So is TSL going to joing the SOPA/PIPA blackout tomorrow?

[PUAhokie]

I didn't say it was a right. I'm saying- like Snake advocates- that if the NFL would be more innovative and increase methods of access to the games- they'd have less piracy. Private Sector organizations have the ability to be innovative in a much faster method than it takes a government organization to develop a law, or to repeal a law once enacted.

[hokiebob01]

Then we need for congress to work out proper language to protect the rights of the owners of Intellectual Property without being onerous to site operators trying to do the right thing. Should Will and Chris have a responsibilty to police the content?

[hokiebob01]

The NFL may or may not make access easier or more widely available but that still doesn't excuse theft.

You can't buy a new Farrari here in Charlotte so I guess I can steal one because they should make them more available.

[VTSnake]

But if the police come in and say hey ten of your rooms are being used to sell drugs. Get those guys out of there. Do the owners have a responsibility to get them out at that point?

YES! That's what the DCMA does right now. If there is infringing content, it must be removed.

['lag]

... I suspect whichever side has more money will win this one.







lag

[AbsolutVT69]

I didn't say it was a right. I'm saying- like Snake advocates- that if the NFL would be more innovative and increase methods of access to the games- they'd have less piracy. Private Sector organizations have the ability to be innovative in a much faster method than it takes a government organization to develop a law, or to repeal a law once enacted.

This is the key I think. You're never going to stop all piracy. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try but I think making it easier to legally obtain things that are often pirated is a better solution. Music is a great example. When I was in college (1999 on), getting digital music legally was a pain. You pretty much had to go buy the whole cd and then rip it to your hard drive and then load it onto an MP3 player. Or you could fire up a computer program, type in the song you want, and download it. When the method to obtain something for free is infinitely easier than the method to obtain something legally, most people are going to go with the free route. I can't remember the last time I illegally downloaded a song because these days it's just easier to get the legit copy. I know it's going to be the right song, good quality, etc and the price is worth it.

Here's a more recent example. I have a Nook. The other day I wanted to read the most recent Song of Ice and Fire book. So I fire up my Nook, go to the store, click download, confirm the purchase... and then it just says "Processing". The book never shows up. I go on the B&N website and purchase it there instead. It completes the purchase and says "The book is now on your Nook"... except it's not. I rebooted, turned the Wi Fi off and on, refreshed my books over and over... nothing. I spent probably an hour just trying to get the book on my device. Eventually I had to completely reset the Nook to factory settings which caused me to lose all my data. Once I did that, the book finally downloaded like it should have.

So that was what was required for me to get the book legally. Or I could have gone to a website, downloaded it illegally and had it on my device in about 5 minutes tops.

I'm not convinced piracy is always about cost. It's about convenience as well. If you make legally buying something as easy and painless as possible, more people will buy it. That's not to say price is irrelevant. Price matters too and that's something that needs to be addressed in a lot of digital media. e-Books shouldn't cost as much as physical books. An e-Book from 20 years ago should not be retail price. Why would I pay $10 for a digital copy of IT when I can find a new print copy online for $2? Same thing with digital comics. Why would I pay $3-4 for a digital comic when I can get the physical one for that price (or less)?

[AbsolutVT69]

The NFL may or may not make access easier or more widely available but that still doesn't excuse theft.

You can't buy a new Farrari here in Charlotte so I guess I can steal one because they should make them more available.

That's a faulty example because we're talking about things that aren't physically made. It's not like you have to print and ship MP3s or TV shows. You're also comparing a brand to an entire product line. If you couldn't buy a car then it would be similar.

And we're not talking about a luxury car or a product that is expensive because of its rarity. We're talking about something that could in theory be available to purchase to anyone with a computer. It's not feasible to have a Ferrari dealership in every city. It's definitely feasible to have various on-demand programming available to more people.

[PUAhokie]

That's where the DNS "phone-book" issues come in. Your ISP's servers would be instructed not to recognize sites that are known to have pirated content. Sites (obviously made up) like "freehollywoodblockbusters.co.uk" might be a fully functioning webpage. But from your computer, connected to Comcast/Cox/whomever- you'd get a DNS error (at least that's the way I understand it). They're not policing the foreign page- they're policing your ISP.

[BayouGobbler]

maybe they will revoke their consent and instead seek the absurd penalties provided for under the new law. thats the problem with the new law, it balances the scales further in the favor of IP holders.

[bsalta]

Think about a site like bit.ly. Since it's a .ly domain it would be considered a "non-domestic website" under PIPA and SOPA. How in the world could they ever police every link entered?

I don't believe the domain itself can classify a website as domestic or not. Anyone can purchase a domain name with a .ly extension. I would imagine it would be based on the company location and/or server locations.