Sites going down/dark tomorrow

[Dekka]

It is such a big deal that the average person isn't paying attention too. Seems its not as dead, I read something about other people taking it up... either way it needs to die a true death. Its not something that should be hanging over people's heads.

Google discussed going down, now they are just going to have a banner on their front page. While I am glad in a way google isn't going down, how many people go to google's front page? I never do I just type in my search query in my browser thingy...

Originally Posted by ravennr

me too, it's amazing how much impact the community in general has had, even if, in the grand scheme of things, it is small.

i read most of my news on reddit these days. paying attention to comments to understand various sides makes understanding the stories as a whole much easier, i think.

and it's my go-to laugh source.

OT but high five reddit buddy! (my user name is dundreggen on there)

[MandyPug]

Originally Posted by Dekka

Google discussed going down, now they are just going to have a banner on their front page. While I am glad in a way google isn't going down, how many people go to google's front page? I never do I just type in my search query in my browser thingy...

I do lol... It might be time wasting but i don't like using the browser thingy because what i searched stays up there and it bothers me. It's easier to go to the home page than it is to remember to clear the words from the browser thingy so they don't bother me lol.

[ravennr]

Originally Posted by Dekka

OT but high five reddit buddy! (my user name is dundreggen on there)

mine is medusozoan

[Renee750il]

This is an attempt to put the genie back in the bottle.

Look at the impact the information highway has on politics.

An informed population is much more difficult to control (although it's been rather hard to tell the last decade or so), but being able to control the flow of information on the internet would seriously hamper the ability of grassroots movements to gain momentum and create awareness and change.

It's not about copyrights, no matter how congresscritters and lobbyists dress it up. Since when do they give a flying eff about copyright infringements? The last time anyone blinked was at the epidemic of p2p music downloading sites . . . and they're still out there, mostly unmolested.

[LostAndConfused]

This will be me tomorrow

[ravennr]

Originally Posted by LostAndConfused

This will be me tomorrow

[Doberluv]

Originally Posted by Renee750il

This is an attempt to put the genie back in the bottle.

Look at the impact the information highway has on politics.

An informed population is much more difficult to control (although it's been rather hard to tell the last decade or so), but being able to control the flow of information on the internet would seriously hamper the ability of grassroots movements to gain momentum and create awareness and change.

It's not about copyrights, no matter how congresscritters and lobbyists dress it up. Since when do they give a flying eff about copyright infringements? The last time anyone blinked was at the epidemic of p2p music downloading sites . . . and they're still out there, mostly unmolested.

Exactly that^^^ I've been saying this for a long time. The globalized government is going to take complete control and we will lose all our rights and freedoms. This is in the works and has been for some time. I keep saying this but nobody seems to believe it.

[Lilavati]

Actually, I'm pretty sure this IS about copyrights. That's the sad part. Most of the people supporting this in Congress don't even understand the possible consequences. They've never thought about it and don't really understand this internet thing anyway, and besides, its not meant to be used for censorship! And their lobbyist friends tell them that its absolutely necessary to help some of their big corporate friends, and its just going to punish people for stealing, right? That's good! That will protect jobs. Is just some smelly hippies downloading movies, right?

We aren't losing our freedom to totalitarians in the woodwork. We are losing them because of corporations that want an easier time of it (why should we have to protect our own IP?), to people who just want us to be "safe," to people who want to "streamline," to "zero tolerance" etc . . . none of these people actually intend to destroy our fundamental freedoms . . . They never thought about the consequences, or if they did, they thought it would never be used that way. Mostly, they are either pursuing their own interests, or they are trying to even trying to help (never realizing that the crisis of the week, month, or year . . .isn't a crisis and doesn't require that they do anything . . . nor should they)

I'm pretty sure, having followed this closely, and doing some work in the industry, that the people who dreamed up this turd didn't intend to pass a censorship bill . . . by and large, they are shills for the big content companies, not mini-Stalins. But they don't think of the abuses (they wouldn't do that!) and perhaps more importantly, when the possible absuses are pointed out, those are not as important as protecting corporate IP, and thus saving their donors a lot of money. The possibility that a website showing videos of police brutality might be shut down pales in comparison to the idea that people are downloading free copies of Avatar.

As a general rule, I don't believe in conspiracies. But I do believe in the banalty of evil, not just in the Eichmann sense, but in the sense that a great deal of evil comes into existence for entirely inane reasons.

Edit: And they very much give a flying eff about copyright infringements. Observe that each time the copyright on Mikey Mouse is about to expire, we get a new copyright law. Very, very wealthy corporations value their intellectual property very highly, and will donate lots of money to anyone Democrat or Republican, that will help them make sure that no one, ever, listens to a song, sees a movie, or reads a book without paying up. They are well on their way to destroying fair use, and if they get their chance, they'll get rid of your ability to buy these things altogether, so you have to pay each time you access them. If they impinge on your privacy and censor your ideas in the process, so what?

[Doberluv]

Don't be fooled into falling for this theater government.

[Lilavati]

Originally Posted by Doberluv

Don't be fooled into falling for this theater government.

It depends on what you mean by theater . . . their attempts to protect our freedoms and, well, actually run the country, are usually theater.

Their attempts to protect their own interests, which means the interests of the people who pay the costs of electing them . . . oh, that's very real. Their attempts to address the "panic of the day" to get more votes, so long as it doesn't harm their own interests or that of their favor lobbyist? Also quite real.

When you attribute actual malevolence to them, you give them too much credit. By and large, they aren't even that competent. If they had the slightest idea what they were doing . . .well, their approval rating might break the double digits.

Our country is not being destroyed by evil geniuses involved in a conspiracy . . . its being destroyed by idiots. Greedy, ignorant, corrupt idiots. That includes not only Congress, but the press, most of the major corporations, most of the think tanks, and, well, just about anyone else who's found themselves a gravy train to hop on board.