Yeah I was reading about that. It's bound to make people even more angry rather than solve anything.

It's because Anonymous is always half-cocked, and they're always looking for excuses to retaliate, even if it's not actually in the best interest of the cause they claim to support.

Nonetheless, if they turn into the banner-bearers for Freedom if things kick off into a two-sided global issue, I'll be on their side.

Well the war begins,hackers have taken down the FBI site and their files alongside some other critical american sites,becouse they shut down Megaupload.They also threaten to steal all the possible money from america and give it out to charity. GO HACKERS GO!
Also strangely the hacker group is called Anonymous.

You're quite new to this issue, aren't you?

EDIT: That's not supposed to sound condescending.

Probably does though.

I think the tone works well in this case.

Anyway. Just because things are shit it doesn't mean they're not getting better.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/propublica/a...pera-count.png

And there we go.

Welllp, that settles that. *Folds arms*

Oop, guys from megaupload in court today, when will the gouvernment realise they cant stop it?

Not gone, just postponed. I’ll bet they try again.

There's so much redtape in congress that when something is postponed or tabled, it's almost the same as being dropped completely.

They're too busy getting their five a day from pizza.

The government is too stupid to realise that they cant stop it :/ .............

The government isn't stupid if it they cancelled/postponed it.

Also, if this bill originated in the US, will this affect everywhere else in the world? And do other governments agree with this? Such as here in New Zealand, our government has to agree with the bill if it is going to affect their country, right. So if it went through, it would only affect the US, unless other governments agreed with it?

I meant that the government is stupid becouse they think they can end piracy.

Yeah, theyve got no chance

The government sometimes thinks it is all powerful but there are so many things it cannot stop.1.Piracy 2.Shoplifting 3.Angry mobs

Not really. They're going to try again. They'll water it down enough that it's still shit, but not shit enough that it's obvious to the congresspeople. Then they'll try again.

It affects businesses and websites located outside the US, because they can be blocked from being accessed by the world's biggest economy. And foreign sites have even less recourse to appeal blockings.

I really think that governments around the world should have called in their US ambassadors and criticised this bill.

It wont happen. And if it did? I'm pretty sure the US public wouldn't let it slide, whether its protest or massive riots.

Actually it happens all the time. There's always a bill before congress asking for the censorship/control of some major media outlet. The only reason this one got so much press is because it was especially egregious and had gained an unusually large amount of support.

And because the subset of society that had most to lose also had the capability of getting its message out there. Sadly, that's rarely true of other bills.

yeah. like, totally, dude. totally. they'll riot and shit. no need to move my fat arse from this chair, 'cause someone'll riot for me. sweet, baby.

Sweet Babies are in the other thread.

One of my Facebook friends remarked that he wished there was even half the amount of protest for NDAA that there was for SOPA. I pointed out to him that SOPA's a far more palpable issue because it deals with the media, then bills like NDAA are sneaked through the backdoor while everyone's rallying to protect their rights to pirate.

Only the tallest rubberneckers caught a glimpse of NDAA, and unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot they could do about it before Obama passed it.

YOU'RE a sweet baby.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationa...scal_Year_2012

Here to help.

I was actually very happy to hear that some significant last-minute changes were made to the bill after the Senate initially threw it out. I was just about ready to pack my bags if both NDAA and SOPA had passed as they were.

A few of my friends are still up in arms about NDAA, and insist the wording is still vague enough to be considered unconstitutional. I haven't been arsed to look into what they were talking about.

Although not unexpected, the Pirate Bay published a press release on their website regarding SOPA and PIPA. I don't really like that as it reinforces the idea that the only consequence of this bill will be pirating websites like the Pirate Bay shut down, rather censoring any website that makes reference to the aforementioned.

I found it amusing that they claim they are just a form of competition to the movie, music and software industries.

They are, though? If two groups offer the same product, they are competing. The fact piracy doesn’t cost money hardly changes that.

although I find the title slightly exaggerated, I still think Bill Maher is full of shit. it often seems obvious that he isn't informed well, but uses his smattering to feel validated.

another example would be his interview with Geert Wilders in Religulous, unfortunately I can't find the extract on the internet.

Bill Maher is a prick. I used to think he was the bee's nipples when I was like 14 and full of angst, but now I just think he's an ill-informed, cocksure contrarian.

Hey, was Microsoft supporting this bill?

No. You're thinking of Bill Gates.

To back up Phylum: No, they weren’t.

Okay, just asking. It would have made sense.

A lot of people who download stuff would never have bought it in the first place. Many people just download all new movie releases and watch them, somewhat enjoying them, but would not have bought them if they were in the store and limited by the money in their pocket. That's the difference. So I wouldn't say it's direct competition.

Also the MPAA is either getting desperate or getting frustrated, but they have publicly threatened to pull campaign funding for some politicians if they don't back the MPAA's ideas and bills. They basically admitted to bribery in public and there's a petition to the White House to investigate Chris Dodd and the MPAA in these matters. Sign it here. If the numbers get high enough the white house can't simply ignore it, which would mean another big blow against the MPAA and their influence in Washington.

As with SOPA and PIPA, I think people who support these kind of motions have no idea of the gravity of what they're actually doing. We've already seen the results of giving this kind of power to companies with the pulling of barely related videos from YouTube, etc. Enabling them to do this from basically anywhere they choose is a terrible, terrible idea.

Anyone who understands this, and then does not immediately oppose it, is barely a person but a spineless worm. It faults a lot of human principles, at least for this country. If I wanted to live in a place like China, I'd take a plane.

That's what you get when money can buy a government. The sad thing is that it's pretty much public knowledge that every important person in Washington is being backed up by some sort of large company and that nothing is being done about it. American government is as corrupt as it can possibly get.