Wikipedia is currently taking part in a 24-hour black out to protest the proposed anit-piracy laws that are being considered by the Senate. Try visiting http://www.wikipedia.com/ what do you find? Read this notice as well as the interview narticle on CNN pertaining to this topic and summarize what you understand about this topic. There is no right answer so just share your thoughts! Also, which side do you support? Do you regularly use Wikipedia? What are you thoughts on anti-privacy laws in general? Finally, what do you think a protest like this does to our society and what do you think the long term effects of this way of thinking will be to our society?
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/17/tech/web/wikipedia-sopa-blackout-qa/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
Basically it sounds to me like senate wants to censor and make laws protecting aspects of the internet to protect certain companines' privacy rights. I would have to say I am neutral on the topic and I very rarely use Wikipedia. I think anti-piracy laws are fair for the companies and individuals who spend their money and time creating a product.A protest like this creates a large amount of debate in society and gets people to choose sides. I'm not sure what long term effects will be like.
ReplyDeleteThis act that they are trying to pass is extremely bad in many ways. For instance if you develope websites and you happen to use a single picture that you dont own the rights to they could shut down your site for good. Not only that but in my opinion the internet is an open community of file sharing and video streaming etc. Youtube would most likely be shut down along with countless other sites. Americans would stop using the internet and cancel there services which would make even more people lose jobs. there is no good at all behind this act
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article my understanding of this topic is that the government wants to make a law for anti-piracy and Wikipedia is protesting against this law. My side in this discussion is neutral because I have nothing against or for this topic. I hardly ever use Wikipedia. My thoughts on the anti-piracy laws is that they should get some more information from the different companies before making a law against something. I am really not sure of the long term effects or what it will do to society.
ReplyDeleteI think I should argue in favor of the senate just because almost everyone, including me, is going to favor otherwise. People that create something; whether that be a song, video, etc should get credit for what they have done. Yes it is a very small thing, but all you have on the internet is your name. If people don't use it with something you have created, you are completely thrown out. It is the same principal as turning in an assignment and then someone changing the name on it and counting it as theirs. It wouldn't fly in real life, why should it fly in cyper life?? It takes two seconds to credit someone for what they have done. It is pretty easy. But all in all, I am being the devils advocate. I am with almost everyone else :)
ReplyDeleteFrom the article, I understand that Congress is trying to pass a couple of anti-piracy laws that could be beneficial to the film and music industry, but harmful to the internet in some ways. The article was informative but I don't feel like I know enough yet to take a side. From what it sounds like the internet will be a lot more restricted and I do not like the sound of that. But at the same time the media companies can protect themselves from piracy. I use Wikipedia a fair amount, I will admit, and I like to use it for everyday things. It is quite useful. I think the acts maybe need to be better looked at to ensure that the internet will be unrestricted at the same time protecting against piracy. It's no easy task and neither side will be completely happy. I really have no idea what the long term effects will be.
ReplyDeleteCongress is trying to pass anti-piracy bills and Wikipedia is shutting down the site in protest. I am pretty much neutral on the issue, but I am leaning towards being against these laws. I use Wikipedia multiple times a day. I also use sites such as YouTube and Facebook, and if they did pass these laws, there is a possibility that these sites could be shut down. If these sites were to be shut down many Americans would not use the internet as much.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, it is basically a act that shuts down your website if you have and information that is not yours. I think if this passes it will get completely out of hand and there will be no websites worth going to on the internet. I am completely against it. I am not a regular Wikipedia user, but i do use it occasionally. I think if this does pass it will be worse for the economy and more people will lose their jobs.
ReplyDeletegreat opinion Mike.
DeleteI agree with Hunter.
DeleteWow I take back what I said, how dare you Preston
DeleteWhat is your problem Hunter??
DeleteWell know that you support the Communist party Preston, no point in playing koi fish
DeleteHow am I communist????????????
DeleteHow aren't you
DeleteThat makes no sense...
DeleteI agree with the article when it says SOPA/PIPA is a poorly written bill that is far too broad. I use wikipedia from time to time and the blackout did not affect me, but I do feel that it is a great way to get attention to the bill. If SOPA passes the internet will greatly change to say the least, I would rather not browse the web like I'm in communist China. Anti-piracy laws are unnecessary and unrealistic because there will almost always be a way around them because of hackers and torrent sites. I think short term the protest will affect us very minimally, if blackouts like this last I think the protest will have a negative affect on the specific website.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I read, it seems that these two laws that will be heading towards the senate very soon are laws to stop copy write infringement from foreign sites. They pose a threat small websites and the DNS system will block out any website that might have done copy writing. I would have to agree with Wales during the CNN interview. I feel like the congress is pushing this bill through only to make the important people happy. I feel like if these do pass then the internet will never be the same as well. The internet is a world of free speech, and yes all good things tend to get abused, but the internet is where all students interact with one another and communicate. This is also where a lot of information floods in. If students were to lose access to certain parts of the internet then that would mean that many people would stop using the internet because they are annoyed with blocks. I agree the copy writing is bad and that there should be some blocks on certain websites, but to have a poorly written bill swiftly put past congress is not something that I support. I believe that they should forget the bill and just allow the internet to be the same free world as it is. As for Wikipedia, I always avoid the website when it comes to school, but if I just would like some facts then I normally use it. I like that such a huge company is protesting these acts and making it aware to all Americans what is going on and bringing awareness to our community. I believe that it will make a good impact but most people who read it will not be able to take action because many people do not how to react to such information. The long term effects are going to be hard on many people. This way of thinking is hard to get used to and many people will adjust.
ReplyDeleteFrom what i understand SOPA would give the government the right to take down any site they deemed necessary for violating copyrighted material. If passed we could kiss some of the biggest but most used websites goodbye. Youtube has been fighting with copyright problems since it got its feet off the ground, Tumblr would be the next site to go. I support the right to a free and uncensored internet. I would guess Every student in the nation uses Wikipedia at least once a week.
ReplyDeleteThe anti-privacy laws could be a good thing, but they also could be extremely horrible. I would say on average i listen to my music all day other than when im in class. My Itunes libray is huge, its over 5,000 songs now. So lets take that 5,000 and multiply it by the $1.29 a song cost for itunes. that's $6,149. Now i know i don't have that much money to spend on music alone. I dont pirate every song i get, but if i paid for all my music i would be able to support like 3 of the hundreds of artists i love. I can see where the anti-privacy laws would benefit the music industry in a huge way, but it would also be shooting it self in the leg. More than likely any band not on top 40 radio that is struggling to get their music heard now, can just kiss their career goodbye. Most bands would rather have their music downloaded illegally and played on a daily basis than have it never heard at all.
I have had a tumblr account for about a year now and the tumblr community is a unique one at that. Tumblr is a blogging site where you blog basically what is going on in your mind. More often than not most teens are entirely 100% honest on their tumblr account mainly because tumblr hasnt caught on yet and they know like one out of their hundreds of followers.Tumblr is basically like an online form of therapy. After using this site for so long, its sad to say but i dont know what i would do without it. i know of lives that have been saved because people were able to see how depressed an individual is. I personally have two good friends that have started their relationships through tumblr, one of them engaged to their significant other that lives half way accross the country. Instances like these are things that would never happen if sopa was passed.
Tumblr held a similar protest back when congress discussed SOPA for the first time in december. they censored every image on the site for a day and congress recived thousands of calls from angry internet go-ers.
Protests like these are helping to expose large amounts of people to the problem at hand.
This seems like it has been an issue quite often. I see both points from each side. People's personal work needs to be protected and others should not profit from it. However, people use the internet to learn so much and by restricting it, it would cause a lot of people less information to learn from and share with others.
ReplyDeleteCensorship? Really? I mean, China has censorship. This is absolutely ridiculous! The Government of the United States is going to censor what we can and can't access on the interenet? These bills don't even guarantee that they will stop piracy, and at the same they're going to destroy economic growth. Does this not prohibit the first amendment aswell? Free speech? Freedom of expression? Do you really want the federal government to tell you what you can and cannot do with your personal liberties?
ReplyDeleteThe Senate and House are attempting to pass two acts that are supposed to stop copyright ingringment on the internet. If they pass they will basically be censoring the internet. Not just in the US but also for the rest of the world. Entire sites can be taken down over a case of copyright infringment.
ReplyDeleteI am completely against these propositions. Entire websites can be shut down over the use of a song, video or picture that isn't owned by that site. A huge amount of websites would be taken down. Many sites violate copyright is some way or another. Now just imagine if they were gone. No more Youtube, or any sorts of image boards.
When I went to the Wikipedia’s web site it wouldn’t allow me to use it because of the lockout. They explained to me that the English encyclopedia will be shut down for 24 hours because the U.S congress is trying to legislate it. What I’ve learned so far is that there’s been talk about the government trying to pass a law that you cannot share anything that isn't yours. In my opinion I think they should just leave it the way it is because I use the internet all the time and especially YouTube. If it wasn't for YouTube I would never get to see basketball highlights I missed but not only that but sometime I go to YouTube to get educational videos for class to talk about. I think the internet is fine the way it is.
ReplyDeleteI don't even know where to begin with this. Yes I agree that the artists and film makers out there deserve their dues and I don't believe piracy is a good thing. But I do know for a fact that this isn't about stopping piracy. It isn't a coincidence that these bills (SOPA/PIPA) are coming out along side the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act.) A bill which gives the United States Government the authority to detain anyone (US Citizens included) for an indefinite amount of time. For nothing more then mere suspicion of "terror" now of which could include anything from making bombs to rallying a peaceful nonviolent protest. All these bills including the Patriot Act put the government into a perfect position to put down any form of resistance or rebelling. It may sound extreme but to anyone who isn't afraid to look around you with your eyes open and actually take in what's happening we've been building up to this for a long time. This isn't just about piracy. It's about freedom and standing up for one of the last pieces of the bill of rights still intact.
ReplyDelete