and showing solidarity. Despite the fact that the majority of HN readers already know about SOPA, I think it's an excellent idea for these other reasons. It might also be an opportunity to get some of us off our butts and use the time we spend reading HN each day to call our representatives in…
So you think that HN being off for a few hours will make headlines in the worlds newspapers and on the main TV channels? Maybe as an "some tech websites were also offline [and nothing important was lost]" or maybe even (given the quality of some press) "other illegal hacking sites were down in protest against the bill".
I don't have a representative in congress but nonetheless expect congress is already pushing a similar law for my country.
I find the idea lacks any force as a demonstration.
The answer is no, people who say yes are wrong. You black out your website to raise awareness to the cause. I think it is a fair bet that an extremely high number of HN users know a lot about SOPA / PIPA. So there is no point doing this to educate regulars. Perhaps news will spread. Sure, it will spread in the tech community. In the tech community knowledge of SOPA / PIPA is well known. Shock waves from HN being blac…
Sopa only content instead of blackout
Because the site isn't geocentric or political enough yet?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The world doesn't give a toss or have an iota of awareness about HN. Blacking out HN would be like switching off your computer in the privacy of your own home. Nobody knows or cares. All that would achieve is to remove an important vector for communication and information spread in the tech community.
I'm English and would be annoyed if a site I used vanished for a reason that is nothing to do with me. You don't like what your govt is doing, vote it out.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Say someone posts a link to a website that shows a technical description of how to crack some form of DRM, which is something a good portion of the HN audience would be interested in. One of the companies that use that DRM could get HN shut down.
I don't see how. The meat of SOPA is sections 102 and 103. Section 102 only applies to foreign sites so is not applicable. Section 103 applies to any site, foreign or domestic, that is a site "dedicated to the theft of US property". What it means to be "dedicated to the theft of US property" is defined in 103(a)(1), and can be found here at loc.gov: http://tinyurl.com/3lvuqc4 (I used tinyurl.com because the real URL…
The problem with SOPA is not so much what it'd accomplish if everyone used it with decent knowledge and in good faith, though there are issues with that too.
The biggest problem is largely what it enables people who act in bad faith or out of downright stupidity to achieve by shifting the burdens of proof and reducing judicial safeguards, while protecting these same people against any significant risks.
The answer is no, people who say yes are wrong. You black out your website to raise awareness to the cause. I think it is a fair bet that an extremely high number of HN users know a lot about SOPA / PIPA. So there is no point doing this to educate regulars. Perhaps news will spread. Sure, it will spread in the tech community. In the tech community knowledge of SOPA / PIPA is well known. Shock waves from HN being blac…