Anonymous goes on a rampage in response to Megaupload being shutdown

[Commodore]

Tough beans. The DMV can do the same thing to your driver's license: they can take your license away, any time they please.

It scares me how pro-authority you are.

Anyway, who thinks we are witnessing the opening shots of the first real cyber war.

 

[BasketCase]

And you don't see how that would stifle innovation?

Nope. I think it will encourage innovation, when the innovators receive the rewards they're entitled to. Blizzard is entitled to billions of dollars for its well-written games; Kurtjmac is entitled to the revenues and donations earned through Far Lands or Bust; Philip DeFranco is entitled to whatever he's getting for his witty diatribes. The only exception I can think of is Lady Gaga, who is getting billions of dollars for being a compete no-talent freak and causing me to go through Prozac like Ovenchkin through goalkeepers.

If the government had the power to shut down any website they want without due process.. Well.. how about this. You move to China where laws like that already exist, and you tell us how it is.

That's the thing. This is the United States. This government (even an idiot like Obama) bends over backwards to avoid abusing the powers it has. Given the same powers, places such as China and Syria and North Korea will be much more abusive than the United States is.

Not worried.

 

[ghostmaker650]

Tough beans. The DMV can do the same thing to your driver's license: they can take your license away, any time they please.

The DMV can take away your license because the government OWNS the roads.

The government doesn't OWN the internet.

 

[KMRblue1027]

The DMV can take away your license because the government OWNS the roads.

The government doesn't OWN the internet.

This man just hit the nail on the head

 

[CaptainF]

That's the thing. This is the United States. This government (even an idiot like Obama) bends over backwards to avoid abusing the powers it has. Given the same powers, places such as China and Syria and North Korea will be much more abusive than the United States is.

Not worried.

You heard it here folks...power corrupts! Except if you're a yank, because after all we are a different species.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Nope. I think it will encourage innovation, when the innovators receive the rewards they're entitled to. Blizzard is entitled to billions of dollars for its well-written games; Kurtjmac is entitled to the revenues and donations earned through Far Lands or Bust; Philip DeFranco is entitled to whatever he's getting for his witty diatribes. The only exception I can think of is Lady Gaga, who is getting billions of dollars for being a compete no-talent freak and causing me to go through Prozac like Ovenchkin through goalkeepers.


That's the thing. This is the United States. This government (even an idiot like Obama) bends over backwards to avoid abusing the powers it has. Given the same powers, places such as China and Syria and North Korea will be much more abusive than the United States is.

Not worried.

It is people like you who scare me.

 

[CaptainF]

[citation needed] Explain how it's cognitively dissonant.

In both cases, the government is stifling expression of opinion, like what China does with its internet. Shutting down an entire website because of one person restricts people from disseminating information to others which is a fundamental right. Not to mention the fact that it's tyrannical in the extreme.

So, as long as people aren't arrested, the government can stifle all the free speech it wants? I guess you support book burning, censorship, etc...

 

[cardgame]

Nope. Didn't find that anywhere in SOPA. Though I did find a couple other things that are great ideas: immunity for web sites that voluntarily take action against copyright infringers, and proper avenues by which copyright holders are required to follow in order to file a grievance.

Side note: there's no violation of Freedom of Speech anywhere within SOPA. If you post praise for Wikileaks on Twitter, and the government shuts Twitter down, that's not a violation of Free Speech--however if the government arrests you for writing that tweet? That is a violation of Free Speech. The right to Free Speech does not give you the right to be heard; you are not entitled to a platform on which to speak your piece. If somebody wants to provide you a web site? Fine. If somebody wants to shut down the web site you write posts on? Tough.

If I wrote a opinion piece letter to the editor of a newspaper, and that newspaper printed it and was subsequently shut down by the very people my opinion piece targeted, that's perfectly fine with you then?

 

[BasketCase]

The DMV can take away your license because the government OWNS the roads.

No. The DMV can take your license away because you don't have the right to drive. None of us do, and we never did. Driving is a privilege.

Freedom of Speech is very easy to paint with an overly-broad brush; that freedom does not mean anybody is required to provide you with a platform, and it does not mean anybody else is required to listen to you.

In both cases, the government is stifling expression of opinion, like what China does with its internet.

No way!! The two cases are completely different. When China shuts down a web site, it is stifling free speech. The specific goal of the Chinese government is to control the people. The U.S. government didn't shut down Megaupload to stifle free speech; the government did it to stifle crooks. Consider: why hasn't the U.S. government jumped onto CFC and shut down this thread?? A thread which certainly is chock-full of dissident ideas.....

Gotcha.

So, as long as people aren't arrested, the government can stifle all the free speech it wants? I guess you support book burning, censorship, etc...

I call "slippery slope" fallacy on Dawgphood.

If I wrote a opinion piece letter to the editor of a newspaper, and that newspaper printed it and was subsequently shut down by the very people my opinion piece targeted, that's perfectly fine with you then?

Depends who shut the paper down, and why. If your opinion piece targeted the police and the police shut down the newspaper because the owner of the paper was accused of embezzlement? Then yes. (in order to be relevant here, the newspaper you wrote to would have to have been accused of a crime--the U.S. government didn't pull the plug on Megaupload to stifle free speech, they did it because it's a crime scene and the owners are accused of theft)

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

No way!! The two cases are completely different. When China shuts down a web site, it is stifling free speech. The specific goal of the Chinese government is to control the people. The U.S. government didn't shut down Megaupload to stifle free speech; the government did it to stifle crooks. Consider: why hasn't the U.S. government jumped onto CFC and shut down this thread?? A thread which certainly is chock-full of dissident ideas.....

SOPA has not passed. It currently has to go through a court where it will be scrutinized. If SOPA passes it will not need to go through the court. If SOPA passes, CFC may disappear at the blink of an eye because some executive does not like it.

 

[BasketCase]

If SOPA passes, simply bump it to the Supreme Court and see what they have to say about it.

 

[bombshoo]

No. The DMV can take your license away because you don't have the right to drive. None of us do, and we never did. Driving is a privilege.

You don't need a license to drive on your own property, so it still comes down to the government owning the roads.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

If SOPA passes, simply bump it to the Supreme Court and see what they have to say about it.

I expect that will happen. But I am under the impression it is a slow process.

 

[BasketCase]

You don't need a license to drive on your own property, so it still comes down to the government owning the roads.

The police don't--yet they can arrest you. And no legal entity anywhere in the U.S. has a problem with that.

Irrelevant line of argument is irrelevant, and the use of the repetitive meme (which is repetitive) makes this even more true.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Police don't own the roads? What the...?

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

The police don't--yet they can arrest you. And no legal entity anywhere in the U.S. has a problem with that.

Because the police are enforcers of the government's rules.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

I'm kind of two minds about this:

On one hand, I can see this action SERIOUSLY hurting the freedom of information groups' (EFF, FSA, etc) cause, especially since, AFAIK, all the government authorities went through the proper channels and have enough evidence to Indict the owners of Megauploads.

On the other, Anonymous reminding the entertainment industry fat-cats that they can't just have their way in trampling on everyone's civil rights just to protect their bottom line gives a nice, warm fuzzy feeling inside....

....Although I do not, and will not, condone their tactics.

Anyway, who thinks we are witnessing the opening shots of the first real cyber war.

It's beginning to look like it... I mean, first came the DMCA, then the so-called "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" that essentially grants infinite copyright status to corporations (as if the greedy pricks need any more money!), and now this... I think most people are finally getting pushed past their limit on this issue.

 

[KMRblue1027]

If SOPA passes, simply bump it to the Supreme Court and see what they have to say about it.

We don't have enough liberal judges to make it go away.

 

[ghostmaker650]

No.

Umm yes.

The DMV can take your license away because you don't have the right to drive. None of us do, and we never did. Driving is a privilege.

A drivers license is a little plastic card privileged to people to prove that they are allowed by the government to drive a motor vehicle on government owned roads.

The government doesn't own the internet.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

The government doesn't own the internet.

....at least not yet, however, based on current events, that sure as hell isn't for lack of trying, on their part!