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January 18th, 2012 is the largest internet protest in history

12 years ago

Just a heads up to everyone!

Not sure how or who this will affect but I guess we will know tomorrow!

Here is a link that might be useful: SOPASTRIKE

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Comments (24)

ravencajun Zone 8b TX
12 years ago
Google has its name blacked out.
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
12 years ago
Well, correct me I'm wrong, but I'm not seeing anything bad about SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and in fact see it as a good thing.

From Wikipedia linked below...
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.[2] Presented to the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the PROTECT IP Act.[3]

The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.[4]

So really...in a nutshell, if you are a cyber thief, then you will be blocked...right? What am I missing? I'm guessing that maybe it would make it hard for search engines to uphold their end of the law or something?

Here is a link that might be useful: Wiki...there's more
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Vee, the way I've usually heard anti-American used is by non-Americans: "I hope this doesn't appear anti-American, but..." and then they proceed to bombard the listener (an American most likely) with all the failings and evils of Americans. It's similar to the way Great Britain used to be blamed for everything. Then there is a segment of the American population (think Left or liberal) who feel they must blame the U.S. for all the ills in the world, from the most recent back to before the U.S. even existed. It seems to be some sort of compensatory effort to assuage their guilt for being over-privileged. Hollywood-types are especially noisy about doing this. It's a bit rich that those who once screamed loudest in protest of Big Brother are now the ones who think Big Brother is not doing enough. Carolyn summed it up. Yes I did forget that group, Carolyn, and at least ten other really absurd ones such as the Fashion Police and the Standards-of-Beauty Police: all Americans must have perfect teeth and any hair that sprouts anywhere on the body below the chin (on men) or the nape of the neck (on women) must be gotten rid of. My conclusion is people aren't happy unless they can find fault with or blame somebody else. I'm a cynical old bag, I suppose. :-(
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We've had a lot more sunshine the last two days and have been so glad to see it. I've been spending as much time as possible outdoors in the sun, so less time inside cleaning house or on my computer. I'm going to head outdoors in a minute now just as soon as the temperature gets up above freezing. It was 29 degrees the last time I looked at the thermometer, but the sun is up now so I should be able to go out shortly. Kim, Thanks for not keeping the sunshine too long. We needed it here too. I would have like to have watched you lasso the sun and haul it off to the TX panhandle. We awakened yesterday morning to a thin sheet of ice coating the trees and fences and other exposed surfaces. Since no rain had fallen, I assume we had freezing fog during the night. There also was very heavy dew on the grass, but I've never seen dew freeze on tree trunks and limbs like what we saw on our front yard trees yesterday. Of course, it melted away as soon as the sun rose. Bon, We are at a little over 71" of rain so far this year. Our previous record, from 1990, is a little over 59", so our rainfall record wasn't just broken, it was smashed. Everything here is mud, mud, mud. It is crazy....and yet we spent several months in various stages from being Abnormally Dry to Extreme Drought. Our weather here is just so bizarre. I always say I'd like to have a normal weather year for once, but I think for OK, bizarre weather that swings from one extreme to another is our "normal", so maybe I should ask for an abnormal year with no extremes. Patti, We have multiple rain gauges that I check and empty daily, and several thermometers, all posted at 5' above ground in full shade. I started tracking my own weather when I began to realize that our rainfall/temperatures almost always vary a great deal from our local Mesonet station, which sits NW of us by several miles. The weather data recorded by our local NWS Cooperative Observer is a bit more similar to ours than that from the Mesonet station as his house is about halfway between the Mesonet station and our house, but even so, some days he records a lot more or less rain than we have. For years, I used to record our daily high, low and precipitation total on a regular wall calendar, but found that when I got really busy in gardening and canning season then I would forget to record the totals. Now I mostly keep a running rainfall total in my head. For me, the big catalyst that pushed me to watch my own weather closely was a day in late April or early May almost a decade ago when our forecast low was around 50 degrees and we dropped to 32 degrees. Almost my entire garden froze to the ground, and I had tomato plants that were 3' tall and had fruit the size of baseballs (prior to that freeze, we had been frost-free and above-freezing for many weeks). I began to see the value of recording our own rainfall in the 2006-2007-2009 time frame on days we were forecast to have 2-3" of rain and got 6.25"-9.25" or 5" of forecast rain actually gave us a total of 12.89". Because rain can vary greatly over a small area (even gauges I have 200-300' from each other often record remarkably different amounts), I knew I needed to record our own actual rainfall instead of relying on the official totals. Most years, by the end of the calendar year, our rainfall total from home, the local CO-OP observer and the Mesonet station end up being fairly similar even if they varied from one another a great deal during a certain part of the year, so I guess it all averages out in the year. Still, I want to know how much rain fell on my yard and garden, not 3 or 6 or 9 miles away. I don't keep any written records of what, where, how, etc. I plant. I am not a numbers person. I just plant until I have what feels like "enough" of each thing in the ground and then I stop. I've been doing this for decades, and I know how much harvest I generally get from planting a set amount of each item, and I don't really mean that I know 30 broccoli plants give us all we can eat fresh plus fills up the freezer.....I just transplant broccoli plants into the ground until it feels right for that year's timing/weather and then I stop. So, my gardening is not mechanical/planned so much as it is intuitive. When you garden intuitively, your brain is, of course, operating like a little computer and is looking at the current weather conditions/timing (big difference in everything if the last frost is the first week of March as opposed to the first week of May) as you plant and directing you what to do. I jokingly say that I listen to "the voices in my head", but I don't mean that in a schizo way....I mean it in an intutive way. The great thing about gardening here is that we can sow succession crops from January or February through October or November, so there's always a chance to plant another round of something if you don't get enough of it planted the first time. I try to keep every square inch of my garden planted at all times, partly because I hate wasted space and partly because Mother Nature will plant weeds in any spot I leave vacant for a week. Since I'd rather harvest veggies, fruits, flowers or herbs as opposed to pulling weeds, I immediately replant any harvested area. So, for example, if I harvest the last of the broccoli or cabbage on a late Spring morning, then in the afternoon I am putting pepper plants, bush beans or southern pea seeds or whatever in the newly empty space. Just from being in my garden daily, I knew how much of everything is thriving, what is or isn't planted yet, and what I need to use to fill any newly open space that resulted from the harvesting of an early crop. I also often intercrop, growing 2 or 3 types of edible plants in the space most people use only for one. For example, I often grow lettuce and carrots as living ground covers beneath tomato or pepper plants. I grow sugar snap peas on a trellis, and grow cabbage or lettuce in a row along the south side of the trellis so that peas grow above and cabbage or lettuce (or kale or Swiss chard or whatever) below. For privacy and security reasons, I decline to give you or anyone else my coordinates and I don't post photos that show what our garden looks like since it is very visible from the road. My husband is in law enforcement and prefers we guard our privacy on the internet. Because of his decades in law enforcement, we know that criminal types often prowl social media and internet forums looking for folks to burglarize, etc., and we decline to make it easy for any of them to find us. I realize this not a popular stance nowadays when people post photos of their entire lives in ways easily accessible to public view but we are old dinosaurs and we aren't going to change. It isn't members of this forum we worry about, it is the fact that such things, once posted, can be seen by anyone who bothers to look for them. There was, in fact, a member of this forum (now deceased) who lived on the same road as us and not too far from our house. It didn't bother me that he knew where we lived until another neighbor (highly reliable) told me some troubling things about that person. After that, I wasn't entirely comfortable knowing that he knew where our house was but, in fairness to him, nothing creepy ever happened here, as far as I know. He figured out where our house was just because I once mentioned a next-door neighbor by name and he knew where that person lived, so I've learned to keep my mouth shut about stuff like that. I did look at satellite photos of our place from the air once or twice and it was disappointing. Because our garden is, in essence, in a clearing in a woodland, all you see are trees, which hide the house and the garden. In the winter, everything is the same color since all the mulched beds and paths are mulched with hay and leaves and blend in with everything around them. The only satellite photo I ever found of our place showing how it looked in winter was well over a decade old and looked nothing like our place looks now. All my raised beds are 4' wide and run east-west and all the pathways are 2' wide. It really isn't anything special to look at. There's no amazing layout or anything. It is just an old dirt garden and I am an old dirt gardener. This spring will be our 18th spring garden here and trees on the west and north that weren't too very tall when we broke ground for the garden are incredibly tall and wide now and looming high above it. (I knew this day would come eventually, but the garden spot is in just about the only really sunny place we have that doesn't flood heavily, so putting it someplace else was not an option.) In fact, the trees on the north lean over towards the garden at an increasingly awkward angle, stealing its sunlight more and more each year. I have been shrinking down the front garden for about a decade now, making it smaller every year by surrending space back to the woods on the north and west sides, but am tired of giving back space to Mother Nature. We are contemplating spending the month of January either cutting down about a dozen huge trees that sit north and west of the garden (this will involve removing the fence lest it be crushed and then putting it back up again), or moving the fence and taking in more space to the east to make up for what the trees are shading out on the north and west. We wanted to do it last winter, but it rained nonstop so we couldn't work outdoors enough to do much of anything. I worry this winter will be the same. I once had a garden that was almost square, considering we had to work around existing trees, a pond, the driveway, etc. Now it is increasingly become a longer, narrower rectangle year after year. Who knows what we'll end up with this spring after we cut trees and/or move the fence, etc. I built a lot of my early raised beds using the lasagna gardening method of layering materials atop one another. Now, as the garden stretches out in length and narrows in width, my lasagna garden is turning into a linguine or spaghetti garden. Now, I'm headed outdoors for most of the rest of the day. Dawn
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My boyfriend and I were with the 250,000 in NYC. We came from his house in Brooklyn, and the subway was jam-packed. Got off at Grand Central Station onto a very crowded 42nd Street and got swept into the crowd up 5th Avenue. 10 blocks away from Trump Tower it was impossible to move even on 6th and Madison Avenues & crowds spilled over onto Park as well – the entire mid-town of Manhattan was taken over. There were men and women of all ages, colors, languages and persuasions and everyone was polite, helpful and respectful. I didn’t see any anti-protests. When we had dinner on 2nd Avenue I was shocked to see on TV the lying press conference by Sean Spicer. It was so much like the dictatorships in 3rd-world countries when he said this was the biggest inaugural celebration in history, period, and that's how it must be reported. Wow. We must keep up the fight.
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Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
12 years ago
hmmm...might that mean the Ebay would be forced to 'not allow' the sale of counterfeit goods?

Here is an interesting read...check out the links in the thread also....if you like. The ebay seller was selling a 'knock-off' Snuggie
don_1_2006
12 years ago
Anyone that thinks politicians will do something to make the internet better please raise your hand. There is a reason these respected sites are protesting.
grandms
12 years ago
Agree with don_1. Politicians should leave their hands off the Internet.
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
12 years ago
Well I'm thinking it would give someone the right/power to shut down a lot of these hucksters on the net.

It used to be that people selling counterfeit goods locally, could be shut down locally. Now the world is the market for those wanting to sell their fake Rolexs, cheap Nike, whatever, etc. We've all seen the spam here where hucksters are 'pushing' their illegal wares.

I'm all for shutting down a lot of the illegal internet activity.

Here is a link that might be useful: google results for cheap Rolex
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
12 years ago
Here is a list of participants in the protest.

Here is a link that might be useful: list
aufin
12 years ago
MY opinion, for what it's worth, is the Govt. camel's nose is already way too far into the tent. I've had enough government "helping" me micromanage things. This bill will turn out to be nothing more/less than an avenue to censorship. And, who's going to be appointed Czar of this one?

"Just my opinion ...... I coud be wrong."
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
12 years ago
Sure just a handful that I recognize.

I found this at one of the sites that is shut down:
If either one passes, your favorite sites could disappear forever.

Another site says:
Over coming days you'll be hearing from the many businesses, advocacy organizations, and ordinary Americans who oppose this legislation because of the myriad ways in which it will stifle free speech and innovation.

Stifle free speech??? What?

I'm guessing those sites then are all for enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.
I'm guessing that they are trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Why else would they be fighting the Bill? I wonder if the vast majority of them have even read it, or if they are just playing 'follow the leader'.

What am I missing? One other site mentioned censorship? What???
mike_kaiser_gw
12 years ago
I think the key word is "enabling". Let's say that I happen to have a site that peddles pirated merchandise. Through the normal course of indexing the Internet, Google's bots come upon my site. The current form of the law may Google responsible for determining the authenticity of the goods I'm selling or being penalized for having a link to my site.

Then there's the word "alleged". My site gets shut down, unlinked, whatever, because a lawyer at [pick the name of the company] alleges I've done something wrong. Now I have to spend how much to hire a lawyer and fight a multi-billion dollar company?

How about if I have a personal blog and link to another site? How many of us here have included links to other sites? What happens if one of those site, unbeknownst to us, happens to have stolen IP on them?

While I'm all in favor of protecting IP, what's being suggested is akin to making you responsible for what I do.
bob414
12 years ago
Here are the Top 5 Objections to SOPA, PIPA.
bob414
12 years ago
I found this report on last night's PBS Newshour informative.
grandms
12 years ago
While there is undoubtedly lots of objectionable material on the Internet, I have no desire for the government to limit what I can or cannot do. Just look at what has happened, and is happening, in China. Many people are using something akin to Twitter to voice their opinions about things. The government is about to put an end to that. Is this what we want? I want to be free to visit any sites I wish, post what I wish, download what I wish, without fear of "Big Brother" following every keystroke. And, while that may seem remote, it could very well be the final results down the road if government is involved.
don_1_2006
12 years ago
Here is part of an e-mail I just received.

"The bill claims to protect against unlawful copyright infringement by shutting down sites that post copyrighted material. But its vague wording means that search engines could end up blocking access to entire websites for containing just the smallest portion of infringing content."

As usual big brother goes overboard.
DA_Mccoy
12 years ago
I totally support the basic intent and I decry the Chicken Littles....."the sky is falling". This is not about censorship, it is about ownership. Sites like Google, YouTube, and Facebook want to just be able to make their money without any responsibility or any care, and all this at the sacrifice of those who created and/or own the pirated material.

In the unfinished product being considered there are steps before any action is taken. The entire charade is solely about money nothing else; both sides.

Until the bills come out in their final form for a final joint vote I reserve my opinion as to passage.

DA
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
12 years ago
I decry the Chicken Littles....."the sky is falling".
Remember back in 2006, I think it was, that GW came up with new Terms of Service. Yes, you would have thought the sky was falling and that GW was going to be publishing books with members pics in them, or worse yet, maybe selling prints of pics posted here on GW. Much to-do about nothing.
fruitjarfla
12 years ago
And whooda ever thought that our Gubbermint would outlaw my 100 watt light bulb? Perhaps next -- requiring a license to operate a wheel chair, but the fee (that's a tax, son) wouldn't be very much.
DA_Mccoy
12 years ago
FJF,

I know that you are making light of the thread, but did you ever think about this?

People protest the Canadian pipline.
People protest off shore drilling.
People protest coal energy use.
People protest nuclear power.

I personally have thought about it, and I always ask what is the alternative?

Back in the 60's when they announced the planned reduction and elimination of leaded gas people complained as though the world would come to an end. Well, I just looked out the window of my office, and guess what? We are still here.

Do I believe the CFLs and LEDs are the panacea to electrical usage based on lighting? Nope. There just the alternatives we have now, and I keep my fingers crossed for something better. I just don't want governemnt involved. Read here.....Solyndra.

And so you know in my home I am 1/2 CFL and 1/2 incandecent.
DA
grandms
12 years ago
And I cannot read using the CFLs. They just are not bright enough for my old eyes. The ones that are supposed to be the "equivalent" of 100W incandescent are not at all.
DA_Mccoy
12 years ago
Bobbie,

I wonder if that might be a result of brand or style. I do know they come in "soft white" as I am looking at a Sylvania $5.00 coupon right now.

I have Sylvania three-ways in two of my living room table lamps, and they are fine. I also have four 60W equivalent "mini"in the ceiling fan of the dining room. They too are fine.

DA
owbist
12 years ago
It was my understanding that in the last month sometime America along with our Canadian government had rescinded the order banning incandescent light bulbs. This due to the concern over disposal of the newer and seemingly dangerous bulbs. LED lights appear to be leading the charge now.
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
12 years ago
The ones that are supposed to be the "equivalent" of 100W incandescent are not at all.
I feel the same way.

And I cannot read using the CFLs. They just are not bright enough for my old eyes.
I know and it is no fun. To me it is comparable to trying to read something without my reading glasses.

It was my understanding that in the last month sometime America along with our Canadian government had rescinded the order banning incandescent light bulbs. This due to the concern over disposal of the newer and seemingly dangerous bulbs.
I was thinking that too, but don't know of a reliable source for the info.
OK...Found the info ...see link below.

This due to the concern over disposal of the newer and seemingly dangerous bulbs.
Well I sure have to agree with them there. Just like batteries of all types. Just how many households do you 'think' religiously (as in always) see that used batteries are disposed of properly?

Here is a link that might be useful: Congress Spares Incandescent Bulbs
DA_Mccoy
12 years ago
Not taking sides or promoting as I concur there may be some potential concerns as to disposal of a CFL. I always keep in mind an old style mercury thermometer had 125 times the mercury of CFLs. Plus some of us, hand raised here, use to take a finger and play with mercury when a thermometer broke. I still have all my fingers and I didn't grow a second head.

I have been wondering too if some of the resistance is based on the initial cost of purchase. When a homeowner can go to the dollar store and get four incandescents for a dollar versus the outlay for CFLs and LEDs there has to be some eye opening and questions. I also keep in mind some people just can't live with change of any type.

The world didn't end when the nation went from analog television to HD.

I have had two CFL's fail; one flickered and one just stopped working. Like many of my others, they were warranted for nine years. Each time I e-mailed Sylvania and provided them with the requested date of purchase, location and the UPC number. The first time they sent me a $5.00 voucher/coupon and the second a $10.00 voucher/coupon both good for any Sylvania product. No muss, no fuss, and each time I made some money.

I know someone out there wonders as to how I disposed of the two failures. Answer: I drive past the recycling center every day going to work.

DA
grandms
12 years ago
Just an aside that makes me smile: seems the incandescent bulb issue was one of the "tea party's" pets. I'm quite a distance over on the road from the tea party. LOL!

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