Hate to make posts like this, but I think it bares mention.

The American government and Entertainment industries are trying to pass the SOPA and PIPA bills, this month, that will basically be used to censor the internet.

You can read more about it at the following links:
http://www.vggen.com/news/news.php?id=10778
http://americancensorship.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

While I won't go into the vast negative effect this will have on the internet as a whole (Even to those outside of the USA), I will bring up that this could potentially put IMCDB in trouble.

This bill would give the Entertainment industry the right to prosecute any website caught hosting copyrighted material, which includes screen shots of movies (Like the ones we post here for the cars.). Granted, as this site is owned/operated outside the USA, all they could really do is censor it so it would not be accessible to anyone in America. They could also sue any American user who submitted copyrighted material.


I am sorry to make a political/spam type post here, but as an American who not only enjoys IMCDB but other sites who will be highly effected (Google,Facebook, wikipedia, Etc.), I feel it is relevant and highly necessary that awareness is raised before this is passed. If you feel this post is in bad taste, Please feel free to delete it.

Many websites plan to "go dark" on Wednesday the 18th to show their stance against this bill, with major sites like Wikipedia and Google considering joining in.


If you would like to find out ways to help fight these bills, click the below link. They have ways for Americans, and non-Americans to easily express their feelings to those who will decide if this passes or not!

http://americancensorship.org/ (The site has a way for Americans to contact their senators easily, and also a way for Non-Americans to contact the state dept. too). One major concern is that if this passes in the USA, it could convince other countries to follow and censor their internet as well.

A good idea to "go dark" in protest IMO, any form of censorship/regulation of the internet would make America no better than China.

Incidentally this is under Obama, who signed the NDAA act during the holidays in hopes that no one would notice (= indefinite detention without trial), so I don't know what this guy is doing...

What do you mean by "go dark"? Disable the site for that day, keeping just an info page?

Yes, Exactly that.

As far as I understand, Most of the smaller participating sites (Like Reddit, and some other I haven't heard of) are planning on taking their entire site offline from 8am to 8pm and just replacing it with a message informing people of their stance on the SOPA/PIPA bills, and letting people know how to contact the people behind the bills.

Wikipedia and other big sites (Like Google) have mentioned that they might join the protest, but have said it is unlikely that they will take the sites offline and will probably just put up big messages about it on their home pages.


EDIT: also, here is a video about PIPA/SOPA, that explains the negative impact better then I can: http://vimeo.com/31100268

At 8am in most of the US timezones I am sleeping
I'll have either to do that around 6am EST, or add it with a test on the time in the page to switch automatically at the right time.

I support the "go dark" for IMCDb. Just saying.

A timer would be a good idea, or we could shut it off a little early (I always forget how far ahead of my time zone most of the members here are!).

Also, I just read on Fox news website that Amazon.com is thinking of joining the protest in some way, and as they own IMDb.com, This might mean we will see IMDb go dark for the protest as well.


The people behind the strike now have this site: http://sopastrike.com/ (If you scroll down a bit, you will see a section that gives some ideas on how to set up a strike on your own site, that might make it easier for us to join in.)

Do you have a text that I could put on the site then for that day? It is better than just putting the link without explanation I suppose

Well, I actually just saw a news link on Facebook that said the U.S. Congress has announced that the bills are now "Postponed indefinitely", after the White House and Obama came out against the bills.

So, Now I am not sure there is a need to protest as the threat appears to be over. The mere idea of IMCDb going dark must have scared them! I will see what the protest sites say in the morning, and update you all then!

nice

Wikipedia has a banner up now stating that all English language pages will be Blacked out in 22 hours, and other sites plan on following. I am not sure why though, as everything I have read seems to state that both bills have been shelved and the White House has said that it will Veto them if they try to pass them.

Wikipedia explaining their black-out:

I added the "stop censorship" black box on the logo, that's already better than nothing

I checked today, and they didn't. However, Amazon.com does have a segment on their page titled "Reasons to Oppose or Modify SOPA," with a clickable link.

http://www.netcoalition.com/


Plus, in spite of the blackout of Wikipedia, their affiliat Wikimedia Commons is still operating.

antp's banner already having effect:



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/technology/web-protests-piracy-bill-and-2-key-senators-change-course.html

facebook and google along with other sites did this on 11.16.2011 as well...

Yeah, Amazon has a small link (which blends in with their page!). So far, I have noticed Wikipedia is all black, Google is blacked out, 4chan has 'censored' (For lack of better word, as that site is never actually censored. lol) their entire website, Even craigslist.org has a message up on the site, and of course IMCDB is censored as well.

I'm surprised Youtube hasn't done anything to show support.

I guess the site to check out now for anyone looking to help out/contact those in charge is: www.sopastrike.com

I guess I can remove the black box thing now then.

Anyone who supports SOPA is an idiot. This thing will really fu*k up the web. There are so many videos, blogs and webpages out there that expose this stupid law for what it is and how hypocritical the supporters are of it. That kid in the news - Richard O'Dwyer lives just a few towns away from me. I know he's made a lot of money from his site (even though he has only linked to "illegal" video sites, which is what so many people do everyday - he hasn't actually uploaded any illegal video files), but the fact that he's been flown over to the US because he "broke US law" even though he lives in the UK??? That's messed up. I fully support Richard and his family on this one.

And these idiots who are in charge of the major corporations (money and power does not equal intelligence) who want to pass SOPA and PIPA are naive to think that they'll "end piracy". I'm not supporting piracy here, nor do I recommend it, but piracy has always been around in many forms, long before the net. But to regulate and "control" or even censor the entire net in order to stop it is just stupid. It will take a long time if actual piracy is ever going to be completely abolished and there are fine lines between what is "piracy" and what is not.

My thanks go to Antp for posting that simple, yet highly effective banner.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087135/Richard-ODwyer-US-extradition-pact-misused-says-Sir-Menzies-Campbell.html?ito=feeds-newsxml