Everyone have their own reasons to pirate, and most of us are like, "So what’s so wrong about
ripping a CD/DVD for a friend? I'm just sharing and it doesn’t hurt anyone." WRONG! Pirating is
basically stealing someone else’s property so that makes everything just wrong.
It’s a crime, just like stealing a car from a parking lot or taking cash from a
register, you’re hurting the owner by stealing his/her ideas or properties. Every crime has
its own punishment, but for pirating, it includes, but not limited to, a free
trip to prison and a nice big fine—I guess that doesn’t make it a free trip. So what is the government trying to do to stop these crimes or reduce pirating? The
government is trying to pass some new laws or bills to prevent any online pirating—but that failed. We’re sure you’ve heard about SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act) and PIPA/PROTECT
IP (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of
Intellectual Property Act) right? Kinda? Sorta? I don’t care?
Well, SOPA and
PIPA are aimed to stop foreign-based websites that sell pirated movies, music,
and other products by stopping U.S. companies from providing funding,
advertising, links or other support to the foreign sites. In short, SOPA and
PIPA may lead to censoring of the Internet and weakening of online security. These
bills have caused social websites, like Facebook and Reddit, and other websites,
like Wikipedia and Google, to protest and oppose the bills. Not just websites
that opposed the bills, even three officials under President Obama's
administration opposed it. Those officials issued a statement stating that “online
piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious
legislative response, but the administration would not support legislation that
reduces freedom of expression, increases cyber security risk, or undermines the
dynamic, innovative global Internet.”
Even though the officials did make that statement, it still sounds
like they want to find a way to work around all these protesters and make
everyone a happy camper. In regards to the officials’ statement, how do YOU
think the government (government? huh? what’s that?) should stop pirating or
should they just embrace pirating since it’s going to keep happening anyways? Feel
free to tell us how you feel or vent if you want to because we like to hear
what you have to say!
Ribeiro, John. "Wikipedia, Craigslist, Other Sites Black out
Against SOPA at Midnight." PCWorld.com. PC World, 18 Jan. 2012.
Web. 29 Feb. 2012.
<http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/248324/wikipedia_craigslist_other_sites_black_out_against_sopa_at_midnight.html>
Schatz, Amy. “What Is SOPA Anyway? A Guide to Understanding the
Online Piracy Bill.” The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company,
18 Jan. 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203735304577167261853938938.html>.
Interesting read. I agree with the main goals of both acts but I do think that it won't be possible to achieve what they want without heavily moderating and censoring the internet. Any laws or acts that they create will only be viewed as an invasion of our freedoms and while the internet is viewed by most as a type of "neutral zone", nothing will be accomplished when it comes to internet piracy (at least in the United States).
ReplyDeleteI agree with Julian nothing will be accomplished when it comes to internet piracy. Shutting down websites that aid in the distribution of copyrighted material, and passing new laws to help put a stop to piracy do nothing but create a better class of criminal. As an example, first there was Napster which got sued in the 90s, then Peer-2-Peer came about such as limewire and kazaa, after that came BitTorrent. Now there is a new program that has been being developed the past 5 years called Tribler which is a purely P2P network that doesn't need a tracker, therefor making it impossible to shut down unless the whole Internet goes down with it.
ReplyDeleteMegaupload was recently shutdown by the FBI in a move that came along the same time SOPA and PIPA were being hotly debated in the congress. What seemed like the beginning of censoring of file sharing sites that violate the copyright infringement laws, quickly went cold as SOPA and PIPA were shelved in the congress (at least for now). It may be very soon when this bill might make a comeback in the congress as the lobbying continues. But this task is not as easy as it may seem.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, the bill might make a comeback. We just don't know when.
DeleteInternet piracy has been around since the start of the internet, and is not going anywhere, anytime soon. In my opinion, when the government steps into any issues that has the potential to control the publics daily business, it is a dangerous situation. Whether you agree with it or not, once there are guidelines and laws put into place, people always find ways around them. The internet, in many ways, is the wild west of the technology world, meaning it is hard for anyone to fully control what goes on. SOPA would have been a good law for the entertainment business, because it would control piracy, but when it intrudes on websites such as ebay and google, then business' in the end will suffer, not the people stealing copyrighted material.
ReplyDeleteSo true! Internet piracy has been around and people are ALWAYS finding ways around guidelines and laws. Hopefully, one day they will be able to find a way to control piracy without intruding on business websites.
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