SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic

Posted: Dec 26 2011 08:30 am

I figured I'd start a thread on SOPA/PIPA since the other similar thread was more on the NDAA.

This is what happens when you support such a flawed bill; even Adam Savage can't stand it ( http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/mythbusters/articles/mythbuster-adam-savage-sopa-could-destroy-the-internet-as-we-know-it-6620300 ).

thenextweb.com wrote:

It looks like these PR moves to save face, and business, are completely futile. According to TheDomains, 21,054 domains were transferred away from Go Daddy on Friday alone. At $6.99 a pop, that would make for a loss of $147,167, not taking future renewals into account. The day before wasn’t a good one for the company either, with 15,000 people taking their domains elsewhere. That means that even though Go Daddy changed its stance, people have had enough

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

I have heard a lot about this. I'm not sure that a movement against GoDaddy is the right move, but it sure is easy to get behind when you don't like a company's mantra and they don't provide a unique service.

Why isn't it the right move? Because they aren't one of the largest companies behind SOPA lobbying.

Hit CBS or Comcast. How about EA. Yeah... just imagine trying to tell people to stop Playing Battlefield or the new Star Wars MMO.

No... GoDaddy is one venue that is safe to attack, they say and do all the wrong things, and everyone can view their stance through the web.

At this point though the target has been set, and that is out of any individual's control. I personally don't like the SOPA bill and I think anyone who does is misguided and or ignorant to its existence. I'd guess that most people fall into the second category. I spoke with friends and family recently and none of them had any clue what SOPA was. Awareness is the key now, and if the GoDaddy story is what is going to make news, then maybe it isn't such a bad thing to watch them take some flack.

A few things that people should know.
* GoDaddy is losing accounts, however they are also gaining accounts. They are simply losing them at a faster pace than they usually do. The numbers aren't 100% accurate, although they offer a fair representation of the trend caused by the online boycott.
* Wikimedia uses GoDaddy and will be transferring off of it. They are the 5th largest website on the net. In truth they probably only use GoDaddy for DNS with a few domain names, so they aren't even a large GoDaddy account. They are however a huge brand name, and therefore their actions matter.
* GoDaddy has publicly claimed to be changing their stance to neutral however they have not shown any indication that they are going to withdraw their support to congress. Their public apology does appear to be a lie.
* GoDaddy is for some people denying DNS changes without written consent in order to reduce mass migration away from them. I can't confirm the truth about this, but I believe that ICANN would be very unhappy about this practice.

Who supports SOPA:
http://theoriesofconspiracy.com/2011/11/list-of-major-companies-supporting-sopa.htm

Posted: Dec 26 2011 11:01 am

I was surprised to see that Microsoft is not on the list of supporters. I wonder where they lie in all of this.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

atomjacked wrote:

I was surprised to see that Microsoft is not on the list of supporters. I wonder where they lie in all of this.

Microsoft, Google, Apple

None are on it. If your primary product is a platform, you would be hurt by this, not helped. Sony considers their studio and other Media IP ahead of their platforms.

Joined: Aug 04 2009 Posts: 2515

Hmm Nintendo are on it though.

EDIT: ^makes sense.

Posted: Dec 26 2011 02:14 pm

This bill is a scary thing.

We'll see how this goes. Hopefully in a direction that it should.

Posted: Dec 26 2011 02:42 pm

I moved off GoDaddy just because one of their competitors offered a discount for those moving from them that is less than the discount I initially got with GoDaddy. It's a shame we can't do anything about the bigger companies who support it because we all depend on their products and services too much to say anything. I'd venture to say that the people who should be opposing them are afraid to for whatever reason. Also, GoDaddy is a member of a class of registrar that is unaffected by SOPA's current draft.

Quote:

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), the only member of Congress present at the hearing with any tech experience, having founded several web companies, introduced two amendments: one to exclude universities and non-profits from being subject do having to shut down their own domain servers if accused of piracy under SOPA, and the other to exempt dynamic IP addresses, such as those found on web-enabled printers. Both were voted down.

Polis pointed out that SOPA and Smith’s amendment already excluded certain operators of sub-domains, such as GoDaddy.com, from being subject to shutdowns under SOPA.

“If companies like GoDaddy.com are exempt, why aren’t non-commercial domain servers exempt?” Polis asked.

Polis also pointed out that the House’s own sub-domain servers could also be subject to shutdown if they were the accused of copyright infringement.

Posted: Dec 26 2011 02:58 pm

120. GAR Associates

Syd how could you!

Posted: Dec 26 2011 03:21 pm

Well, it would appear that the ARG at least supports some of my beliefs.

Posted: Dec 26 2011 04:13 pm

Well I see that Comcast supports it, good thing I have convinced my entire immediate family already that they are the devil and no one uses them for anything anymore. Plus if EA wants to support it I have no problem not buying their garbage once a year games since I never do anyway, and after Dragon Age 2 I probably won't be buying any Bioware games anytime soon either.

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

I haven't played an EA game in forever...
Some of the companies on that list make sense. Like Rosetta Stone, they thrive on their sales so piracy really does affect them.

Posted: Dec 26 2011 05:08 pm

^I know a few people who've pirated Rosetta Stone.

I will even go so far as to argue that a number of companies who support this bill have legit reasons for doing so. I will also argue that people who worry about some mass crackdown on fan communities if this passes are jumping at shadows.

The bill has provisions I don't like, but I don't think that it's the internet doomsday that a lot of people play it up to be.

Posted: Dec 26 2011 05:13 pm

Fighter_McWarrior wrote:

^I know a few people who've pirated Rosetta Stone.

*coughs*

No, in all seriousness, I think if this passes, it will be a very sad day for the US.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Fighter, this bill is about adjusting a line that is currently drawn between control and openness. If the line is currently at 90% openness and this bill changes it to 80% and then PROTECT IP moves it to 70%, that is a large shift. Control over something like the internet is a dangerous thing, and shifting away from openness at a rapid rate could eliminate a sense of freedom.

I think that our bigger problem is that in America at least we have lobbyists that are controlling what our government does instead of representatives of the people. SOPA is the largest example of that control that I can think of.

Posted: Dec 26 2011 06:09 pm

I don't disagree that there's a better way to go about fixing the problem, but to pretend that there's no problem to address is ignorant. These industries have a right to be upset about the profits they're losing. They provide a product, and a lot of people are stealing it. Plain and simple.

Quote:

I think that our bigger problem is that in America at least we have lobbyists that are controlling what our government does instead of representatives of the people.

Lobbyists really don't have that much power. Their abilities have become extremely limited. If you want to find a boogeyman here, the blame is more attributable to congresspeople knowing nothing about technology as a collective than dominating corporate influence over them

Posted: Dec 26 2011 06:34 pm

I have some domain names registered through GoDaddy, because they're cheap, but they're all just redirects.

Posted: Dec 26 2011 06:42 pm

I think it is more that the congresspeople just don't give a fuck what citizens want, more concerned about making money and doing whatever they want. I'm sure not a single one of these big companies is tossing money at anyone's campaign fund for the next election at all either to try to get this passed.

While I'm also certain they are very few people in congress that know how to use a computer for anything but email and word processing, they don't listen to us about this stuff, they listen to the people that give them money to stay in office and base their decisions on what they say or the money might dry up.

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

Syd Lexia wrote:

I have some domain names registered through GoDaddy, because they're cheap, but they're all just redirects.

Small question, does GoDaddy do automatic renewal on domains?

Posted: Dec 26 2011 08:19 pm

No, I have a couple expiring 12/29 that I need to take care of

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

ah okay. Thanks Syd.

Posted: Dec 27 2011 12:42 am

Well, that's what you get for supporting such an asinine bill. That's my two cents.

Posted: Dec 27 2011 12:45 am

Syd Lexia wrote:

No, I have a couple expiring 12/29 that I need to take care of

And you'll be pulling your support of GoDaddy of course. Not because of their support of SOPA, but for those commercials that make you think they're a porn site.

Posted: Dec 27 2011 01:13 am

Posted: Dec 27 2011 06:08 am

Where we all complain about stuff when they shut down the internet?!?!

Posted: Dec 27 2011 06:59 am

Blackout wrote:

Where will we all complain about stuff when they shut down the internet?!?!

Fixed, because otherwise it reads like a fragment from a declarative question.