US members please take a couple of minutes and think about this

I don't want to start a political thread. Frankly I don't care if there is any discussion of this on this list at all. We talk flashlights!

I am posting this only because this is a community I belong to and I think it is my civic duty to inform my community. I think this is very important and I think it requires action from many average people to protect our future. Tomorrow is a big vote! You may disagree and that is fine as well. All I ask is that you take a few minutes to look at what is at stake by reading the links below and take action that you think is appropriate.

http://americancensorship.org/

Thanks,

Wade

Someone must have censored their website because it is down...

Ok, now its back up. I don't think it is that big a deal, it is primarily an anti-pirating bill.

Not sure how you could say that if you read the bill. This bill gives someone the ability to take away someone's livelihood based on an unproven accusation. The burden of proof is shifted to the accused. A huge change in the fundamental principles this country was built on.

I too think piracy should be enforced. However, this is a truly horrible way to go about it. If the bill is passed as it is written, most likely this site would be taken down. All it would take would be for the guy who runs the real ultra fire site to simply file a complaint and the ISP would have to block this site. It would then be the burden of the site owner to prove that they are not infringing.

Read the bill.

Wade

in the light of what is about to transpire in 2012, this is rather minutiae...

I'm on your team but let's get real-

p.s. minutiae font on purpose

In a lot of countries the mere accusation is = to Guilt , the the burden of proof is on the accused = to prove he is not guilty ..

This seems to be the trend we are moving towards all over the world ..

I guess everyone is getting lazy , no one wants to work .. Politicians , bankers , teachers , Doctors , now Im not saying there all profit-taking low life who want every last dollar you have , because some are very hard working in deed , but there is a growing trend towards doing less and taking more ...

So why should the law makers be any different ... Prove your not guilty , cos if your not guilty , it should be easy ..

Cos proving guilt , can be hard !

And no one likes hard these days !

So the path of least resistance , is the path that looks the best

..some sort of safeguard: eg. The AG must..."first provide a written notification identifying the site to related payment network providers and Internet advertising services requiring such entities to forward the notification and suspend their services to such an identified site unless the site's owner, operator, or domain name registrant, upon receiving the forwarded notification, provides a counter notification explaining that it is not dedicated to engaging in specified violations."

I read the bill, I read the pros and cons, I am not concerned that it will impact this site.

It very well may impact advertising links to sites like MF or DX if they continue to sell bogus Benchmade knives, etc.

Truthfully, that would be a good thing. I hope they get nailed for advertising 560 lumen lights as 1000 lumens too, but you and I know that it ain't gonna happen. The US govt still won't be able to shut those sites down, only try to shut down links to those sites from US-based search engines or advertising media.

I don't see this bill as threatening free speech or as pro-censorship legislation. But I'd rather they work at getting those stupid pop-up ads off the bottom corners of my TV screen when I'm trying to watch a movie than what links Google posts.

just keep eroding rights so BIG CORP can sell music , movies and make crazy profits for a few rich POS's
if its an artist playing a venue earning a buck good for them , make some money .


those people that make big bucks off this are pist because they used to sell CDs for $20 a pop and became super rich.
wonder why ppl started copying tapes n cds n files , not tht its "right. but selling commercials on the radio and so on became not enough money .

it feeds into the biggest issueS of our times GREED - wallStreet BS messed up the world economy really ?!?! should that even be feasible !

this is just like every back door tactic employed , they look like they are "protecting the rights of the artist" etc - when they probably want legal means to quiet sites/people/and the TRUTH .

So let me get this straight, you are saying you are in favor of pirated music/movies/software?

no i prefer freedom

Freedom to steal other people’s stuff, or freedom to protect your own stuff? The two are diametrically opposed, you know that, right?

rofl - i am sure my post isnt entirely clear but.

stealing = bad

greed = bad

freedom = good

the point is there is more than meets the eye , go check out some conspiracy sites for educational purposes infowars or something. yes take it with a grain of salt but when we are not able to go to certain sites and ULTIMATELY get information other than the spoon fed media.

I really hope you are right. From what I read, I don't think so, but hopefully I will be wrong;-)

Actually they will be able to shut any site down that the government or someone with political clout simply wants shut down. Without DNS no one will find it and even if they did find the site it wouldn't be able to stay in business if financial transfers were blocked. The US government cannot control China but you can bet it can control PayPal.

[quote=trooplewis]

I don't see this bill as threatening free speech or as pro-censorship legislation.

[/quote]

Again I hope you are right. You have more faith in our government actually standing up to people with deep pockets and doing the right thing than I do. There is simply nothing in the legislation that prevents the government from blocking speech that it doesn't like without evidence that the site is actually doing something wrong. The only protection that the blocking order is legit is the complicity of the government.

I guess we did it to ourselves. Our society and economic model has evolved to the point where we require our governing officials to essentially 'lock us up for our own good.' Look how complex we have made life for ourselves.

Yes, this is an exaggeration now, but likely the inevitable future we are about to face if we keep going down this path. We already have a precursor to this in the form of mental health institutions (there are pro's and con's).

You mean like this?

With all this crap going on, you've got to wonder exactly who our representatives think they work for.