Stop Online Piracy Act

They will never be able to eliminate piracy anyway. You could take away Torrent sites, but not everyone who uses them, do some with bad intent.

It allows access to those who don't have spare money to music, who then become fans, and might be more likely then to save money up for CDs/Concerts. It is also a useful tool for if you scratched a disc, and you don't want to actually go out an buy a used copy, which is legal. Or in the case of Emulation, can be useful playing all the old games you have, that you either don't have the consoles for any more, can't be arsed to hook up, or if in the carts the Batteries died so you can't save anymore.

Once again, in a perfect world where everyone used something correctly, it would be a great tool.

Hey, if SOPA does get through then at least there is the possibility of Justin Bieber going to jail for his early youtube vids. (sadly I doubt that would happen but it is still a possibility)

eaustinn36 wrote:
Pros:
- Cracks down on Piracy hard, potentially eliminating it all together
- Imposes stiff penalties, such as jail time, for intentional violators of copyright
- Shuts down certain Piracy sites dedicated to illegal activities once and for all, rather than trying to fight the site in a legal battle for years, while damage is being done

Just out of curiosity, what do you think constitutes piracy? Would you say any video featuring for example, people singing a song that isn't theirs is piracy? Or maybe any video featuring a song in it that the poster hasn't bought the rights to or payed royalties for? What if they haven't made any profit from it, IE a "music video" of sorts featuring a song (My cop wars video featuring Mr Blue Sky is a good example of this. I haven't payed a dime for that song, and didn't make it either. As far as I'm concerned, they got their pay when I put their band's name in the title)?

Or do you think of piracy as people going onto torrent sites and such and downloading a bunch of free songs? Or the most lenient version, the belief I hold, that the only piracy worth cracking down on are the big torrent sites, where people download free games and movies. Although I am pretty flexible when it comes to Steam games. My brother apparently got a pirated version of Skyrim, which works better than my store bought Steam-burdened version. He didn't get any worthless updates that broke the launcher, forcing me to now launch the game manually. And those thieving fucks still owe me a copy of Counter Strike, the only thing keeping me from pirating the shit out of it is the fact that pirated versions aren't multiplayer compatible. I literally had to pay a site online to have a copy shipped to me, because it's not sold in Gamestops, and now I can't even play the fucking thing locally. Fuck Steam and all the worthless, unnecessary shit that comes with it, and fuck Valve and all the mediocre games they put out.

Anyway... who do you think needs to be "cracked down" on? Do you think the people running and maintaining the torrent sites should be cracked down on, or those people plus anybody who uses them?

Desert Sleepy wrote:Just out of curiosity, what do you think constitutes piracy? Would you say any video featuring for example, people singing a song that isn't theirs is piracy? Or maybe any video featuring a song in it that the poster hasn't bought the rights to or payed royalties for? What if they haven't made any profit from it, IE a "music video" of sorts featuring a song (My cop wars video featuring Mr Blue Sky is a good example of this. I haven't payed a dime for that song, and didn't make it either. As far as I'm concerned, they got their pay when I put their band's name in the title)?

Or do you think of piracy as people going onto torrent sites and such and downloading a bunch of free songs? Or the most lenient version, the belief I hold, that the only piracy worth cracking down on are the big torrent sites, where people download free games and movies. Although I am pretty flexible when it comes to Steam games. My brother apparently got a pirated version of Skyrim, which works better than my store bought Steam-burdened version. He didn't get any worthless updates that broke the launcher, forcing me to now launch the game manually. And those thieving fucks still owe me a copy of Counter Strike, the only thing keeping me from pirating the shit out of it is the fact that pirated versions aren't multiplayer compatible. I literally had to pay a site online to have a copy shipped to me, because it's not sold in Gamestops, and now I can't even play the fucking thing locally. Fuck Steam and all the worthless, unnecessary shit that comes with it, and fuck Valve and all the mediocre games they put out.

Anyway... who do you think needs to be "cracked down" on? Do you think the people running and maintaining the torrent sites should be cracked down on, or those people plus anybody who uses them?

I look at Piracy as a "source" issue; if there is no pirated content on the internet, then no one can get it. However, if YOU are a source of the content, then yes, prosecute them at the fullest extent of the law with no mercy. If you pirate a song for example, for personal use or for distribution, you are a source. If you get Pirated content from a site, and then share it (especially if you try to sell it for profit, in which is a major legal infraction), you are a "secondary source" (meaning not the main source, but still a source).

As for your examples specifically:

- It is technically a form of piracy, but not a major one. The policy youtube has already is perfect in my opinion; i'm sure we have all seen a youtube video here and there with the Audio disabled, due to copyright infringement. If a company or artist claims infringement, just remove the Audio, and move on. If it is video related content (such as a uploading a song, and just the song), then remove the video itself. As for the example of people singing a song that isn't theirs, as long as the song itself isn't playing, then I see no reason why a company should have the right to claim infringement there. As for the "Mr Blue Sky" example: depends where you got the song from: was it bought, or downloaded from an illegal site? (such as limewire, which I think doesn't exist anymore). However, it is hard to prove if you bought it or not, and furthermore, it is being shared with people who haven't bought it. Therefore, it is really up to the company. Press criminal charges? No. If the company has a problem, disable the Audio. I feel though that youtube could add in a "song list download" thing (like itunes) within youtube, where you pay for a song, and then any song used from "your list" in your video would be allowed.

- Torrent sites? Yes, definitely bad; prosecute them all with heavy fines and/or jail time. As for the people using them, again it is a "source" issue; take out the source, and the problem is gone. If a new source pops-up, then just take them out too. The big torrent sites need to be shutdown for good, without warning (this is one of the few pros of SOPA). Where it is hosting movies or songs, prosecute the individual responsible for uploading such content, with the intent to sell or give to others. As for the "Steam" issue, sounds like you could be getting ripped off. If you believe you are, and it is big enough, press charges. Piracy is a form of theft, but selling content legally to a user, and then not giving it, is also theft.


If any of the above needs clarification, let me know.

basicly you are saying that the internet will get butt raped if the bill passes. Great. I agree with some of the things, though, like the person above said.

eaustinn36 wrote:I feel though that youtube could add in a "song list download" thing (like itunes) within youtube, where you pay for a song, and then any song used from "your list" in your video would be allowed.

All I know is, I'm never paying for a single song. I might pay for an entire album or something, but certainly not for a song. I can't stand that, having to register to every site to do anything, having to pay for every song, having to give an e-mail address for every place that doesn't require registering.