• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Sopa

Are you aware that under this legislation, simply viewing a piece of copyrighted material like stuff that's all over youtube, could land you up to 5 years in prison?

Sorry, you quoted a question I asked. If you wish to address that question and then ask follow up questions, I'll go along.
 
Nor do I believe they are trying. If you can show me where this is addressed in any bill I'd appreciate it.

Do you really think that they would write that in the bill? You know on the bill it does say "..and for other purposes." Gee I wonder what that may be? It could be anything. I don't support our government in any way other than paying my taxes. They continuously prove they're idiots, and they do what they want, not what we tell them to. A perfect example: I never got the opportunity to vote on this bill, yet all of a sudden it's on it's way through Congress because they wanted it to. We as constituents have faith in our representatives to do the right thing, yet this is clearly an evil bill, and again we never got the chance to keep it from going to Congress. At this point the best we can do is write the Senators and House Representatives to encourage them not to let it pass, then hope they actually listen. Better yet, hope the letter makes it past the secretary.
 
Last edited:
Sorry, you quoted a question I asked. If you wish to address that question and then ask follow up questions, I'll go along.

Ok then.

No, I don't support the prosecution of pirate sites. Specifically, they themselves are not the pirates, their users are. Can I assume that you wouldn't accept a burned cd (for free) from a friend which the friend purchased? If yes, you're a pirate. I'm pretty sure most people have done that. And again I say, companies price their products to compensate for the losses of piracy. They WILL NOT lower the prices EVEN IF PIRACY WERE TOTALLY ERADICATED. So I say let the pirates get stuff for free. If you're smart enough to make something out of nothing, go for it.
 
Do you really think that they would write that in the bill? You know on the bill it does say "..and for other purposes." Gee I wonder what that may be? It could be anything. I don't support our government in any way other than paying my taxes. They continuously prove they're idiots, and they do what they want, not what we tell them to. A perfect example: I never got the opportunity to vote on this bill, yet all of a sudden it's on it's way through Congress because they wanted it to. We as constituents have faith in our representatives to do the right thing, yet this is clearly an evil bill, and again we never got the chance to keep it from going to Congress. At this point the best we can do is write the Senators and House Representatives to encourage them not to let it pass, then hope they actually listen. Better yet, hope the letter makes it past the secretary.

You've never had an oppertunity to vote on any bill.
 
Ok then.

No, I don't support the prosecution of pirate sites. Specifically, they themselves are not the pirates, their users are. Can I assume that you wouldn't accept a burned cd (for free) from a friend which the friend purchased? If yes, you're a pirate. I'm pretty sure most people have done that. And again I say, companies price their products to compensate for the losses of piracy. They WILL NOT lower the prices EVEN IF PIRACY WERE TOTALLY ERADICATED. So I say let the pirates get stuff for free. If you're smart enough to make something out of nothing, go for it.

Yes, as always, it comes down not to actual examples of how this bill destroys the internet but rather, your right to steal because those who create thing make those who buy their products pay for your theft.

Again, this is the exact same arguement shoplifters have used for years.
 
Yes, as always, it comes down not to actual examples of how this bill destroys the internet but rather, your right to steal because those who create thing make those who buy their products pay for your theft.

Again, this is the exact same arguement shoplifters have used for years.

Shoplifting is not sharing. Therein lies the controversy. Someone actually buys the product, then writes code to bypass copyright restrictions. There's nothing wrong with this until they decide to share it with the internet. Take copies of Windows that have been activated too many times. I format my hard disks often and I don't like calling someone I can barely understand to help me unlock a copy I own. I'd rather download something that can unlock my legal copy quicker.
 
Last edited:
Shoplifting is not sharing. Therein lies the controversy. Someone actually buys the product, then writes code to bypass copyright restrictions. There's nothing wrong with this until they decide to share it with the internet. Take copies of Windows that have been activated too many times. I format my hard disks often and I don't like calling someone I can barely understand to help me unlock a copy I own. I'd rather download something that can unlock my legal copy quicker.

It's not that difficult to use software you have actually bought and are entitled to use.
 
It's not that difficult to use software you have actually bought and are entitled to use.

On Windows XP, once you've activated a key so many times, you have to call customer support to have them validate it for you. Like I said, I format my computer often, which means each time I reinstall I have to do that. Thankfully, I don't have this problem because I was able to get 7 for free from school. Take another example: Textbooks bought online in ebook format from Amazon or Barnes and Noble have DRM encoding. This DRM keeps you from doing what you want with it. Basically I bought a textbook with the intent of using it on my tablet, however DRM restricted me from doing this, among other things. I stripped the DRM so I could do what I pleased because I owned the book. There's nothing wrong with this. Now if I were to redistribute this online, especially for a profit is when it becomes illegal.
 
On Windows XP, once you've activated a key so many times, you have to call customer support to have them validate it for you.

It's not a major requirement.
 


The Khan academy has a great video on the potential effects of SOPA and the looseness of it's wording.
All of which could threaten sites like, debatepolitics.com


I've seen no legitimate arguement outside of being pissed that you might not be able to as freely D/L the property of others.

Watch the above quoted video. If you can comprehend that and still tell me there's nothing wrong with SOPA or PIPA, your moral compass needs to be seriously adjusted.

It's not a major requirement.

Not a major requirement? Are you computer literate? If you own software that's been activated too many times, it's MANDITORY you call them unless you wanna go spend another 200 bucks for another license. Seeing as we're in a recession, not too many Americans can just spare 200 bucks whenever.
 
Watch the above quoted video. If you can comprehend that and still tell me there's nothing wrong with SOPA or PIPA, your moral compass needs to be seriously adjusted.

It's one persons interpretation. I've had my kids force me to watch this same sort of video created by those who claim that the U.S. was behind 9-11.

Not a major requirement? Are you computer literate? If you own software that's been activated too many times, it's MANDITORY you call them unless you wanna go spend another 200 bucks for another license. Seeing as we're in a recession, not too many Americans can just spare 200 bucks whenever.

Yes, it's a phone call. That is not a major requirement.
 
It's one persons interpretation. I've had my kids force me to watch this same sort of video created by those who claim that the U.S. was behind 9-11.



No it's not just one person's interpretation, he was referring directly to the bill itself. It doesn't matter who interprets wording that loose, you'll get a hundred different interpretations all equally evil. Some libertarian you are; you're perfectly fine with the gov. ruining small businesses.

Download music, movies, games, software! The Pirate Bay - The galaxy's most resilient BitTorrent site

OH! Looks like ALL of debate politics has to come down now because ONE person linked to a "piracy facilitating site". Genius.
 
It's one persons interpretation. I've had my kids force me to watch this same sort of video created by those who claim that the U.S. was behind 9-11.



No it's not just one person's interpretation, he was referring directly to the bill itself. It doesn't matter who interprets wording that loose, you'll get a hundred different interpretations all equally evil. Some libertarian you are; you're perfectly fine with the gov. ruining small businesses.

Download music, movies, games, software! The Pirate Bay - The galaxy's most resilient BitTorrent site

OH! Looks like ALL of debate politics has to come down now because ONE person linked to a "piracy facilitating site". Genius.

The sky didn't fall Y2K either. As we've seen, the government can already shut down sites if they wanted to.
 
It's one persons interpretation. I've had my kids force me to watch this same sort of video created by those who claim that the U.S. was behind 9-11.



Yes, it's a phone call. That is not a major requirement.

Tell you what, then. Why don't you sit down, carve out a block of time from your schedule (better make it be at least an hour or so), and give ol microsoft a phone call, eh? When's the last time you tried calling any business of a certain size, and actually got ahold of a human, 1, and then, resolved your issue in a timely, NOT put on hold for 30 minutes a time...?

Because, man, I have not.
 
The sky didn't fall Y2K either. As we've seen, the government can already shut down sites if they wanted to.

And this bill would substantially lower the bar for them to do so, and also shifts the burden of proof from the prosecutor to the accused.
 
Tell you what, then. Why don't you sit down, carve out a block of time from your schedule (better make it be at least an hour or so), and give ol microsoft a phone call, eh? When's the last time you tried calling any business of a certain size, and actually got ahold of a human, 1, and then, resolved your issue in a timely, NOT put on hold for 30 minutes a time...?

Because, man, I have not.

Paypal.....not long ago.

If I get poor service, I don't steal the silverware. I eat somewhere else next time.
 
And this bill would substantially lower the bar for them to do so, and also shifts the burden of proof from the prosecutor to the accused.

Let's say you are running a bar and you are suspected of running illegal gambling in the back. The authorities are going to bust in, make arrests and shut the place down. You will then have your day in court.

That's how I've seen it go down with megaupload so far. If the government confiscated all the assets and refused to give them their day in court, then I will be right there complaining.
 
@ 1Perry
I have decided that you have no idea what you're talking about. Go open a company with a message board. I'll post a link to a piracy site, and you'll go out of business. Unless the gov. purposely misrepresented your case, there's nothing you can do. SOL. Pack your bags and find a new job because the guys you Libertarians think should protect our rights just screwed you in the ass.
 
@ 1Perry
I have decided that you have no idea what you're talking about. Go open a company with a message board. I'll post a link to a piracy site, and you'll go out of business. Unless the gov. purposely misrepresented your case, there's nothing you can do. SOL. Pack your bags and find a new job because the guys you Libertarians think should protect our rights just screwed you in the ass.

Your opinion is noted.
 
Let's say you are running a bar and you are suspected of running illegal gambling in the back. The authorities are going to bust in, make arrests and shut the place down. You will then have your day in court.

That's how I've seen it go down with megaupload so far. If the government confiscated all the assets and refused to give them their day in court, then I will be right there complaining.

So what happens when the Gov. makes a mistake and busts into the wrong place? Or the place suspected isn't committing any crimes? Or perhaps one of that particular bar's patrons was the one causing the illegal activity and not the bar itself? The bar gets shut down on account of someone who just happens to eat/drink there. This bar then goes out of business, and under SOPA, the Gov. IS NOT LIABLE for their mistake and there's nothing the bar can do.
 
So what happens when the Gov. makes a mistake and busts into the wrong place?

Unfortunately it happens. It's happened all down history. Mistakes will be made SOPA or not.

Or the place suspected isn't committing any crimes? Or perhaps one of that particular bar's patrons was the one causing the illegal activity and not the bar itself? The bar gets shut down on account of someone who just happens to eat/drink there. This bar then goes out of business, and under SOPA, the Gov. IS NOT LIABLE for their mistake and there's nothing the bar can do.

See, I'm not real big on worrying about nearly impossible what if's. I'm not going to even ask you to explain but if a patron is able to walk into a bar every night and set up illegal gambling in the back without anyone knowing about it, the place has far bigger problems than the governments actions.
 
Back
Top Bottom