By now, I'm certain many ATS members have heard of "SOPA" and "PIPPA" -- two proposed US legislations;
Stop Online Piracy Act bill in the House
and
Protect IP Act in the Senate (respectively). I've been rather busy on a number of items intended to "push The Above Network forward," and
have perhaps been remiss in informing our members about our official position on these two highly controversial, much discussed, and important pieces
of legislation being considered by the idiots and fools known as elected officials.
Let me be clear,
SOPA is the most dangerous threat to free speech ever proposed by the US government.
That's what I think.
Next, some informational links:
SOPA: paving the road to American
Fascism
Tech entrepreneurs attack
SOPA
Google, Amazon,
Facebook, and Twitter considering “nuclear option” to protest SOPA
SOPA, Freedom, And The Invisible War
SOPA: The New American Censorship?
SOPA/PIPA Copyright Bills Also Target American Sites
And, an excellent video:
SOPA and PIPA are both presented by politicians with big-media money jingling around in their back pockets, front pockets, and brought into their
offices in great big wheel barrels by the lobbyists who run Washington. The intentions are to block access to "offshore" websites that provide access
to pirated content such as movies, music, pictures, words, etc. If passed, the bills would enabled the blocking of such sites to everyone in the
United States, with little or no due-process, and little or no confirmation a complaint originates with the actual copyright holder.
However, learned legal analysts have agreed that the "non-circumvention" aspects of SOPA and PIPA could easily be used to legally block access to
domains owned and operated in the United States.
For example, if an "illegal" content domain is blocked, and an ATS member posts the IP address of the domain's web server, one complaint could get all
of ATS blocked to the entire nation.
Or, if someone posts a link on ATS to a FireFox plug-in that provides an alternate means of access to blocked sites (one is under development), one
complaint could get all of ATS blocked to the entire nation.
We have more than 13 million posts. Under such broad guidelines and with no requirement that the complainant be a holder of the copyrighted material,
I'm sure there's material buried deep in ATS that would allow those with ill-intent to shut us down.
Obviously, all that also applies to any other user-generated content site, all of which are vital to free speech online.
Seriously.
This is important.
Also, consider participating here:
americancensorship.org
or here…
We
The People (WhiteHouse.gov) Petition
IMPORTANT UPDATE
I met with Congressman Ben Quayle regarding SOPA,
here is what
happened.
edit on 1/13/2012 by SkepticOverlord because: (no reason given)
The amount of money any internet site makes when compared to the
recording industry is in the order of a drop of water side by side all the oceans an/or the seas of the world? 
Seeking debunking
here....
