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[Bauglir]

It's a generally dickish approach that is more suited to shutting down particular people who get noticed (for whatever reason, whether piracy or not) than it is for actually combating piracy. Not the end of the Internet as we know it, but it's not exactly acceptable either. It's something worth taking the time to condemn.

When it comes to SOPA's merits, I feel like that's about all there is to say on the matter, unless you want to get technical about it. Which I'm not prepared to do, having not read the bill, being unfamiliar with the infrastructure that supports the Internet, and not having a deep knowledge of what actual mechanisms are available to pirates to circumvent it anyway. So, basically, I know about as much as most members of Congress, but I'm willing to admit it.

[Sirus]

Yeah. You know. I think SOPA is stupid. But. Really?

Can you really just watch that again and then ask yourself. Really?

I don't believe SOPA will be the end of the internet, but I think there will be many epic blunders and tragic victims should it pass, similar to the many people whose lives were ruined over the past decade over downloading a few cds worth of music.  The things that people are predicting will indeed happen, just not to the entire internet.  It's not going to be apocalyptic, just painful and angering.

And while the end result of SOPA may not be as bad as the video implies, I do believe the intentions behind it are.  It gets very hard to swallow.

THANK YOU! Someone else who's being a bit rational about this!

Everywhere I go, it's endless whining of how the entire Internet will be censored and how people will be dragged out of their homes in the middle of the night for downloading porn or such nonsense.

Hey man when they catch you have fun paying that stupid fine from hell. Its not that its illegal just makes pirating harder.

I don't pirate stuff (much). All I'm saying is that a lot of people are freaking out about this. I've read at least one post comparing it to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

Would you rather have people over reacting to this or not reacting at all?

Just saying.

Reacting (eg protesting, voting, and boycotting) is fine. Endless hysterics make my eyes twitch. That's all.

[Pnx]

Could I point out that SOPA targets distributors rather than downloaders?

They're not going to go after you, the individual. Doing that on a wide scale would extremely costly, the only reason they go after individuals at all is a scare tactic.

The trouble is that this is censorship, and you damn well bet this is going to abused. It's also pointless censorship since pirates will just get around it. Piracy will always find a way.

[DrKillPatient]

Would not SOPA apply only to US-hosted domains? And if so, why is it being passed? If it goes through, I'd suspect that every major US-hosted site will just move elsewhere, leaving America much worse off. I suppose direct access to the sites would be blocked in the US if they're hosted elsewhere, but that can't be too hard to get around. Certainly not impossible.

The trouble is that this is censorship, and you damn well bet this is going to abused. It's also pointless censorship since pirates will just get around it. Piracy will always find a way.

Somehow I think it's deeper than "stopping piracy". I'm sure that the RIAA/MPAA/etc know that trying to stop piracy does very little, and so it's not worth all the lobbing... I would go so far as to say that this is just a continuation of the US's increasing amount of censorship, while the piracy thing is little more than an excuse to pass the bill.

[Bdthemag]

What I assumed is that if it was passed, then other countries would most likely adopt a similar kind of law.

[Sirus]

I disagree re: increased censorship. American media is getting more explicit and getting away with more every year. Yes, Europe is still far ahead of us, but we're making progress. Sure, politicians and media whores with nothing better to do will periodically try to ban something (remember the Mass Effect sex scandal? Or almost every GTA game ever made?) but it rarely gets far. The first amendment ensures that (in theory) nothing can be banned unless it causes demonstrable harm.

@ Bdthemag: Frankly, America isn't well thought-of in the world. We probably deserve some of that antipathy. I doubt that other major countries, especially in Europe, will censor much more than they already do.

[Bdthemag]

Wait wait wait, you think censorship is okay because the media is getting more explicit? They're not censoring the media, they're censoring the average person on the internet regardless of what the first amendment say's.

And just because some countries don't "like" america, that doesn't mean the corporations over there will get lobbyists to try to pass a law similar to this.

[Sirus]

What? No!

I was disagreeing that censorship is getting worse due to the fact that fewer things are being censored. If the government arbitrarily banned the word "fuck" from media, that would be increased censorship, which would be bad.

Can we move on to a different topic already? I don't feel like pushing my luck in avoiding ban-hammers today, thank you.

[Bdthemag]

Oh sorry, I totally misinterpreted what you said. My mistake, I apologize.

[Sirus]

Apology accepted.

Now back on-topic: I waited until the last minute to get wrapping done, and it's now almost 1:30 in the morning. I'm rapidly running out of paper.

[Vector]

I wanna create something.  Video game, novel, comic book, anything.

Also, my self-esteem is so far in the gutter that my mom's apparently going to start giving me morning pep talks and lessons on non-extrapolation.  Funny how my ability to draw broad connections is so helpful on the academic stage, but bad news for my feelings of self-worth.

I don't know how this happened, really.  I used to have so much self-confidence.  Well, no... I've felt undeserving of praise since kindergarten (I used to hit myself when they told us to give ourselves a pat on the back, haha), but more and more I feel that something has changed.  I don't know what, though.


I've also been thinking about Rosewood a lot, recently.  I think it's because this time of year was really the last big block of time we spent together.  This was when he told me he wasn't sure if he saw me as a friend or a sister or a girlfriend, and that I was emotionally 7.  It's been a long time, almost two years.  They've really just flown past like they weren't there.  But since then, it's been hard to look forward to anything at all.  It's been hard to approach people, too.

I kind of hate myself for missing him.  At the same time, I don't think I could look at his face.  I'd be too ashamed of myself, and asking: "am I good enough for you this time?"

What have I done in these past two years?  Almost nothing, it seems.  I've hardly been living.

I keep on thinking stupid things like "when was the last time I let anyone touch my face?" and "when was the last time I went to a party?"  Hey, here's a hint: more than two years.

It's harder, because all these silly things lined up that might make those of us who are prone to apophenia think "ah, it's fate."  I dreamed about someone who looked like him for years before I met him... I saw a little writeup on him my first day in high school, one article in a little booklet, and thought "Oh, I really wish I could know this interesting, handsome person," sitting there and rereading the article again ... He was the first person who taught me any real mathematics at all.  He was also the first person to voice the suspicion that I was a bit mentally screwy in an understandable way, rather than just calling me dirty or a freak.  We had an understanding about things... I didn't feel like I had to teach him who I was.  He knew already.  Not in a evil, all-swallowing way, but in the sense that our minds ran on similar tracks.

Sorry for being all mushy.  It's one of those times when I start thinking about these sort of things.  You know... Christmas Miracles, as seen on bad late-night television.  I need to go talk to my bro in the math department so that we can chatter about our crushes on unattainable men.


And hey, if you're reading this, I hope everything's going okay and that we'll meet again--if the right time arrives.

[SalmonGod]

Wrong type of censorship, Sirus.  American public is being kept increasingly uninformed and dissenting political expression is increasingly stifled, while offensive material is just fine because if anything it only distracts people from real controversy.

[kaijyuu]

Bleh. Recently resubscribed for a month to world of warcraft, and have gotten back in touch with some old friends. Someone I've known for... 7 years now? is screwing up her life due to her attitude, and has been for the past 7 years.


She only has two responses to problems:

1) Not her fault. Blame it on someone else.
2) Defeatist. "It's just how it is," and for things that are her fault, "Oh, I just suck."

The latter is the real problem. She's in a... not wholly abusive but definitely controlling relationship with an idiot*, and whenever she notices that fact, instead of trying to improve her situation or get out of it, she just slinks into depression. Trying to actively fix things never crosses her mind; it's straight to either shifting blame to others or acceptance as unchangeable fact.

I've yet to find a way to bring this up without her either getting offended (reaction #1) or going into self loathing (reaction #2).

:|



*We help fix his computer problems once in a while, and he's yet to realize what we're talking about when we say "PEBKAC." Something to do with the wires, yeah, right.

[RedKing]

@Vector: *<Internet non-touchy hug>*


On the way into work, I was catching a bit of BBC World Service, and they were discussing the economic woes of the world. Holiday optimism GONE. I have serious concerns that 2012 may turn out to be an apocalyptic year after all. If it's not a rogue star or comet or asteroid or Mayan serpent eating the sun, it's gonna wind up being something like a resonance cascade failure of the world's credit and banking systems. Frankly, I'd rather have the Mayan serpent. It's less embarassing and easier to understand.

[Vattic]

I'm still shaking from what happened ten minutes ago. I took my dad's dog for a walk with a friend and his dog. We let them off the lead and my dog disappeared. The next thing I know someone is screaming at the top of their lungs and there are dogs barking. I sprint there to find a crowd of people around my dog and a girl with her dog on a lead. My dog is jumping up her dog, barking a lot, and generally trying to avoid capture by the crowd. I rush over, grab the dog, and put her back on the lead. The girl puts some distance between us.

Then I notice that the crowd are all shouting at me. They claim my dog bit their children and the other dog. I let them shout for a bit before apologising. They threaten to phone the police. I ask what damage my dog has done, they say none, and then admit that she hadn't bit anybody really. I ask how the other dog is and they say no damage there either. They claim my dog is dangerous so I point out if she'd wanted to cause damage the other dog would be damaged. Strangely they compliment me on my manners a number of times before most of the crowd leaves. The few that are left are all elderly and had stayed calm throughout. One lady was even petting my dog. The two men advise me not to take her off the lead in future. I ask them if they want names and phone numbers for when they contact the police and they decline. Turns out one of the men trains dogs for the blind.

I've removed some of the to and thro (sp?) but that's the gist. They backed down almost immediately over some of their initial criticisms. (Eg: For not apologising to the girl when I was busy catching my dog, they were shouting so loud I couldn't hear anything else, and the girl put so much distance between us I'd of had to shout at the top of my lungs for her to hear me and I sent an apology with the guy who, at my request, went and checked if the girl and the dog was ok).

Too much adrenaline has left me shaking and anxious. I'm just glad I kept it hidden during but I could feel it in my legs throughout.

The thing about my dad's dog is that she always fights with other dogs. Almost every dog she knows she fights with. I've never seen her draw blood or have blood drawn. It's never as bad as it looks and according to everything I've read she is displaying normal, if overzealous, play behaviour.

What I assumed is that if it was passed, then other countries would most likely adopt a similar kind of law.

I think the UK parliament recently voted against our equivalent to SOPA. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the bill.