Titan Network: SOPA Blackout
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2012-01-17 19:08 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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Just to bring some expansion on this point... the DMCA is *already* in some cases abused beyond its intention.|
Originally Posted by TonyV
(a vast overreach of power that can--and will--be abused and shut down legitimate sites and weaken the security of the Internet as a whole)
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If you own the copyright to the material, you can get a DMCA request to pull it down.
HOWEVER! (news from 12th December 2011 website: Billboard.biz)
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Last week, MegaUpload shocked the entertainment industry by introducing the "MegaUpload Mega Song," from Will.i.am, Diddy, Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, Kanye West, Lil John, Jamie Foxx, Mary J Blige, Floyd Mayweather,The Game and more. In the video, the stars sing and speak about how much they love MegaUpload, which has often been attacked by the MPAA and the RIAA for facilitating piracy. But the video was quickly removed from YouTube after it was flagged for copyright infringement. MegaUpload says that the takedown notice came from UMG, and tells TorrentFreak that it plans to sue the label. "Let us be clear: Nothing in our song or the video belongs to Universal Music Group," said MegaUpload CEO David Robb. "We have signed agreements with all artists endorsing MegaUpload." |
Overstepping your boundries at all?
I like the analogy that i heard a while ago about what SOPA enabled:
Someone stores counterfeit/illegal goods in a safety deposit box in a bank. The entire chain of bank can now be fully shut down, and no compensation given for any of the *legal* users of said bank, without having to go through courts.
Sounds like overkill... it is true though, infact several user avatars on this forum alone would be enough ground to get the whole game shut down if this passed in its present form.
bah
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Essentially (according to Paul Vixie, the guy who was behind several versions of BIND DNS software), what these idiots want to do is have DNS requests return a "REFUSED" response.|
Originally Posted by Leandro
The wording in your post is confusing, but I believe your interpretation is correct. DNS is like a giant phonebook of the internet, which says "the site at cityofheroes.com is at 64.25.35.207". Tampering with DNS is like burning a phonebook. You can still figure out the phone numbers by asking friends who know them, but you don't have the ability to look them up yourself.
Result: pirates will still share the location of pirate sites via alternative means, but small sites that happened to be caught in the crossfire can no longer reach their audience. |
Unfortunately this doesn't do what's intended.
All "REFUSED" is telling a DNS client is "This server is broken, please try another one".
This simply increases traffic load and DNS server loads as DNS clients are, by design, set to keep attempting to contact a site and route around the damage.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Recent developments: The Whitehouse is against it, the House won't move on it, and two Senators who were once for it, one of whom was the sponsor, has withdrawn their support.
It's dead. A similar bill died last congressional session. It's pretty darned unlikely it will be attempted again this year.
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I don't think supporters are necessarily naive, I think most of them believe those are acceptable casualties of war.|
Originally Posted by TonyV
However, I think that supporters are a bit naive, thinking that these laws will only be applied to sites like The Pirate Bay and/or sites that exist primarily for the explicit purpose of flagrantly violating U.S. copyright laws. They don't know or have forgotten how wildly the big content industries (RIAA/MPAA) have abused what authority they have. Because they don't understand how the Internet works, neither technically nor culturally, they honestly think that these laws will actually curb infringement, not affect legitimate sites very much, won't be abused by big content, and even if they are, that remediation will be easy.
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In any event, the two biggest problems with SOPA and its Senatorial analog are that it mandates specific technical remedies without understanding the consequences of them (the DNS issue was the most obvious) and by its supporters' own admission it invents a class of viable targets for law enforcement simply because they have trouble going after the actual infringers.
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QFE (emphasis mine)|
Originally Posted by Zombie Man
It's pretty darned unlikely it will be attempted again this year.
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Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Essentially (according to Paul Vixie, the guy who was behind several versions of BIND DNS software), what these idiots want to do is have DNS requests return a "REFUSED" response.
Unfortunately this doesn't do what's intended. All "REFUSED" is telling a DNS client is "This server is broken, please try another one". This simply increases traffic load and DNS server loads as DNS clients are, by design, set to keep attempting to contact a site and route around the damage. |
That's the same kind of thing hackers do to proxy your traffic through their computer and set up a man in the middle attack.
IIRC that part was already removed from the House version.
If anybody wants a little laugh about this isssue, read this: http://gawker.com/5877192/stupid-hig...pedia-blackout
Be warned that it does include some foul language and may make you laugh out loud, so it may not be wise to read at work.
Anyway, I'm glad to see all of this happening. I've read up a bit on SOPA and it sounds absolutely terrible. Hopefully all the protesting will be heard and SOPA/PIPA will die.
And speaking of protestors: I read that Minecraft is blacked out today, as is vgcats.
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Just to nitpick, it's not dead. It's shelved. If it were dead, it wouldn't be AT ALL like to be attempted EVER AGAIN. It's not dead. We have to remain aware.
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Originally Posted by Zombie Man
Recent developments: The Whitehouse is against it, the House won't move on it, and two Senators who were once for it, one of whom was the sponsor, has withdrawn their support.
It's dead. A similar bill died last congressional session. It's pretty darned unlikely it will be attempted again this year. |
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Wow. Go, 'Mericah!
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Originally Posted by treboreleets
If anybody wants a little laugh about this isssue, read this: http://gawker.com/5877192/stupid-hig...pedia-blackout
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Minecraft is redded out. Freaking damnit, Notch, my eyes!
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Originally Posted by treboreleets
And speaking of protestors: I read that Minecraft is blacked out today, as is vgcats. |
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GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Notch, my eyes!
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Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Amen.
My only question is:
Who is supporting SOPA outside of the media? How are these guys still pushing without jack squat for support?
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I feel that we are doomed from those responses v.v
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Originally Posted by treboreleets
If anybody wants a little laugh about this isssue, read this: http://gawker.com/5877192/stupid-hig...pedia-blackout
Be warned that it does include some foul language and may make you laugh out loud, so it may not be wise to read at work. |
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Lots of big blogs too: John Scalzi's Whatever, Boing Boing, Cory Doctorow's craphound,...|
Originally Posted by treboreleets
And speaking of protestors: I read that Minecraft is blacked out today, as is vgcats. |
And some webcomics like Questionable Content, Wasted Talent and Ctrl+Alt+Del.
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$$$
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Originally Posted by Zenlon
How are these guys still pushing without jack squat for support?
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I don't like to be disagreeable, but I believe this is incorrect. My understanding is that it won't be moved on again until February. Quite different from dead. My preferred source for news on SOPA/PIPA is torrentfreak, which has already been referenced in this thread.|
Originally Posted by Zombie Man
Recent developments: The Whitehouse is against it, the House won't move on it, and two Senators who were once for it, one of whom was the sponsor, has withdrawn their support.
It's dead. A similar bill died last congressional session. It's pretty darned unlikely it will be attempted again this year. |
No offense at all intended to Zombie Man. But with all due respect, I will put torrentfreak's take on this bills status over his.
It's not how many times you get knocked down that count. It's how many times you get up.
There's so much I could say, but instead I am going to simply say...
Thank you, TonyV.
(I also really like that spotlight effect on the blackout page!)
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and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
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I used the Mozilla template for my sites, because it has a lot more information, and the spotlight effect probably doesn't work well with people who are stuck on older versions of IE and don't even know that a web browser is supposed to be updated.
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Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
(I also really like that spotlight effect on the blackout page!)
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Ok, if I'm reading you correctly - you're voluntarily blocking our access to the site because of this political fiasco? One that's not even remotely likely of passing?
Congressmen look at you tube, FB and other sites just like the rest of us. They'd be more likely to vote themselves a pay cut than let that piece of legislation pass.
"Most people that have no idea what they are doing have no idea that they don't know what they are doing." - John Cleese
@Ukase
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BTW, you do know that the legislation (both SOPA and PIPA), if they passed in their current form would enable the removal of facebook/youtube and other sites *without* due process... it doesn't matter if congressmen use it, the fact that they put this forward without even thinking about the consequences to THEIR OWN internet usage just shows how shortsighted they are.|
Originally Posted by Ukaserex
Ok, if I'm reading you correctly - you're voluntarily blocking our access to the site because of this political fiasco? One that's not even remotely likely of passing?
Congressmen look at you tube, FB and other sites just like the rest of us. They'd be more likely to vote themselves a pay cut than let that piece of legislation pass. |
*edit in* To take the current legislation to it extreme point... even linking images that you do not own the copyright to (like i would assume several people's avatars, and the image that Hyperstrike linked earlier on in the thread) would be enough for the copyright holder to get this forum closed *end of edit*
The argument that you just came up with has been used in the UK when disabled people were protesting against the now proposed changes to their benefits... the removal of *some* of those benefits could actually make the person unemployed... Of course, some *ABLED* bodied people said that if they were able to get to the protest then there was nothing wrong with them and they shouldn't be protesting about cuts that wouldn't be affecting them! (of course, you are just one bad accident away from becoming disabled yourself!)
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Protests have caused a lot of businesses to retract their original support for the two bills - see GoDaddy for the canonical example. |
Originally Posted by Ukaserex
Ok, if I'm reading you correctly - you're voluntarily blocking our access to the site because of this political fiasco? One that's not even remotely likely of passing?
Congressmen look at you tube, FB and other sites just like the rest of us. They'd be more likely to vote themselves a pay cut than let that piece of legislation pass. |
When these bills first came out, it wasn't at all clear they would not pass until protests and opposition began to pick up momentum. Its not at all clear to me now that this thing is dead: it is still being lobbied heavily by content companies and sometimes these things slip by when no one is looking. The important thing is to make sure Congress knows everyone is looking. SOPA is exactly the kind of legislation people try to pass quietly and without a lot of attention focused on it. Its only now less likely to pass because of attention. That attention cannot be perceived to be temporary or fleeting, or the lobby for these laws will simply wait out the attention.
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In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
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Originally Posted by Ukaserex
Ok, if I'm reading you correctly - you're voluntarily blocking our access to the site because of this political fiasco? One that's not even remotely likely of passing?
Congressmen look at you tube, FB and other sites just like the rest of us. They'd be more likely to vote themselves a pay cut than let that piece of legislation pass. |
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.
And how many people comprise both houses?
Maybe you still have a rosy outlook for the thieves, scoundrels and assorted scumbags running this country, but many don't.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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The thing is, in a lot of cases it's not actually artists, authors, etc that are pushing SOPA.|
Originally Posted by Zenlon
Amen.
My only question is: Who is supporting SOPA outside of the media? How are these guys still pushing without jack squat for support? |
It's "Industry Groups" that are doing it. Essentially middle-men. Ostensibly for the protection of said artists, authors and other content producers. But mostly to justify their own existence.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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FYI, your Avatar would be considered to be a violation of both SOPA and PIPA. Which in turn would mean the COH forums would be locked down because of that.
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Originally Posted by Ukaserex
Ok, if I'm reading you correctly - you're voluntarily blocking our access to the site because of this political fiasco? One that's not even remotely likely of passing?
Congressmen look at you tube, FB and other sites just like the rest of us. They'd be more likely to vote themselves a pay cut than let that piece of legislation pass. |
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Originally Posted by PapaSlade
Rangle's right....this is fun.
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Result: pirates will still share the location of pirate sites via alternative means, but small sites that happened to be caught in the crossfire can no longer reach their audience.
www.SaveCOH.com: Calls to Action and Events Calendar
This is what 3700 heroes in a single zone looks like.
Thanks to @EnsonsDeath for the GVE code that made me VIP again!