zepontiff

September 21, 2010 at 11:55am

I really wish they would find a way to stop pirating completely so they could see that nobody wants to buy crap.

bling581

September 21, 2010 at 9:54am

With the state of the economy, and all the other crap that's going on in our country today, it's nice to see our government has it's priorities straight.

/end sarcasm

chart2006

September 21, 2010 at 6:50am

I generally don't pirate software or anything else for that matter (I used to for mp3s back in the day but now I buy from Zune since it’s the right thing to do) however I do support the use of P2P.  If this legislation is passed then our digital highway is going to turn into a digital gravel road since P2P sites are to blame for the pirating issue (even if they say they don’t condone it).  Once the government gets the taste of blocking pirating sites they'll start looking at blocking other sites as well.  I enjoy my freedom of browsing whatever website I want and downloading whatever malware I feel like infecting my computer with.  The issue is I have the choice and if that choice is taken away then the government is regulating content which is completely unacceptable.  We’re not Iran or North Korea here.  We have freedoms to do whatever stupid thing we want (as the BK commercial always says).

I sometimes use the P2P sites to download the OCCASSIONAL TV show that I might have missed that doesn’t appear on the provider’s website or Hulu.  It’s not as if I’m downloading the entire season just the shows I miss then I delete once my obsession has been satisfied.  By doing this a few years back I received a C & D letter from Disney.  This upset me because how would Disney know I downloaded a show of theirs unless they were monitoring me?  This further upset me because there is no easy way to catch back up on a missed episode when it comes to some shows.  Don’t get me wrong I’m happy that nearly all my shows are now posted on their respective sites so now I watch in that fashion but the issue still remains.  This leads to "content restrictions." Just look at what's going on with the movie "Hurt Locker" and the thousands of people who are getting hit with a $2000 fine.  That's one hell of a ticket price.  Why not just make them buy the movie then they can say that their sales were huge. lol!

 

lostcause64

September 21, 2010 at 6:10am

How about that? Our so-called elected pirates, err, I mean officials, plan to go after those evil pirates. I'm not into pirating myself, but this, to me, is more like seatbelt and helmet laws... Makes some people feel good, but changes focus from what really needs fixing. Like government waste, corrupt politicians and corporations...

 

But then, I'll believe our government works when we get to impose term limits and vote on Congressional pay raises...

jihnn

September 21, 2010 at 5:22am

been thinking about trying this  maybe better do it sooner than later.

i carpool to work, just gonna park in front the starbucks, leave my notebook, hidden of course, and use their ip address to download all that music, books on tape and movies that i deserve.

 

just gonna do it because i can and to see if it works.

wonder how much content i can get in a week @ 10 hrs a day

teach them to treat us like china treats their people

steevonson

September 21, 2010 at 1:49am

Technology moves faster than bureaucracy

unitymind

September 21, 2010 at 1:29am

Sell me the Laurel and Hardy complete collection and I will stop with the pirates. Add complete Tom Baker Doctor Who and I will stop...can you see a trend here? I want the media now and willing to pay for it but someone ahole has it tied up in redtape and I can't watch them.

Also stop with the triple releases like Lord of the Rings - give me both extended/regular cuts on a blue ray and let me watch it on anything I or my household frickin' owns. This new streaming will never be bought into by me when I want to own a movie in my collection and watch the best media output I can while watching it.

thetechchild

September 20, 2010 at 11:46pm

The government has been trying to pass stupid legislation like this (remember that proposed Internet shutdown button, also discussed at MPC) since piracy became a loss of profit. The only ones losing thanks to piracy are large corporations, who are already making enough money and supplying enough jobs. I can't see anybody dying thanks to digital piracy, only businesses who make *billions* of dollars per quarter losing a few million over the course of an entire year.

Honestly, this law will die like all the rest. If not, people will find ways to bypass it, and if even that fails, we'll have riots to protest censorship. Net neutrality will force its way through, via tyranny of the majority, like it or not.

HiGHRoLLeR038

September 20, 2010 at 10:40pm

sounds just like what korea does, blocks websites and filters web traffic.  this is illegal in our country because we have rights to free information.  

whitneymr

September 20, 2010 at 8:00pm

Excuss me but what happened that thing in the lawbooks about there must be due process before doing anything of this nature?

Bullwinkle J Moose

September 20, 2010 at 7:16pm

That would be great if they could close down Microsoft immediatly!

Unfortunately we all know how this game works!

 

gendoikari1

September 20, 2010 at 5:21pm

Why do the lawmakers think that they have jurisdiction outside of the USA?

Jox

September 20, 2010 at 4:34pm

Day1 - Pirate Website, located outside of the USA, is declared a pirate site by the US government and ISP's are forced to block access to it.

Day 2 - Pirate website sets up redirect via anonymous proxy, effectively defeating any attempts to block it.

The only story here is the "slippery slope" to censorship mentioned by others.  The rest is moot.

Piracy has existed in the PC world for almost as long as there has been a PC world.  There is one way and ONE WAY ONLY that piracy will die: when the value and simplicity of the media (game, music, movie) exceeds the hassle of getting it for free.  When I buy a piece of software, I should be able to install it on every machine I own.  Don't think so?  What if you bought a car but it was illegal for your wife to drive it?  When I buy music or video, I should be able to play it on any device I own (and that includes ripping it to alternative formats).  Don't think so?  What if you went to the hardware store and bought paint for your living room that you weren't allowed to use in the basement?

What do the MPAA/RIAA/ASSHOLAA think I'm going to do?  Install software on a PC and give the PC away?  Am I going to copy a movie to an Ipad and give the Ipad away?  Of course not!  Yes, I could copy a movie to your Ipad for you, but guess what?  There's absolutely nothing stopping me from doing that now.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Zilch.  Your wretched DRM schemes do nothing but discourage people from playing by the rules.  Piracy has grown exponentially in the last 25 years and a large segment of that population is people who just don't want to deal with DRM.  Make your media WORTH purchasing and people will purchase it.  Let people use it as they wish (within their own household) and you'll more than make up any perceived loss.

People will follow the path of least resistance.  Today, that path is piracy.  Tomorrow...

-Jox

Blaze589

September 20, 2010 at 4:08pm

If you want to stop the illegal distribution of copyright content this is the best way of doing it if the world was under a unified jurisprudence. Given that this isn't the case it won't work.

I personally hope this doesn't pass for one reason; my distrust for this government.  If we give them the means to do this they'll just abuse the privilege for their own personal gain in other matters.

rock67

September 20, 2010 at 4:03pm

I should have gone to law school then maybe I would have some job security. Seems the US government should have bigger things to do than help the movie and software industries with their problems. If this type of legislation passes, then I think that it would really put an end to the wild westish side of the Internet that I so love. No I don't believe for a minute that this is about creating jobs in America either. It's about corporate greed. Nor do I believe that this type of action would help the US economy or anyone else outside of a bunch big business executives and of course those law makers that us common people need to help keep us in line.

intelati

September 20, 2010 at 3:06pm

Free speech is the base of USA.  This first, then it'll shut down the blog sites that are anarchist...

Zachary K.

September 20, 2010 at 3:04pm

could this be the comeuppance that i have been waiting for pirates to get? probably not, but wishful thinking never hurt anyone.