PIPA & SOPA: share your thoughts and opinions

[Kyle]

I was wondering what the community has running through minds regarding PIPA & SOPA.

Some background on WIKI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act

I think as visual artists/VJs we should be aware of this issue and how it pertains to us. The work of a VJ can be sampled or self created. Either we use other peoples work through sampling or we create our own work. For some there's the method of blatantly ripping/pirating others endeavors for their own use and abuse for personal gain whether its financial or not.

Share your thoughts with the community.

[alfaleader]

I think the internet should never be regulated/censored by any government.

But with 2 exceptions: terrorism (serious risk for the national security) and child porn.

The copyright stuff is stupid, people will always find a way to download pirated stuff.

[sleepytom]

That should be "share you thoughts with this community, whilst you still can"

It is very likely that many discussions on VJForums would fall under one or other of these bills (discussion of how to rip dvds, sample TV or download pop culture samples would fall under these bills. Even discussion of projection mapping techniques would possibly result in the site being shut down)

As we do not physically own the servers of VJF we could be shut down without notice by our ISP. Or we could be forced to shut down the site by US authorities putting pressure on the moderators / admins. Or we could just be blacklisted making the site impossible to view from inside the USA.

If you have ever learnt anything by using the web, then please oppose these bills in anyway you can, if your a US resident then write to your congressman and tell him to oppose the bill. If your not a US resident then consider writing anyway. Wherever you are consider joining in with direct action and protests organised by Anonymous et al.

VJF will most likely close down if these bills are passed. Act now to protect our collective knowledge.

[MoRpH]

I whole heartedly agree with Tom

[Yuckfou157]

Stupid thing is that closing down one channel for downloading stuff will lead to two others to pop up where you can go on...
the closing down of megaupload for example, how many others like them are there? dozens if not hundreds, and it won't work because for every measure there will be a counter measure, the old system is crumbeling down and the people who want to control it are way behind to get any of this...

[DMTrancefur]

They are already flexing their muscles and it has not been made law yet. Extraditing that lad Richard O'Dwyerin the UK (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-16544335) when the US major media corporations did exactly the same thing. Is complete BS and anyone who has ever downloaded something illegally should be shitting themselves, while rolling around on the floor laughing at the absurdity of it all.. (I'm Taking the Insanity defence)

Annoying in the same way as a infomercial but worth a watch.Sopa and Pipa Horror Story

Also while they are attacking our virtual freedom, they are also striping us of any rights we may have once thought we had back in the real world. Make's me sick, have kid's and their future looks pretty bleak, unless I get off my arse and fix the whole planet. Where the #$@#@$%&!!!!!! do I start???

Kind of up to us what kind of world we want to live in, we are the remote controllers. Art is probably the one thing that can save us so create, and if someone copies your stuff be thankful, as it's one of the highest form of flattery. If they Patent it though, go for the Jugular.

[stickygreen]

Here : http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/two_lessons_from_the_megaupload_seizure/
is a good article on the PIPA/SOPA issue, and how it really isn't relevant. the powers that be, will do as they wish..

[Kyle]

shared from Paul Stevenson (http://www.facebook.com/jamamono) via Facebook

How Much Do Music and Movie Piracy Really Hurt the U.S. Economy?



http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/01/12/how-much-do-music-and-movie-piracy-really-hurt-the-u-s-economy/

http://www.freakonomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/internetpiracy.jpg

Supporters of stronger intellectual property enforcement — such as those behind the proposed new Stop Online Piracy Act (http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/112%20HR%203261.pdf) (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (http://leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BillText-PROTECTIPAct.pdf) (PIPA) bills in Congress — argue that online piracy is a huge problem, one which costs the U.S. economy between $200 and $250 billion per year, and is responsible for the loss of 750,000 American jobs.
These numbers seem truly dire: a $250 billion per year loss would be almost $800 for every man, woman, and child in America. And 750,000 jobs – that’s twice the number of those employed in the entire motion picture industry in 2010.
The good news is that the numbers are wrong — as this post by the Cato Institute’s Julian Sanchez explains (http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/how-copyright-industries-con-congress/). In 2010, the Government Accountability Office released a report (http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-423) noting that these figures “cannot be substantiated or traced back to an underlying data source or methodology,” which is polite government-speak for “these figures were made up out of thin air.”
More recently, a smaller estimate — $58 billion – was produced by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI). But that IPI estimate, as both Sanchez and tech journalist Tim Lee have pointed out (http://techliberation.com/2006/10/01/texas-size-sophistry/), is replete with methodological problems, including double- and triple-counting, that swell the estimate of piracy losses considerably.
So what’s the real number? At this point, we simply don’t know. And this leads us to a second problem: one which is not so much about data, as about actual economic effects. There are certainly a lot of people who download music and movies without paying. It’s clear that, at least in some cases, piracy substitutes for a legitimate transaction — for example, a person who would have bought the DVD of the new Kate Beckinsale vampire film (who is that, actually?) but instead downloads it for free on Bit Torrent. In other cases, the person pirating the movie or song would never have bought it. This is especially true if the consumer lives in a relatively poor country, like China, and is simply unable to afford to pay for the films and music he downloads.
Do we count this latter category of downloads as “lost sales”? Not if we’re honest.
And there’s another problem: even in the instances where Internet piracy results in a lost sale, how does that lost sale affect the job market? While jobs may be lost in the movie or music industry, they might be created in another. Money that a pirate doesn’t spend on movies and songs is almost certain to be spent elsewhere. Let’s say it gets spent on skateboards — the same dollar lost by Sony Pictures may be gained by Alien Workshop, a company that makes skateboards.
As Mark Twain once wrote, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. However true that may be in general, statistics can be particularly tricky when they are used to assess the effects of IP piracy. Unlike stealing a car, copying a song doesn’t necessarily inflict a tangible loss on another. Estimating that loss requires counterfactual assumptions about what the world would have been like if the piracy had never happened — and, no surprise, those most affected tend to assume the worst.

[visualove]

Thanks DMTrancefur - each country worldwide should oppose ACTA: the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

http://www.eff.org/issues/acta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement

SOPA and PIPA will be back in the USA, hope they can be changed to be rational. The setback simply means legislators can raise more campaign funds from supporters and opponents.

[032981]

SOPA, PIPA and other legislation is only using piracy as a front to control the power of the internet. The noose will slowly get tighter.

Concerning Megaupload, All they do is store ones and zeros. The powers that be do not have a fair case against them as far as I know. The analogy is if a mini storage warehouse is renting a 10' x 16' locker and they use it for something illegal you should shut down the entire warehouse/business.

I did write my representatives. One is already against, the other sent me a long form letter full of BS. I think it's funny I tell him my thoughts about how he should represent me and he tells me I'm wrong. What a guy!

[vjrei]

I remember that without internet I was more creative, I had more friends and life was more natural. What ever to keep me off the internet and keep everybody else away is good.

I know the two are meant for greedy corporations but the social outcome would be a bless.

Imagine you creating your out content and sharing it without worry of being stolen unless you want to give it away.

Today there is not sense in being a musician because anybody can find anything on the web and use it for free.

To be honest, the outcome would be good. Again, I am not agreed with the punishments of the laws and the actual enforcement, I am concer more about the form.

[many2]

I remember that without internet I was more creative, I had more friends and life was more natural. What ever to keep me off the internet and keep everybody else away is good.


This sounds a lot like what Exhale (the founder of this forum) said before quitting VJforums for good.

Strange how you say the same thing after coming back here !
(btw, this is just meant to be a funny post - I am not attacking you or telling you to go away)

[MoRpH]

OK Now ACTA is the real problem, and since it was news in Aust almost 12 months ago, we saw this coming and the worst thing is the Aust public has done practically nothing compared to what the Americans did to stop PIPA & SOPA.