Actually, when it comes to VPNs. It would be illegal to provide them, but not illegal to USE them, under that section of the bill. So those of you that use VPNs are not breaking any law, but the PROVIDERS of VPN services, or other circumvention tools, could be hauled into court. The USERS or such services are not subject to prosecution under this bill. I would not be surprised if the bill was amended to prosecute users as well.

i wonder how long it’s going to be before those here that keep advocating the need for this bill, how right it is and how it wont be abused, get hit themselves because a favorite web site has been blocked or they have had to remove a home video from youtube due to claims of infringement? how long before they start moaning about getting the very thing they want? how long before they start complaining about ‘the internet is broken! how can it be fixed? how long will it take?’ will they then have the guts to admit how wrong they were? of course not! once a blind, self-centered idiot, always a blind, self-centered idiot!

Additional countermeasures are now being developed and deployed.

This was in reply to Bob above.

“But they’ll decide whether you have a valid complaint.”

In other words, they’ll give you the chance to prove that you’re innocent. If they feel like it.

RIP Internet 1969 – 2011

Are laws like this that make me more and more sympathetic to outlaws.

And of course, it makes me all warm and fuzzy to know that I rip off the industry every chance I get(they would do it to me if they could) and I will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

sssshhhh, you are shattering worldviews

“Of course we have trials for murders but they come after the murderers are arrested and put in jail.”

To the extent this happens it’s to deter the alleged murder from running off to another country before being detained and tried. But that doesn’t apply here, it’s not like a building of hard drives is suddenly going to run away. Seizing a domain doesn’t prevent a building from running away.

“If you think about it, having a “trial” before hand is just as much a pain. An accusation forces you to hire a lawyer.”

But, in the mean time, you don’t have to shut down your potentially legitimate operations.

“We only put people in jail when there is a belief that they might flee or interfere with the investigation and trial.”

and, usually, a court order is issued before they are detained before a trial. There are exceptions, like if someone commits a crime and is actively fleeing from an officer, then they maybe restrained upon being caught. But that doesn’t apply here.

“The cops gather evidence and arrest you. Then you get to plea bargain or put up a fight.”

They can’t just arrest you; they have to put you on trial. This is more like them arresting you and you having to sue the government in order to prove your innocence.

Simple, all the providers will operate from outside the United States, where US authorities have no jurisdiction.

I think that Bitcoins could also be illegal under this law. After all, sites that are cut off from US payment processors could simply to turn bitcoins for payment.

If you have bought bitcoins for investment purposes, I think you better cash your investment out now before they become illegal.

Would this put liability on things like MAFIAAfire? It sure sounds like it:

I think they might be able (and intending) to use that to shut down OpenDNS. (Or any DNS server that doesn’t comply with their demands.)

Learn to read, dickhead. I said they can’t just arrest you and leave it at that. The US Constitution gives people the right to a speedy trial. This means the government must either try you or let you go free. You don’t have to prove that you are innocent, and you don’t have to sue in order to do so.

I know like, why shouldn’t that drug dealer be allowed to keep working his corner till his trial is over. wtf, maaaaaaan.

“While I am not able to provide cause and effect, have you considered that the current worldwide economic crisis seems to match up really well with an increase in piracy and other under the table online activities?”

HAHAHA Oh my, you are funny.

shhh, don’t tell him. He’s more entertaining the more clueless he is.

Good point. I’ve noticed how stories relating to copyright, the Internet, ProtectIP and other similar laws always seem to attract every single one of the shills like yourself to post here.
Oh dear, how revealing of your position. Maybe you shouldn’t have mentioned it, you know, for your own sake.

I see this bill…and all I say is….
WHAT THE F*CK AM I SEEING!

dead trees, many dead trees.

” everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts” and here they are:

Regardless of your opinion of them, the content industries produce something that is valuable and desirable to consumers. If this were not the case you wouldn’t be so up in arms about the prospect of losing access to their content. content creators put in hard work and financial resources to develop this content under the premise that they will see a return on this investment. When they do, they have an incentive to produce more content and we all benefit as a result.

high-quality content is one of the primary drivers of the Internet. People dont pay the high cost of a broadband connection to watch dog on
skateboard videos.

All this bill says is that legitimate US companies that are part of the Internet ecosystem should have some obligation to stop organized criminal enterprises from exploiting the anonymous and borderless nature of the Internet to rob content creators of income they rightly deserve. It does not criminalize end users, it just attempts to make it more difficult for them to steal and encourages them to seek legitimate distribution platforms, of which there are currently numerous and that number is growing every day. Many of them in fact offer content for free. Sorry if you have to watch some ads.

If you believe that piracy should be legal then I can understand why you would object to this bill. But please be honest about it and stop trying to obfuscate your true motives by pretending that this is the first mile on the road toward US totalitarianism.

“Masnick has been asked repeatedly to post receipts for his music and movie purchases, which he would keep for tax purposes.”

Forget about his, what about yours? Seriously douche, where are your receipts of the music and movies you’ve payed for?
Post them, or admit to stealing from artists right now and be done with them.

Yes, you can move to China or Russia. BTW, what skills do you have?

The bill too long. I didn’t read it. So if this is spelled out in the bill then I apologize to those of you who took the time to read the bill. But…

How exactly do they think they are going to protect me from myself? If they have my ISP remove the offending website from their DNS server then I’ll just use another DNS server in another country. If they have my ISP do some sort of packet inspection and then not forward along packets from the offening website then I simple use one of the many anonymizing service. I could even use TOR and select another country as my exit point.

Unfortunately, it seems they won’t.

Think about this: songs I created and recorded are owned by someone else. I essentially get no money for my work even though it sells. I hope all distribution companies get robbed blind and that every one involved in the industry becomes disfigured cripples.

No I have to go out by some tuna to eat.

You obviously don’t understand the proposed bill. There’s no action taken against the site. Only against US based enablers from servicing the website. There’s a huge difference between that and the goofy “innocent until proven guilty” or bail/bond example you’ve proffered.

As repugnant as it is to the 1st Amendment, the US government isn’t stopping with just blocking access to foreign sites. We’ve seen several cases just in the last few months where the US has pressed for extradition for *criminal charges*– they want to arrest foreign nationals and lock them up in the US– because they didn’t obey US law while in their own country(s).

In other words, what they did was perfectly legal in their own country but Uncle Sam is trying to have them arrested and shipped back over here to serve prison time because they didn’t obey US law, even though every principle of international law says they had no obligation to do so.

There are a number of narcotics-producing countries where conspiracy is not a crime. Yet drug lords from these countries are routinely charged with conspiracy to import drugs into the US, conspiracy to launder money etc. And yet they’ve never set foot in the US. This is the same legal theory. It’s tested, it’s proven and it meets all Constitutional challenges. Forward your address, I’ll ship you a box of hankies.