The SOPA Bill: Fact and Fiction

This bill all have the ability to shut down websites. Not only could Cheshire Cat Studios be taken down but countless other sites (Mr.Coat and Friends and Dead Horse Interchange) could be as well. This bill could shape the internet for the worse, and even though you may be browsing from another county; a good chunk of the most popular sites on the net are based in the US and would fall under this bills provisions.


http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/

I might be more scared if the friggin video would actually play for me...

"...th- the intern- ..... net is the Unite-........-ed State-......s"

Okay so I finally got to watch the full video. Three words:

SLIPPERY SLOPE FALLACY.
(abusing the intuitively appreciable transitivity of implication, claiming that A leads to B, B leads to C, C leads to D and so on, until one finally claims that A leads to Z)

"The US Gov't wants to block illegal downloading sites like http://www.thepiratebay.org and censor places that link to it, and then the Gov't will begin censoring whatever sites a judge doesn't like, and then it'll lead to world-wide internet censorship, and then we'll be at the dawn of the Orwellian 1984, except 30 years later!!!! Someone save our freedoms!!!"

And then they act like filling in an INTERNET PETITION will change a Senator's mind while he dives into the MPAA and RIAA's indoor swimming pool filled, not with water, but $100 bills and bitches.

Urgh...

Still, I love how the Government labels their freedom violating bills with such happy, positive language: "Protect IP", or "The Patriot Act", or "People for Cuddly Huggy Bear Government Re-education Summer Camps Bill".

You know, every couple of months, there is a threat of a new Internet censorship bill and in the end, nothing happens. I would not be surprised if history repeated itself.

Estefan's hit the nail on the head here. It's another tactical scare that's cropped up on the TGWTG page- and no where else. I can think of a few reasons why they're striking up this holier than thou attitude and posting it about...

There are days when I think about taking Lindsay Ellis out into a field and having her mauled by rabid wolves with a copy of the little mermaid tied to her head with some meat inside the case. But you guys wouldn't know about that, because I never said anything above this line :V

Agreed about Estefan's opinion. We've seen this once, we'll see it 1000 more times.

So B-Mask, what's got you riled up on TGWTG? I thought you were a moderate fan?

Well I'm still a Doug fan (he's lingered as of late but got back to basics with superman TAS today) but to tell you the truth, I'm a little disillusioned with the rest of them. Lindsay in particular. I don't like how Doug tends to take her words as law and how he's started sticking her annoying friends in his videos. They piss me off to no end because he's far more entertaining than they are. Also the fact that Lindsay is completely out of her depth with just about every word that comes out of her mouth. In fact in a commentary they did for ferngully, not only did she invite one of her friends unrelated to the project, but also proceeded to backhand Doug flippantly about things he even apologised for first. And that's just not jelly.

I mean this is what happened to Victoria Wood. Remember her? A talented writer, comedienne and songwriter? Nope. How about her friend Julie Walters the one who was untalented and couldn't act very well? Yeah, sure, she's even working for Pixar now. Victoria got her friend into Hollywood, and what did she get for her troubles? Nothing. I feel this is a simillar scenario, with Lindsay already proving to be a complete chronically unsatisfied hipster working on angst movies instead of providing anything that might relate to anyone- and of course the only way she's tried that is the controversial route. Like we haven't had the abortion argument before, Lindsay....very original. Not.

ARRRRRGGGGHHHtangent

First of all, we needn't do anything. Just like B-mask's said, shit like this happens practically every year, and the only reason why everyone's got their knickers in a twist is 'cos some (undeservedly, if you ask me) popular websites like TGWTG or... Um, I think that's about it. Anyway, so yeah, TGWTG gets threatened to be shut down, and all the rabid fanboys are screaming like it's the end of the world. No, it's not. There's no guarantee the aforesaid bill is going to pass, and even if it does, it seems like they're once again attempting to wage a war on the usual stuff: piracy, porn, extremist websites, etc., not their beloved forums and review sites.

No offense, Kaleb, my man, but I'm afraid unjustified tantrums like the one you just tried to cause will only make you look like a fool. Also, saying that CCS, DHI, Mr. Coat and Friends will most definitely get shut down if we don't do something, when none of them feature any illegal content, just a couple of written reviews, videos, and forum posts... Yeah, that was kind of low, sorry.


I never bothered watching her stuff even when I still used to give a shit about TGWTG; however, after hearing from the DHI folks how she literally trashed The Little Mermaid for some bullshit faux-political message that wasn't even there, my mind literally went blank for a second 'cos it just couldn't comprehend how can anyone be so up their ass to try to do that. Oh, but you know what? It gets worse. You see, it's one thing if the broad provided an actual, in-depth review where she would bring up actual examples to reinforce her point. I mean, in that case, one could at least appreciate her effort. Alas, you know what she did instead? Used a straw man argument. Yeah, the very same ill-fated, fallacious technique twelve year-olds use when arguing about COD on Xbox Live.

But enough about those hacks, a'ight? Let's see... Where were we? Ah, yes. PANIC! PANIC! THEY'RE GONNA CLOSE US! ARGHHH!

I wouldn't even call it a tantrum or anything negative like that so much as a concern for our website, but I believe that it is right to say that there is nothing to worry about, Sr. Kaleb! CCS isn't going anywhere, and neither is That Fellow or the DHI! The bill that seems to be proposed isn't aimed at us, and even if the bill gets passed, as Max and others have said, they are only going to be aiming pirate sites and extremist (read: Westboro Baptist Church) websites! If TGWTG is concerned about being affected because of possible copyright violations, that's one thing, but I don't think they have anything to worry about, either.

@Ken: If you're right and Kaleb was merely expressing concern, then I guess I must apologise to him for being so harsh. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your anxiety, I really do. It's just... Yeah, it would've been nice if you actually got to the bottom of things first, instead of starting an uproar over nothing.

But yeah, got to love the good ol' slippery slope fallacy. Just connect two completely unrelated things by erroneously assuming that one flows out of the other, and *BAM!* — you're ready to go shouting on the streets that the end is nigh.

There are actually two bills in congress. The first is the protect ip act and the second is the stop online piracy act or SOPA. Both bills are unconstitutional because if the government prosecutes you, you must have the ability to defend yourself before being penalized but here you are penalized immediately.

What TGWTG is so afraid of is that the bill can clamp down on a lot of the fair use material that they use in their videos. With the Digital Millennium Copyright Act where you are contacted about possibly infringing on copyrights and you can appeal that you did not violate fair use laws. With PIP and SOPA it could be illegal to use footage from games or movies because it skips the due process of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

With PIP and SOPA videos that use a lot of first party material like Red vs Blue could have been taken down immediately without the ability for the creators to first appeal the decision.