SOPA
Has anyone been following the news on SOPA.
This is a very nasty bill trying to be introduced into the US House of Representatives by some very ignorant senators.
It's the Stop Online Priracy Act that is threatening the entire internet.
Wikipedia is currently down in protest of it and Google is considering doing the same.
Check out the news stories and there are some very good Youtube videos explaining this stupid bill.
links? :D
Yet interestingly, SOPA was shelved the other day for a whole range of reasons that they need to reinvestigate further before trying to push it. SOPA however = very, very bad.
There is also PIPA which is very similar and has been put forward by the other party... Personally i dont support piracy of content and think they should do something about the availability of illegal content, but I can see how this law could do some serious damage to the internet as we know it today. They spoke about it on tripleJ's HACK program(news and current affairs) and it was very interesting, I think it could never possibly be implemented as there is no real way to sever ties completely with websites when you are a search engine, or a a site with used generated content, there is nothing to stop people posting bad links on a website and having the US attorney generals office shutting the site down!
I dont know what to think about it... those stupid americans have to ruin it for everyone!
Thats the inherent danger. The US is far too ingrained into the Internet as we currently know it, and governments making stupid decisions to appease certain organisations that may or may not provide certain benefits to their relevant parties is very, very dangerous behaviour. The implications of doing this break more than one or two technical elements used on the Internet - things such as DNSSEC (which really are quite important going forward) are all going to be broken in order for them to make SOPA work.
Their method of essentially making a domain no longer route-able based on some non-tested (ie. not legally battled in a court) copyright complaint has huge repercussions. Without allowing a court to go through it's process, any moron can practically argue that another site (say, a competitors site) can cause it to be essentially taken off air. Now if the site turns out to be legitimate and the complaint vexatious, imagine the damage done? Any who runs a website knows any major down time causes loss of users, and potentially loss of revenue.
That's just one issue - before we get to them essentially hacking the DNS system that glues the internet together as most people know it to take these sites offline. If I did that, I'd get arrested. Seems to be OK if the US government decides to say so.
Then there's the potential for forcing companies to monitor emails and what not. That creates a whole new layer of issues. If you're a non-US resident, and your email is based in the US or owned by a US company, then it allows them to have access to your email. Why should another countries government be allowed to see my personal information? For business this becomes complicated - it's something we see in education, where certain research partnerships run between countries. In some of those partnerships, there are specific requirements that no data be either routed or stored on US owned or hosted systems - typically because one of the partners may be a country of particular interest to the US. SOPA just gives them more reason for the paranoia, and is likely to cause more organisations to have to do this.
Now of course, myself, I host my servers in the US because it's a lot cheaper than in Aus. Except that my data will be at their mercy. If they decide that one of my sites breaches copyright, they can make it non-routeable to the US. Because my DNS servers are there, that's likely to mean that it will be dead to the world. Of course, if I move it elsewhere, the domain will still be dead to the US, removing most of my target audience. I have no legal budget, so I couldn't even afford to challenge it if I wanted to.... and I'm not even a US citizen.
The US is yet again trying to force its way, and do so in a way that will affect the world.
Killed is a bit of an exaggeration - it was shelved days ago, but the fact that they're going to revisit it is why the blackouts are still happening.
if google blacks out that could cause some issues!. who the hell wants to use bing? :D
Hi everyone,
I normally do not post on threads on the forum, but this thread is an issue. SOPA is a dangerous thing that will be used for evil. GoDaddy supported it, so I moved all my registered domains with GoDaddy to another registrar. This is something everyone should be aware of as it is literally the killer of the internet.
I may even make a post about it in the News forum to raise awareness.
DavidS & The Reefuge,
Both of you guy's seem to have a better understanding then most of the repercussion's that this could have on the way we "surf" at the moment. Not to mention that you will be dealing with it on a personal level if it goes ahead. If you guy's could could start a thread in the "News" section where we could all keep up to date & help? out in any way I reckon that would be great. :)
Not a lot we can do unfortunately, as it's an American law. At the moment at least, it's been shelved. It will come back up, but hopefully common sense will prevail. I'll leave it to The Reefuge to make an announcement in News, as it would be more appropriate coming from him.
I guess the rub here is that it's a lot deeper than just how we surf - it's a mechanism that allows the US Government (and perhaps others by diplomatic means) to control what we can and can't see, so it extends a lot further than them just being able to take down things that might breach copyright and things like that.
A lot of the same types mechanisms are what scared a lot of people here in Oz when the government decided that it could start censoring websites that aren't appropriate (ie. child porn, extreme porn) on a list that isn't open to the public. On the exterior the intent doesn't sound so bad, but under the surface you're allowing a government to install a censorship (ie control) mechanism so it can then restrict the information you want to see. First it's the stuff you don't need to look at. But what happens next? What if the next government happens to be the Family First party, which is well known to be run entirely of people from one particular church? All of a sudden things they disagree with start to get added to the list.
What if the government decides you can't make political statements against it? Well, there's a mechanism in place for that, and all of a sudden, you're using the Internet in China.
The technical mechanisms for SOPA are far more far reaching, are mostly "shoot first and ask questions later".
The good latest news is that since Wikipedia blacked out there have been quite a number of US senators withdrawing their support for SOPA & PIPA.
Scary, scary shit!!!!:(:eek I have to say, I dont understand how the internet is technically and mechanically set up but I sure as hell appreciate how it works!! (sorta like men not understanding women but still admiring them anyway;)) Anything that interrupts or dictates what I can and can't do in my own damn home really grates. I lived in the US for a few months and it astounded and bemused me at how policed the citizens are and they dont even realise!! They'd constantly spruik "land of the free" and I would think "really?? really?? you believe that??":eek I used to be glad I came from a truely free country but if this bill goes ahead, we're going to be living in the 51st State of the USA. Or China. Or both.:(:(:(
Well folks it just got more interesting :eek
http://techland.time.com/2012/01/19/feds-shut-down-megaupload-com-file-sharing-website/
Even tho its a us law, because alot of the Sites are actually owned by australians, they are exempt from the the law, unless it becomes an international law, or taken up by the aus government. I think, (i dont reamber much of this bit from legal studies)
Because technicaly you guys are australian buisnesses, but because of price differences route your info thru US servers. And as such being an australian buisness in another country only makes you answereable to australian and international laws, not the country who you wist to contact/appear to.
I believe, take my info here with a cup full of salt
The internet is going to explode
These are other news stories about the takedown.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/19/technology/megaupload_shutdown/
- the comments at the bottom are worth a read also.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204616504577171060611948408.html
I think there is going to be some serious retalliation coming :mad:
Interesting development - not directly related, but still interesting.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/f...th-online-piracy/story-e6frfro0-1226249114650
America are the world police!
It's actually more complicated than just where they're hosted - things such as DNS, which are very important, are very US-centric - everything from domain registrars, root domain servers, routing paths, and a whole lot of other technical things that the US could cock up for the rest of the world. I can think of plenty of scenarios where you could be a legit Aussie business that deals with only Australian providers, and ultimately wind up getting screwed over by this.
They dream up rediculous laws that damage the whole society, which then end up getting turned over or they get told to stop the bill passing by the UN, ect (i has no proof of this one)
This is a very nasty bill trying to be introduced into the US House of Representatives by some very ignorant senators.
It's the Stop Online Priracy Act that is threatening the entire internet.
Wikipedia is currently down in protest of it and Google is considering doing the same.
Check out the news stories and there are some very good Youtube videos explaining this stupid bill.
links? :D
Yet interestingly, SOPA was shelved the other day for a whole range of reasons that they need to reinvestigate further before trying to push it. SOPA however = very, very bad.
There is also PIPA which is very similar and has been put forward by the other party... Personally i dont support piracy of content and think they should do something about the availability of illegal content, but I can see how this law could do some serious damage to the internet as we know it today. They spoke about it on tripleJ's HACK program(news and current affairs) and it was very interesting, I think it could never possibly be implemented as there is no real way to sever ties completely with websites when you are a search engine, or a a site with used generated content, there is nothing to stop people posting bad links on a website and having the US attorney generals office shutting the site down!
I dont know what to think about it... those stupid americans have to ruin it for everyone!
Thats the inherent danger. The US is far too ingrained into the Internet as we currently know it, and governments making stupid decisions to appease certain organisations that may or may not provide certain benefits to their relevant parties is very, very dangerous behaviour. The implications of doing this break more than one or two technical elements used on the Internet - things such as DNSSEC (which really are quite important going forward) are all going to be broken in order for them to make SOPA work.
Their method of essentially making a domain no longer route-able based on some non-tested (ie. not legally battled in a court) copyright complaint has huge repercussions. Without allowing a court to go through it's process, any moron can practically argue that another site (say, a competitors site) can cause it to be essentially taken off air. Now if the site turns out to be legitimate and the complaint vexatious, imagine the damage done? Any who runs a website knows any major down time causes loss of users, and potentially loss of revenue.
That's just one issue - before we get to them essentially hacking the DNS system that glues the internet together as most people know it to take these sites offline. If I did that, I'd get arrested. Seems to be OK if the US government decides to say so.
Then there's the potential for forcing companies to monitor emails and what not. That creates a whole new layer of issues. If you're a non-US resident, and your email is based in the US or owned by a US company, then it allows them to have access to your email. Why should another countries government be allowed to see my personal information? For business this becomes complicated - it's something we see in education, where certain research partnerships run between countries. In some of those partnerships, there are specific requirements that no data be either routed or stored on US owned or hosted systems - typically because one of the partners may be a country of particular interest to the US. SOPA just gives them more reason for the paranoia, and is likely to cause more organisations to have to do this.
Now of course, myself, I host my servers in the US because it's a lot cheaper than in Aus. Except that my data will be at their mercy. If they decide that one of my sites breaches copyright, they can make it non-routeable to the US. Because my DNS servers are there, that's likely to mean that it will be dead to the world. Of course, if I move it elsewhere, the domain will still be dead to the US, removing most of my target audience. I have no legal budget, so I couldn't even afford to challenge it if I wanted to.... and I'm not even a US citizen.
The US is yet again trying to force its way, and do so in a way that will affect the world.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngau...ng-controversial-internet-piracy-legislation/
Killed is a bit of an exaggeration - it was shelved days ago, but the fact that they're going to revisit it is why the blackouts are still happening.
if google blacks out that could cause some issues!. who the hell wants to use bing? :D
Hi everyone,
I normally do not post on threads on the forum, but this thread is an issue. SOPA is a dangerous thing that will be used for evil. GoDaddy supported it, so I moved all my registered domains with GoDaddy to another registrar. This is something everyone should be aware of as it is literally the killer of the internet.
I may even make a post about it in the News forum to raise awareness.
DavidS & The Reefuge,
Both of you guy's seem to have a better understanding then most of the repercussion's that this could have on the way we "surf" at the moment. Not to mention that you will be dealing with it on a personal level if it goes ahead. If you guy's could could start a thread in the "News" section where we could all keep up to date & help? out in any way I reckon that would be great. :)
Not a lot we can do unfortunately, as it's an American law. At the moment at least, it's been shelved. It will come back up, but hopefully common sense will prevail. I'll leave it to The Reefuge to make an announcement in News, as it would be more appropriate coming from him.
I guess the rub here is that it's a lot deeper than just how we surf - it's a mechanism that allows the US Government (and perhaps others by diplomatic means) to control what we can and can't see, so it extends a lot further than them just being able to take down things that might breach copyright and things like that.
A lot of the same types mechanisms are what scared a lot of people here in Oz when the government decided that it could start censoring websites that aren't appropriate (ie. child porn, extreme porn) on a list that isn't open to the public. On the exterior the intent doesn't sound so bad, but under the surface you're allowing a government to install a censorship (ie control) mechanism so it can then restrict the information you want to see. First it's the stuff you don't need to look at. But what happens next? What if the next government happens to be the Family First party, which is well known to be run entirely of people from one particular church? All of a sudden things they disagree with start to get added to the list.
What if the government decides you can't make political statements against it? Well, there's a mechanism in place for that, and all of a sudden, you're using the Internet in China.
The technical mechanisms for SOPA are far more far reaching, are mostly "shoot first and ask questions later".
This exactly right DavidS, I think the thing the public haven't fully realised yet is how they can shut down DNSs without any explanation or any recourse. The Reefuge mentioned GoDaddy who came out in support, but then they lost tens of thousands of customers, so they then said they had stopped supporting it - but they lied and were still in support!!!
The good latest news is that since Wikipedia blacked out there have been quite a number of US senators withdrawing their support for SOPA & PIPA.
Scary, scary shit!!!!:(:eek I have to say, I dont understand how the internet is technically and mechanically set up but I sure as hell appreciate how it works!! (sorta like men not understanding women but still admiring them anyway;)) Anything that interrupts or dictates what I can and can't do in my own damn home really grates. I lived in the US for a few months and it astounded and bemused me at how policed the citizens are and they dont even realise!! They'd constantly spruik "land of the free" and I would think "really?? really?? you believe that??":eek I used to be glad I came from a truely free country but if this bill goes ahead, we're going to be living in the 51st State of the USA. Or China. Or both.:(:(:(
Well folks it just got more interesting :eek
http://techland.time.com/2012/01/19/feds-shut-down-megaupload-com-file-sharing-website/
Even tho its a us law, because alot of the Sites are actually owned by australians, they are exempt from the the law, unless it becomes an international law, or taken up by the aus government. I think, (i dont reamber much of this bit from legal studies)
Because technicaly you guys are australian buisnesses, but because of price differences route your info thru US servers. And as such being an australian buisness in another country only makes you answereable to australian and international laws, not the country who you wist to contact/appear to.
I believe, take my info here with a cup full of salt
The internet is going to explode
http://gizmodo.com/5877679/anonymous-kills-department-of-justice-site-in-megaupload-revenge-strike
These are other news stories about the takedown.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/19/technology/megaupload_shutdown/
- the comments at the bottom are worth a read also.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204616504577171060611948408.html
I think there is going to be some serious retalliation coming :mad:
Interesting development - not directly related, but still interesting.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/f...th-online-piracy/story-e6frfro0-1226249114650
Even though its a US law most websites are hosted in the US so it will affect a lot of australian website!
America are the world police!
It's actually more complicated than just where they're hosted - things such as DNS, which are very important, are very US-centric - everything from domain registrars, root domain servers, routing paths, and a whole lot of other technical things that the US could cock up for the rest of the world. I can think of plenty of scenarios where you could be a legit Aussie business that deals with only Australian providers, and ultimately wind up getting screwed over by this.
America are the worlds cockheads. They jump into wars, end up getting their asses kicked then call on us to bail them out of trouble.
They dream up rediculous laws that damage the whole society, which then end up getting turned over or they get told to stop the bill passing by the UN, ect (i has no proof of this one)
