Stalin is back!!

This shit is really fucked up. America will be deciding what the rest of the world is allowed to view on their computers. If this bill is passed it'll be abused to no end and it's not going to just be "pirate" sites that will be taken down.

I've always found facebook to be disturbing because it's basically just getting people used to a homogenised internet where you log in get feed the stuff that's deemed acceptable while they keep tabs on you the whole time.

I read this morning that MegaUpload has been taken down... despite that a lot of the time it is used for legitimate file sharing :mad:

Yes but "Anonymous" a hacking group know for taking down PSN took down justice.gov due to that.

Copyright infringing files were always removed from MegaUpload too. It's pretty unfair that they are being charged with being a "criminal organisation". Totally unreal.

Signed the petitions yesterday. From what I've heard, SOPA is most likely not going to pass, which is good. Both of those bills are pretty ridiculous.

Yeah, looks like they could each get up to 55 years in prison. Really insane.

It's getting really silly over here with the media. Everyone's got it in their heads that these guys made all of their money off piracy. These guys were one of the first to see the opportunity of providing people online data storage/file transfers. They got their payday by being pretty shrewd and resourceful (something that's usually praised? Like Universal has ethical business practices... give me a fucking break). The disclaimers and terms of use stated copyright material wasn't to be uploaded and it was a pretty useful service especially how MegaUpload allowed to upload and download large files. Where does it leave people who have lost data? I'm sure some fairly important stuff has now been lost.

Oh yeah, I'm sure people lost tons of really valuable data. It's crazy and asinine to take such an overkill measure, which is exactly what the SOPA and PIPA bills are.
However, Sen. Harry Reid has cancelled the PIPA vote based on people's reactions:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/pip...en-harry-reid/

I'm sure it will pop up again in the future in another form. SOPA is still alive, though.

Alright! We did it! SOPA and PIPA are both dead.
For now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16655272

It's basically to set precedent so they can have that power despite the bill not passing.