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The next SOPA

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Re: The next SOPA

#81

Post by iamandrus »

cbs wrote: post #65
iamandrus wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has draconian restrictions on stuff like iOS for the user's sake (and for Apple's partially), and with the huge amount of users they obviously got that right. I'm not entirely sure what Apple's stance on SOPA is (I heard they supported it, but then I heard they didn't), but I don't think it would matter to them. They don't need to sue for piracy because they have the iTunes Store, which only distributes content…

Apple has draconian restrictions on stuff like iOS for the user's sake If its for my sake, why must they treat me like a child and not let me choose to have them remove that restriction on my device?

No one is making you use iOS.

Re: The next SOPA

#82

Post by TheSOB88 »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #74
TheSOB88 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand your points at all - and your last sentence sounds ironic. Should I be taking you at face value? Anyways, your 3rd party situation has one pitfall: how would it get into power? The 2 party system's devisors have us beat; nobody believes an independent can even get elected. There's an enormous barrier to entry.

No not intended to be ironic, just badly worded. What I meant was that I am surprised how important campaign contributions are in an age where it is fairly cheap to get your message across online and get people talking. After all the London riots were an example (albeit not a pleasant one) of how social networking etc can very quickly get people to take action. Hopefully you could get enough contributions from privat…

It's not that the media "tells" you that; though they do. But that's just a reflection of the current state of mind of the populace. People "know" this "fact", that a 3rd partier basically has no chance. I mean, look at Ron Paul. He's completely different from the normal Republican; by all rights he should have been in a separate party. But he wouldn't have gone very far with that. He had to stick with the big party to see it through. The problem is that Republicans and Democrats just have too much power. They have critical mass, and nobody else does.

Re: The next SOPA

#83

Post by MarkTraceur »

Also, rather than supporting the MPAA/RIAA industry, try checking out the Blender Foundation, Jamendo, and similar sites that stream or support free content that is licensed under Creative Commons licenses.

And of course, since software is as big an issue as creative content, it should be said that the FSF is having a donation drive currently: https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom

Re: The next SOPA

#84

Post by mrdingle »

snowwrestler wrote: post #40

But I like to watch movies. I think a lot of movies are great--great enough to pay for them. Why should I shoot myself in the foot to keep someone else from shooting me in the foot? This idea that the root cause of all bad legislation is political donations: it's wrong, and not supported by the data. The vast majority of political donations are made by people who are not lobbyists. No one raised more political money…

"Why should I shoot myself in the foot to keep someone else from shooting me in the foot?"

Because sometimes democracy is harder than just doing what you want to do.

"This idea that the root cause of all bad legislation is political donations: it's wrong, and not supported by the data."

Of course bad legislation has no root cause, but money surely contributes. $94MM in contributions last year focused on one issue.

"No one raised more political money in the history of this nation than Barack Obama during his presidential campaign"

I think you're confusing raising campaign money with taking political donations and going out to thousand dollar meals with lobbyists.

"The tech industry, particularly on the Internet entrepreneurial side, has long prided itself on staying out of Washington."

No we haven't, but we've certainly been busy working and trying to ignore it. Plus, they never really came after us directly before.

"IP law is not a winnable war. It is an ongoing negotiation that must be managed forever."

Thats a terribly lazy reason to not protest something. We give them power through direct consumer spending. One great way to reduce that power is to educate each other about where our dollars go.

Re: The next SOPA

#85

Post by cbs »

iamandrus wrote: post #81
cbs wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has draconian restrictions on stuff like iOS for the user's sake If its for my sake, why must they treat me like a child and not let me choose to have them remove that restriction on my device?

No one is making you use iOS.

I don't. I'd like to, but thats the reason I don't.

If something done for my own good drives me to another product, what does that say about if it is actually for my own good? Thats my problem with the GP's post.

Re: The next SOPA

#86

Post by groupthink »

thebigshane wrote: post #68
thebigshane wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We (I'm speaking for the entire internet community, which is probably a bad thing to do) could also stop pirating as well. I mean it would be really something if everyone halved their entertainment budget and halved their "illegal downloads/sharing". That would be a significant message as well. It wouldn't be very easy to convince Joe SixPack, but it might be easier than true campaign finance reform.

Am I really being downvoted for suggesting people stop pirating?

It seems to me that this solution simply isn't going to work- similar to asking criminals to stop stealing cars/ murdering people.

Re: The next SOPA

#87

Post by kiba »

snowwrestler wrote: post #40

But I like to watch movies. I think a lot of movies are great--great enough to pay for them. Why should I shoot myself in the foot to keep someone else from shooting me in the foot? This idea that the root cause of all bad legislation is political donations: it's wrong, and not supported by the data. The vast majority of political donations are made by people who are not lobbyists. No one raised more political money…

The U.S. government is participatory. It will respond to citizen wishes, but only if citizens actively and continuously make their wishes known.

It is an opportunity cost for industries to be spending their money on lobbying instead of spending their money on R&D that will benefit society. Industries or citizens should not have to be constantly talking to representative in Washington to make sure that they will not do anything wrong when they're not looking.

The U.S. government may be participatory but only the one that shouts the loudest get heard.

Re: The next SOPA

#88

Post by sounds »

snowwrestler wrote: post #40

But I like to watch movies. I think a lot of movies are great--great enough to pay for them. Why should I shoot myself in the foot to keep someone else from shooting me in the foot? This idea that the root cause of all bad legislation is political donations: it's wrong, and not supported by the data. The vast majority of political donations are made by people who are not lobbyists. No one raised more political money…

I disagree. IP law is a new term, so why not frame the debate around the original ones?

Copyright and patents have the U.S. Constitution to back them, but copyright has been diverted to serve large media companies -- through copyright term extensions that are frankly unreasonable.

Ideas are not property. Piracy is not theft. Copying and hacking should not be de facto crimes. Copyright should not be retroactively extended to re-copyright works that entered the public domain.

That doesn't make me extreme. To the contrary, it hilights the extreme political stance of the large media companies. I'll pick one as an example:

Rupert Murdoch, Jan 14, 2012:

"""So Obama has thrown in his lot withSilicon Valley paymasters who threaten allsoftware creators with piracy, plain thievery."

"Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them.No wonder pouring millions into lobbying."""

Re: The next SOPA

#89

Post by dlokshin »

You can think about this as a campaign finance problem or as a federal politicians have too much power problem. You don't have campaign finance as a problem if lobbying doesn't do these companies any good.

Re: The next SOPA

#90

Post by techiferous »

snowwrestler wrote: post #40

But I like to watch movies. I think a lot of movies are great--great enough to pay for them. Why should I shoot myself in the foot to keep someone else from shooting me in the foot? This idea that the root cause of all bad legislation is political donations: it's wrong, and not supported by the data. The vast majority of political donations are made by people who are not lobbyists. No one raised more political money…

> seeking common ground, and compromising

> negotiation

This. Realizing that the other side is not the devil and has legitimate interests of their own, even if they are clumsy in communicating them or harmful in their actions.

Viewing the other side as evil is lazy. Coming to authentic, common ground is very hard work.

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