Topic: So, after the SOPA protest blackouts....

[Nail_Bombed]

..... Megaupload gets taken down by the government, and arrests 7 of its members. Subsequently, the self-proclaimed 'warriors of the internet', Anonymous, have started a backlash attack against government websites, RIAA website, Universal Music Group websites.... I have an unfortunate sneaking feeling because of this SOPA and PIPA will both be pushed through.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/01/megaupload-indicted-shuttered/

http://njuice.com/4CE1

[Kale]

Haahaha.... this basically tells us without a shadow of a doubt, that MPAA and RIAA are above the law. SOPA didn't pass, yet? Do it anyway!

[Omegasigma]

if it doesnt pass, I can see the US government taking things into their own hands eg recent events

[Sonic_Reaper]

It didn't pass so that Obama would have a good reason to be re-elected, and once in office, proceed to reverse the decision, as he has done with all the promises he made since being elected.  Not that it matters anyway, since when has a corrupt government ever followed their own laws?

[Omegasigma]

its starting to really feel like the "v for vendetta" movie for the states >.>

[Inccubus]

Just the beginning of a prolonged battle.

[Mega Man Model T 101]

Yeah, sadly SOPA and PIPA still aren't dead. I went and did a little looking around, and read a news article, and there will be ANOTHER thing going on on the 24th of this month for PIPA now, and the one guy who came up with SOPA says he's still gonna fight to get it passed.

This is going to be a stressful year, I can already tell, as we're not even past the first month and we're dealing with junk like this. And this is only caused simply because certain companies are not wanting their stuff to be pirated anymore. Yeah sure, like doing this is gonna "Stop" all that. All it's gonna do is increase more piracy.

Sadly some places have already been shut down, mostly file hosting sites like Megaupload and Megavideo. By Federal Prosecutions so it was pretty much directly aimed at them and not caused by some automated system, but still, it has me concerned. Even though SOPA itself was stopped for the time being, and we'll have to deal with PIPA in a few days, it seems like they honestly are going after Copyright infringements regardless, and directly.

So I do have to wonder how much further are they gonna go with it? They basically took down two major sites for piracy acts, as Megaupload was able to hold HUGE files and could fit entire game files on the site. Provided they were properly compressed but the point remains. While I never went to Megavideo, I only assume they hosted tons of movies for free, probably a lot of current release movies to boot, and probably music videos, ect, so I can see that as a form of piracy and why they would slam down on the site.

But at the moment, I do have to wonder if they'll crack down on sites like this? I mean...we aren't hosting any games files like actual roms, and if anything, this site actually has more original stuff than non original. It mostly has information, and you otherwise still have to go get the games yourself.

I dunno, personally if the piracy is as BAD as they're treating it to be, I'd think that the industries that started all this to begin with would have gone belly up loooong before now. I think they're just panicking because the economy isn't all that great, and they aren't getting the income they are "used" to getting, so they're basically making an excuse to try and generate more income, and sadly after this, I only picture their income stopping all together. Sure they may still have their pure die hard fans, but how long can they go on pure die hard fans?

Also the movie industry I'd be MORE than glad if it finally went belly up. They're just making stinker after stinker after stinker, and it's basically the same old movie over and over and over again. They alllll look the same to me. The only reason they're still going for the time being is the current ticket pricing, but eventually no one will want to go to the movies anymore because of that, and eventually their sales will drop, and soon, no more funding for movies.

Sorry about the bit of the rant, but I'm trying to put things into perspective here.

Basically, SOPA is out of the way for the moment, soon we'll have to deal with it's brother/cousin, PIPA, and but even now we have to worry about copyright problems.

This is putting a rather scary mental image in my mind. That the government will put such a crack down on fan sites, that even all the members will have to be dragged out of their homes, and states and all piled into one big courtroom.

[Mooning Freddy]

Noooooo....

It all seems like a whole-out internet war nowdays.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-hackers-bring-down-saudi-uae-stock-exchange-websites-1.407846

IDK if any of you heard, but it's been a couple of weeks since a hacker by the name 0xomar, who claims to be Saudian, has cracked some Israeli websites with credit information and published dozens of thousends of Israeli Credit-card numbers.
The response of Israeli hackers came soon enough when a group called "IDF Team" took down the website of the Saudia stock exchange, and it looks like an internet war is about to break out. I don't know whether I should laugh or cry.   

[beingthehero]

I get my porn elsewhere, so I'm still one step ahead.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

My friends! My good friends! SOPA has been pulled from the house!

Furthermore, Harry Reid has postponed the PIPA vote, and MegaUpload is back, sans domain name!

What a glorious day this is!

Don't let up. Don't give in. WE CAN WIN THIS. /gameface

[A-Yty]

Now, I'm not American and it has been ages since I found anything by Maddox worth reading, but..

http://maddox.xmission.com/

[beingthehero]

It would take an organized boycott of a massive scale to affect even one company, but he is right in that's what should happen.

Also I don't think I've read anything by Maddox since 2007.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Here's the thing.

It's like fighting that squid boss in (barf) Devil May Cry 2.

Strike at the tentacles until they go away, removing the immediate threat first. THEN, strike at the body with EVERYTHING YOU HAVE.

Rinse, lather, repeat, until the deed is done and the monster slain!

[Bloodreign]

The site appears to no longer be working and could be a phishing tool. For this reason, we have removed the link. Mashable is investigating.

Don't trust any links saying Megaupload is alive and well, they aren't. And probably won't be till this shit blows over, if at all.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Eh. Two out of three still ain't bad.