Thread: CISPA The New Internet Censorship Bill...

Yeah I'm not sure If this is the same bill in Arizona that's trying to Censor the Internet or not however Congress is trying to pass a new bill called CISPA to censor the Internet very similiar to that of SOPA/PIPA:

CISPA: Congressional plan to censor Internet concerns critics - Portland Progressive | Examiner.com

They just have to refuse to bury it permanently. I still worry whether or not the images you've saved count as censorship.

Nothing to do with the Arizona bill... this is completely different.
I really haven't looked at the bill at all so I don't have a real opinion on it. @Ghetsis-Dennis - What do you mean "images you've saved"? Like, if you find pictures on websites and save them to your hard drive? You aren't really allowed to be saving images like that in the first place unless they're your images or in the public domain or the copyright holder gives you permission to do so. But really, who's going to find out about images you've downloaded in the past? Unless your computer breaks and the repair man finds the images and reports you... or the government confiscates your computer and finds them or something.

Originally Posted by dannyjenn

@Ghetsis-Dennis - What do you mean "images you've saved"? Like, if you find pictures on websites and save them to your hard drive? You aren't really allowed to be saving images like that in the first place unless they're your images or in the public domain or the copyright holder gives you permission to do so. But really, who's going to find out about images you've downloaded in the past? Unless your computer breaks and the repair man finds the images and reports you... or the government confiscates your computer and finds them or something.

Because I really like these pictures, and it'll take forever for me to search them again (not to mention the websites I found them give me cookies, forcing me to virus scan all the time). I'm sure everyone else has done the same too. I may have no choice but to delete them if it truly is illegal because of this bill.

Well it already is "illegal" but it's one of those things that no one really cares about... and if you haven't been caught then chances are you won't ever be caught. Even if a law is passed allowing the government to view everything that you do online, there's no way they can see what's on your hard drive. Also, I'm not exactly sure on this, but I don't think a new law can apply to things that were done before the law existed.

Darn no. I'm getting tired at the Congress's attempts to stop piracy. I don't get how saving photos can be illegal.

Sounds like they just took SOPA and gussied it up a little. Nice try, Congress, but it didn't work the first time. What's that saying about the definition of insanity?

Whenever I look at bills like these, I get the feeling that the United States is turning into a fascist regime.

Originally Posted by Steelrush

Whenever I look at bills like these, I get the feeling that the United States is turning into a fascist regime.

Good news: it isn't. Bills like these violate several constitutional rights, and would quickly be overturned if challenged.

Originally Posted by Jabberwocky

Good news: it isn't. Bills like these violate several constitutional rights, and would quickly be overturned if challenged.

The Constitution means nothing to the government. They'll do everything they can to get this passed.

Are you sure it will get overturned?

Originally Posted by Steelrush

They'll do everything they can to get this passed.

Oh, I have no doubt about that.

Are you sure it will get overturned?

Yes, because one of the jobs of the Supreme Court is to uphold the Constitution.

They don't realize that the bill's not gonna stop piracy at all.

Originally Posted by Jabberwocky

Yes, because one of the jobs of the Supreme Court is to uphold the Constitution.

Even with the Supreme Court, there are currently many unconstitional laws out there. Also I'm not exactly sure that this law does violate any constitutional rights... I'm pretty sure that the "right to privacy" isn't in the Constitution, and as for "censorship", it seems that this law is only meant to stop copyright infringement, which doesn't violate the first amendment at all. The problem seems to be the vagueness in this bill's language, just like how SOPA's wording was vague and allowed sites to be blocked without necessarily violating copyright, that will allow the government to do things that aren't the intent of this bill. If it really is as bad as it seems then its likely that it won't even get passed without some serious amending.

Originally Posted by dannyjenn

Well it already is "illegal" but it's one of those things that no one really cares about... and if you haven't been caught then chances are you won't ever be caught. Even if a law is passed allowing the government to view everything that you do online, there's no way they can see what's on your hard drive. Also, I'm not exactly sure on this, but I don't think a new law can apply to things that were done before the law existed.

But I thought that law would also allow government to view your hard drive via spy cameras within everyone's computer. Also, wouldn't Photobucket and fansites be considered breaking the rules of using saved images?

Originally Posted by Ghetsis-Dennis

Originally Posted by dannyjenn

Well it already is "illegal" but it's one of those things that no one really cares about... and if you haven't been caught then chances are you won't ever be caught. Even if a law is passed allowing the government to view everything that you do online, there's no way they can see what's on your hard drive. Also, I'm not exactly sure on this, but I don't think a new law can apply to things that were done before the law existed.

But I thought that law would also allow government to view your hard drive via spy cameras within everyone's computer. Also, wouldn't Photobucket and fansites be considered breaking the rules of using saved images?

You're joking, right?! Spy cameras?!
Anyway, Photobucket isn't meant for those kinds of images. You're mostly supposed to use it for sharing photos that you or a friend took, or other images that you do own the copyright to. They probably have something in their User Agreement that even says you're not allowed to use it for copyrighted material. And this was a problem with SOPA (or so I've heard)... the government would be allowed to shut down (or maybe just block? I'm not sure) Photobucket as a whole if there was any illegal content on the site at all. Which is completely unfair because it's clearly written in the rules that you aren;t allowed to do that so Photobucket should have no responsibility in the matter. I mean, if they refused to remove copyrighted material upon request then I can see that as an infringement, but why should they be shut down for something that they didnt even know about / don't even allow? I suppose you could say that they should do a better job monitering their website and making sure people don't use it for those reasons, but that's highly impractical, not to mention that even if they did the best they could then probably something would get through.
Fan sites don't violate copyright because there's something called "fair use" that allows you to use low resolution images (even ones that are copyrighted) for certain non-commercial purposes.