Censorship is a major concern in my eyes and that is really what this is about. Folks in the entertainment industry would like to be able to stop losing money and so they are willing to censor what access we have to the internet in other countries to be able to do that. Most of online piracy takes place by other countries because they are not restricted by our law here in the United States. I know this because I have been overseas and been in stores where there is pirated material sold.
Now SOPA and PIPA are focused on Censoring what content you can get from other countries, but there are unintended effects that will also take place. Because as a natural consequence, we would soon begin censoring what material we have access from folks in the United States. And when we realize that the folks of the entertainment industry might begin suing companies that have brought people together such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google + because of the content that folks might put up there that might break a copyright law even vaguely. It is at this point that it becomes a problem.
Now I'm not going to say that I know everything about these laws and their issues, but I figured the best thing I could do was to get you in contact with a few folks who would know more about what is going on.
These Websites Are Going Dark to Protest SOPA Wednesday
How you can Help Block PIPA & SOPA (Detailed Instructions) by Peter G. McDermott.
Informative video about what SOPA/PIPA will do to the internet and our ability to surf the web freely.
The Day the LOLCats died is a funny song about the dangers of SOPA.
Hopefully the few folks who come here might see this and realize what danger our freedom our potential knowledge is in. Please become informed and contact you Senator about SOPA/PIPA. Tell them to vote it down. Please let me know what you think of this possible future in the comments below. Thanks for reading.
P.S. In other news I managed to accomplish all of my goals concerning finishing a scene a day for several days now. I have had to sometimes do my scenes all in a single day to catch up, but I am managing to keep up with my goal.
I really enjoyed the song! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kelly! I really thought it was fun myself.
DeleteSeems like the Media Industry is like a modern day Mob and the lawmakers are in bed with them. It sucks. I did my part by contacting my Senator. BTW, Love that LOLCats song. I'm not sure what the future will bring. But we increasingly have laws that restrict "freedom" and we let them keep doing it. There doesn't seem to be any checks and balances because even if we vote them out, someone just like them goes back in. Sad.
ReplyDeleteRyan, I believe at this point due to the efforts of the public that SOPA/PIPA has gone down, so that much is sure. We don't know what the future will bring, but if we as the public let our voices be heard, even if it is to help people remember their rights, change will come. The key words in your post are 'we let them.' So lets stop letting them and do the work we need to maintain our rights. We still have power in our republic, lets use it!
DeleteIn trying to block piracy, shutting down sites would only make it harder for people to find, and therefore support musicians by buying their music legitimately. I can't count the number of times I've either discovered a music group via Youtube or had to use YT to figure out a song from a scrap of lyric half remembered from the radio so that I could then go buy the song from iTunes. Sure people end up hearing/watching/seeing stuff for free, but sometimes it acts as publicity and future sales.
ReplyDeleteAnd grats on keeping up with your writing goal. It's hard work.
I totally agree! I think the music industry uses the internet wisely they can drum up more business than they ever could before. Piracy is just a part of it all, cause our laws don't apply to every country. Which is fine, I think it complicates our world and such actually keeps all of us thinking. If life were simple or easy it wouldn't be such a wonderful experience to enjoy.
DeleteThanks for the support. It really helps!
They could enforce the laws we ALREADY have and make a world of difference. Copyright infringement is a civil, not a criminal, matter. I don't want to see moms and dads going to jail for sharing a song etc.
ReplyDeleteThe real problem with how easy it is to distribute music, movies, books, and information over the internet to anyone in the world is that it's making publishing, recording, and studios obsolete. They NEVER had the creativity, they only ever had the leverage of distribution.
Elizabeth I totally agree. We see the same issue in publishing. Because it is so easy to publish now, we as writers face a new problem. Being read. For now my goal isn't to publish, because if I really wanted that I could write a book and publish it on an e-platform pretty quickly. I want to be read because I think I have something worth sharing that may change people's views of the world, or themselves, or introduce to them new ways of thought. Perhaps I think too highly of myself, but I believe God gave me the gift of writing for a reason. And my part of my journey now is to see that to its end.
DeletePart of the reason I put this post up was to protect the art that the world so desperately needs. We have hurt the arts so much and so many of us need to be heard, if for no other reason than to know that what we are saying has value. Perhaps if we did that there would be fewer folks out there with clinical depression, or we might be able to see eye to eye on politics, or even more importantly understand our differences in religion and celebrate who we each are. Sorry for such a long response to your comments. Just got me thinking.
One beautiful thing about the access we have to get creative works is that we also have the ability to post and distribute creative works. It's the modern day version of word of mouth. By using SOPA/PIPA to crack down on piracy, do you think it might actually hurt sales, too? Like Jaleh D wrote, we discover new artists on the Internet.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on keeping up with your #ROW80 goals!
Amen Suzanne! And without this opportunity we wouldn't have a community. And that would be a tragedy. Thanks for the support!
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