There's this wonderful video you have to se *THIS PAGE HAS BEEN DMCA'D, BITCH*

[Thadius]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/1...me-on-july-12/

If you download potentially copyrighted software, videos or music, your Internet service provider (ISP) has been watching, and they’re coming for you.

Specifically, they’re coming for you on Thursday, July 1st.

That’s the date when the nation’s largest ISPs will all voluntarily implement a new anti-piracy plan that will engage network operators in the largest digital spying scheme in history, and see some users’ bandwidth completely cut off until they sign an agreement saying they will not download copyrighted materials.

The content industries calls this scheme a “graduated response” plan, which will see Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and others spying on users’ Internet activities and watching for potential copyright infringement. Users who are “caught” infringing on a creator’s protected work can then be interrupted with a notice that piracy is forbidden by law and carries penalties of up to $150,000 per infringement, requiring the user to click through saying they understand the consequences before bandwidth is restored, and they could still be subject to copyright infringement lawsuits.

Participating ISPs have a range of options for dealing with customers who continue to pirate media, at that point: They can require that an alleged repeat offender undergo an educational course before their service is restored. They can utilize multiple warnings, restrict access to only certain major websites like Google, Facebook or a list of the top 200 sites going, reduce someone’s bandwidth to practically nothing and even share information on repeat offenders with competing ISPs, effectively creating a sort of Internet blacklist — although publicly, none of the network operators have agreed to “terminate” a customer’s service

So you remember that whole freedom of speech clause in our bill of rights?

Yeah, me neither.

Seriously starting to look like colonizing mars is a better and better option these days...

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Page not found!

Sorry the page you were looking is not here.

How oddly appropriate.

[Aldurin]

Hm, it says July 1st when I read the article, are they pushing down the deadline?

[Thadius]

Not intentional, but fixed.

Let me illustrate the problem for anyone not getting it.

Let's say two companies, M and R, are getting together with the telecommunications industries, henceforth referred to as T. Together, they are issuing massive fucking clubs to all content providers, and asking them not to be tempted by the power they hold.

Anyone struck by these clubs will have M and R come down on T like a ton of bricks, who will then basically say 'NO MORE INTERNET FOR YOU, INFRINGER.'

Even if you were struck by accident, being able to defend yourself is a pipe dream, as they need only the flimsiest of reasons to strike you.

Brian, for example, could hit everyone that posted a sprite comic on this website. Hell, he could strike everyone posting a sprite comic remarkably similar to his own.

The big thing, though, is that Nintendo could come along and say 'Yeah that's FF1, that's OUR territory, enjoy the rest of your days without internet' to Brian.

Basically, the internet would dissolve into a mass of people with clubs, is what I'm saying.

[Menarker]

Geez, another stab at SOPA again... Different means, same shit.

Here is a petition site to attempt to curb this again.

http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/backdoor_sopa/

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Signed and shared.

[Amake]

Why would an ISP volunteer to sell out their customers, I wonder. Over here ISPs give the IP farms shit whenever they try to squeeze information from them about the illegal activities of their customers under our various copyright laws, citing conflicting laws that exist to safeguard peoples' privacy; probably more because they understand that it's good business rather than from the goodness of their hearts.

So, how much do you figure RIAA and MPAA are paying the president for this?

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

Contribooted and spread this shit like the plague.

I just have to wonder how many times these pigheaded idiots have to be shot down for doing the same thing under a different name.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Already signed and shared on facebook.

We can't let them win this fight.

[Magus]

Clearly this will stop all piracy.