U.S. Companies/ISPs Gearing Up for SOPA/PIPA/ACTA's Big Brother

Remember when I was freaking out over ACTA? Well get ready to piss your freshly changed pants, because I think this one's gonna top all three of the precedents.

Full article here.

As I understand it, this is the companies attempting to do what the government failed to do with SOPA and PIPA. There are a few key differences, though. First off, this isn't censorship; it's downright spying. ISPs will monitor all user traffic and will potentially be able to reduce your bandwidth or outright lock you out of the internet if you don't jump through some hoops, and even then, you could still have a lawsuit levied against you. Second, this is not a bill, an amendment, anything like that; it's a policy being enacted by the RIAA/MPAA and participating ISPs, which if you view the full article includes pretty much every major ISP in the U.S. In other words, it's endeavoring to step right over the government.

Awareness and opposition are low, perhaps lower than for ACTA. Please, if you support privacy and transparency on the internet, or even if you support the companies' efforts and simply recognize that they're taking it way too far, do something about it! I found a petition here, but given the low number of signatures something tells me it's not the only one. Please post any relevant information/additional reading you have, every little bit helps. Of course anyone with a more informed opinion is welcome; my level of involvement is still at the "reading news articles and being freaked out" stage, so if anyone's beyond that point, they can probably explain it better than I can.

 

Why the hell does it have to take place on my damn 18th birthday? D8<
Looks like I wont be looking forward to it this year :/
I don't mind the whole "agree not to download copyrighted material" sense I rarely download anything but this is still not helping :P

 

Don't you just love it when these idiots can't get it though their thick skulls that this isn't going to fly?

Really now, this is just becoming ridiculous. They are obviously not people who use the internet on a regular basis, and imo you should just leave the governing of the internet to those who actually know what they're doing.

I stand by my thoughts that 95% of adults are idiots.

 

Like all of the others, this isn't going to pass. Look how hard they worked on the others, and they all failed. Why can't they just accept defeat and learn that what they're doing is wrong. Keep dealing with copyright issues like they have been.

Also, even if it does work out, I don't think many of us will have to worry. According to some comments I was reading on FFShrine, they have to make a selection of what to go after, which would be high-selling stuff, such as Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber, but not things that aren't high-sellers, such as video game OSTs.

 

You didn't read the thread, did you? It doesn't have to pass anything. This is not a bill, it's a policy, independent of the government. The procedure is going to be different. I hope that petitions will still help, and I assume they will be aimed at pushing the government to intervene on the users' behalf. Congress was pressured into action once before; here's hoping it can be again.

No matter who gets burned, is it fair?

 

Yes, I agree. It will probably end up failing again.

Also, no, it's not fair to anyone, but I think that's better than it being on anything.

 

And my expectations were met

"Word of the start date has been largely kept secret since ISPs announced their plans last June. The deal was brokered by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and coordinated by the Obama Administration. The same groups have weighed in heavily on controversial Internet policies around the world, with similar facilitation by the Obama’s Administration’s State Department."

Of course the big buck companies want to screw up everyone else's fun. They need more money, even though they put out how many million-dollar budget movies and big selling albums every year without fail.

And I might be wrong, but isn't spying on our country's own people against our country's own constitutional rights? (correct me otherwise, I don't have it readily at hand).

Still, I hold the belief that it won't last. The fact that it isn't even being discussed blows my mind. We're going to be spied on, and we have no say in the matter so far outside of petitions? Cool story copyright owners: you're still rich either way, but now we get spied on so that you can say "NO STOP THAT GO PAY A BUNCH OF MONEY AT THEATERS OR BUY EXPENSIVE CD'S WE NEED MORE MONEY"

(a bit off-topic, but how do you make a quote or whatever like in the original post? I kinda forgot how...)

 

Well, if they get too far you can just boycott them, as long as money keeps coming their way they don' t give a flying duck about complaints.
If they ever step severely on my internet habits or privacy I' ll make sure to avoid giving them a single cent. I' ve got enough backlog stuff to hold on for a long, long while. I' m not sure it would be efficient though : I' ve never bought any DLC nor intend to buy one anytime soon, but most consumers seem to just cough up their money while moaning feebly in protest.