The real problem is, that the US has no real democracy. When the government did something similar to SOPA in Germany, the "Piraten Partei" got more votes and the bigger parties rethought their plans because of this.
But small parties do not have a chance in the US system.
The next SOPA
161–170 of 173 posts
Re: The next SOPA
#162We finally have the initiative. These last years we just reacted to bad laws trying to prevent or at least weaken them. Now we have finally a voice.
Let's make this victory a durable one and let's propose a constitutional amendment so that such laws can never ever be brought back again.
Re: The next SOPA
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
Campaign finance reform and biased media coverage are different beasts entirely. Murdoch owns Fox whether corporations are people or not, and he loves your disparaged argument. Besides, I'd rather be lied to in the face by the news that have my senators bought and sold behind closed doors. Also, all of the plan you propose is already happening. It's called the creative process. I bet a large portion, if not the major…
I may be wrong, but I think his point is: even if they couldn't bribe politicians, they still could blackmail them with bad coverage.
That's true, or reward them with good coverage.
Here in the UK we actually have rules that say that TV news shows must remain non partisan. Of course people still accuse them of bias, but they are nothing like Fox news.
I imagine the 1st amendment would prevent a similar thing happening in the US.
Our newspapers however are often extremely partisan however and Murdoch still has much influence here through "The Sun" paper.
I guess with more content online , people could do something similar. "I have 100,000 followers, don't pass SOPA or I'll make a mean youtube video about you".
Re: The next SOPA
#164> we’re not addressing the real problem: the MPAA’s buying power in Congress. This is a campaign finance problem. This is delusional at best. I'm from France, where campaigns are paid for by public money. France: the country that brought you Hadopi and where SOPA-like laws have been in place for a long time. This has nothing to do with campaign finance.
What do you think is the source of the problem in France?
Maybe the way money influences politics is more so a problem here. I do think it is a stretch to say it is completely irrelevant, because it seems clear that it isn't.
Re: The next SOPA
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're doing a pretty decent job of convincing an entire generation that locked-down, manufacturer-controlled computing is good. I've spent 20 years playing tech support to friends and family who have accidentally fubar'd their open computing devices. IME that has done far more to convince folks that locked-down, manufacturer-controlled computing is good moreso than anything Apple's done. The conflict is framed as "…
Totally agree. I used to think that yes, Apple makes neat things, but it's still evil because it locks us down. But consider, for example, how trivial it is to install OS X on a PC. There certainly are many ways Apple could go to prevent that, but they don't and will even give away updates for such installations. This makes me think that Apple has consciously made its top priority delivering the smooth experience and…
True to a point, although I think this is a but of a false dichotomy. I'm not 100% sure having to do slightly less tech support is really worth the cost of giving one company complete control of our computing experiences anyway.
For years the most common cause of people's computer issues was a combination of the terrible security or MS operating systems circa Windows 95 - XP and overly complex programs with badly designed UIs.
I'm sure it is possible to create a platform where one can install whatever software you like but not run a huge risk of malware. For example you can run applications in a sandbox which will stop them from damaging the system. Applications would then only be able to break out by exploiting the OS itself, so you build it on top of something like OpenBSD.
Re: The next SOPA
#166I'm surprised Marco didn't mention the most empirically effective alternative - make our own legislative investments. Where is the tech industry lobbying firm? Are the industry leaders like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook pumping money into it? Obviously this is a short term solution that ends up making the root problem - money's influence in politics - worse. But sometimes you have to pick between the lesser of…
That's a dangerous game.
Once you've convinced Google and Facebook to start lobbying and they realize they like it and it is effective what happens next time congress thinks about changing laws on say privacy?
Re: The next SOPA
#167This is why we need to find a technological solution that will make future legislation infeasible or impossible. We need a decentralized DNS and total encryption of the internet.
I don't see how encryption would help here, it's only really useful as a way to prevent some forms of snooping, it couldn't really be used to get around a block.
If DNS was decentralized they would just do the blocking on an IP address level.
Re: The next SOPA
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Totally agree. I used to think that yes, Apple makes neat things, but it's still evil because it locks us down. But consider, for example, how trivial it is to install OS X on a PC. There certainly are many ways Apple could go to prevent that, but they don't and will even give away updates for such installations. This makes me think that Apple has consciously made its top priority delivering the smooth experience and…
True to a point, although I think this is a but of a false dichotomy. I'm not 100% sure having to do slightly less tech support is really worth the cost of giving one company complete control of our computing experiences anyway. For years the most common cause of people's computer issues was a combination of the terrible security or MS operating systems circa Windows 95 - XP and overly complex programs with badly des…
So you can avoid security problems without complete control, but you also mentioned the UI, and it is just one part of the overall experience.
E.g., today most people don't really differentiate parts of their experience defined by the OS from those defined by application makers. So you have to control the ways your users install software, if you want users to not hate your product because of some crappy app.
To be honest, I doubt that without such complete control there would exist a computer / tablet I could recommend to, say, my non-technical mother, and be more or less sure that she won't hate all computer-related things afterwards.
Re: The next SOPA
#169"Eventually, we will lose."
That's such a pessimistic statement. With that attitude, some SOPA-like Bill will pass. As an example, if MLK had that attitude, the whole Civil Rights movement would've failed.
Re: The next SOPA
#170I'm pleased to say I despise Hollywood movies and give these studios no money whatsoever. If only the public developed good sense and taste.