I know it's way too early to be optimistic...

[oloriel]

(particularly in the light of the Megaupload arrests)
but either way I found this graphic (found via allamistako) quite intriguing.
What mainly intrigues me is that so many opponents showed up out of the blue after (I assume?) the Wikipedia Blackout. I mean, 15 Members of Congress appear to have changed camps according to that graphic, but where did the other 55 come from? From the realm of "I don't care", or maybe from "I didn't know", that's where...

I guess this once again shows my Nerd Bubble glasses - when the Blackout started, and all those links appeared to "Why SOPA/PIPA is harmful", I was thinking "Yeaaaaaaah we know it already". Except that apparently, many people, presumably including those 15 + 55 Members of Congress (or the people who phoned, mailed or messaged them) really didn't know already. Mental note: Really don't take common web knowledge for granted, it is still just as exotic as common sense is.

Along those lines I guess I might rant again about a line in the Stern magazine, concerning "the illustrious web community" and the plagiarism case around our ex-Minister of Defense: The old spiel how the very web community that brought Guttenberg down is itself all about violating copyright, ZOMG TEH DOUBLE STANDARDS.
Let me explain it again, idiots: TWO. DIFFERENT. KETTLES. OF. FISH.
Guttenberg's actions would be comparable to "the illustrious web community" if he'd scanned, pdf-ed and uploaded some (possibly absurdly expensive) Law Studies book, saying "Here, this is [Law Studies Book] by [Name of Author/Editor], enjoy, hope it helps with your exams, spread the word".
Instead, his actions are comparable to a member of the web community who uploaded a cracked version of - say - Dragon Age, saying "Here, this is a little game I programmed last weekend, enjoy, hope you like it, spread the word"...
which would result in scorn and a good take-down. As it did. No double standard there. THIS IS NOT A DIFFICULT CONCEPT. So why will you not understand it?

Oh right. Nerd Bubble. I forgot. :P

ETA: samtyr links to an interesting...campaign? Don't know what to call it. Interesting, anyway. And not hard to participate in (even though Crucible of Gold comes out in March ;)), really. So, worth considering?

Comments

[shadowbrides.livejournal.com]

What worries me is that what is an American law has international results. No one should have that much power.

As someone who regularly downloads study books (and software) I think the best defense is, in general, just know your way around better than whoever is creating a law against it. Which would mean, given the amount of extremely smart nerds around on the interwebz, that free information and things of the less legal kind just become less available to less web savvy people. I mean my brother usually exchanges stuff by direct IP communication (don't ask me how it works - I have no idea!). I'd like to see them try to find a way around that...

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Yup. People arrested in NZ because of US regulations? Skevvy...

Yeah, but see, even when you know your way around better (for a while), what you're doing will still be illegal. It'd be kinda nicer if it weren't. ;)

[shadowbrides.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree completely with you there. I guess I'm just more than a little pessimistic about the future of web freedom. Too much money in it now for that to last much longer.

Downloading actually isn't illegal here - only uploading. I wonder when the USA will decide they can change that for other peoples too? at this point, they're just taking away the easily accessible supply.:(

[nimielle.livejournal.com]

Mental note: Really don't take common web knowledge for granted, it is still just as exotic as common sense is.

I love you! That just made my entire day! ♥ I already love the Foamy "This is where common sense, which is not that common, comes into play." XD

Also, never stop ranting about stuff like this! <3 Your brain is a beautiful place and what you say is always spot on!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I should be flattered but all I can say is OMG YOUR ICON IS ADORABLE.

[satismagic.livejournal.com]

Cool campaign. Plus, I need to save money.

[satismagic.livejournal.com]

However, something that came up in a discussion concerning this campaign, and I think it's a valid argument:

What about the media companies who are against SOPA/PIPA? What if enough people actually join this for it to have some noticeable effect, and it ends up hurting small publishers or music labels, who never supported SOPA in the first place? And what about companies from other countries than the US?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Excellent points. I've added your ETA to my signal boost. There's still time until March 1st - time enough to do some research and assemble useful lists, right?

[satismagic.livejournal.com]

Right now I'm thinking the list we need is which companies support SOPA/PIPA and just boycott them until those idiot proposals die or the good fight is lost ...

[satismagic.livejournal.com]

Here's an official list of SOPA/PIPA supporters:

http://judiciary.house.gov/issues/Rogue%20Websites/List%20of%20SOPA%20Supporters.pdf

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

It doesn't seem to be working ATM :(

[satismagic.livejournal.com]

Try going back and reloading. I got an error first, but when I clicked the back arrow and reloaded it worked.

[fusselbiene.livejournal.com]

Another thing: Let's assume for a second the campaign was really successful. Still, a lot of major labels and companies outside of the web bubble will never hear of it and probably attribute their decreasing sales to the increasing piracy - an argument to support even more of this lobbysponsored censormongering.

I know that the campaign does say you shouldn't download either, but since that doesn't hurt the companies financially, they either won't give a flying pope or - worst case scenario: They'll think the whole megaupload scared pirates enough to make them shy away from ilegal downloads.

Not sure if want, TBQH.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

That's why it should be linked around so often until they CAN'T not have heard about it. Note the effect of the Wikipedia Blackout. Everybody at least knows Wikipedia.

And Wikipedia's content is user-generated... hmmmm.

[fusselbiene.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia plays in a different league from people who stop buying/downloading books for a few weeks. Even if all the people who heard about the action would join and stop buying stuff for four weeks now - it just means they'll buy it four weeks later. The big players in question know that fully well.
I'm with you concerning the need to do something. I would just prefer actions that are a little better thought through than this one. Wikipedia blackout with a lot of information was such an action. Getting your book in April instead of March isn't.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the few books and songs I buy probably won't be noticed anyway.

The point in waiting until April is that that's a new quarter of the year. Even if the companies know that you may buy the book later, the end-of-quarter accounts will still look like crap. That is, if enough people who would usually buy loads of stuff participate. ^^

Of course it'd be more effective if Wikipedia, Google, Facebook and the like all blacked out for a while. Unfortunately, that'd also hurt a lot of people who are against SOPA/PIPA anyway...

[allamistako.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, the Megaupload thing is a slightly different matter and a known criminal enterprise, but still...

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Megaupload as such is not a criminal enterprise. It is also used for criminal purposes, but some people actually use it for legal things - groupwork on large files, for instance...

[allamistako.livejournal.com]

I've used it (Though I prefer Mediafire) - I know it's technically a legit corp, but it has it's dodgier sides. There have been rumors going around that it startet as a money-laundering operation for a few years now.

[fusselbiene.livejournal.com]

I'm with allamistako here. There are other companies that provide the same services but don't allow well-visited portals (megaupload-links.xom, anyone?) for years on end to use their company name and logo in connection with illegal download. That IS fishy.

Just because they seem to be on the receiving end of SOPA/PIPA doesn't automatically make them the good guys.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Fair enough.

It doesn't - it may get them lots of sympathy, though. Odd timing there.