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Extra Credit - SOPA & PIPA (due by January 30th)

1/18/2012

9 Comments

 
You may have heard that there is a bill in Congress (SOPA - House of Representatives, PIPA - Senate) that could lead to Internet censorship by the government and copyright holders.  Censorship means that somebody gets to decide what information you can get and cannot get.  So the government and copyright holders could take something off of the Internet and you would not have access to it.  The bill was made to protect people with copyrights.  A copyright means that the person who created the piece "owns" it and it should not be copied without permission.  The bill was meant to protect mainly music and film artists because their copyrighted materials are being "stolen".  

Read about the bill and post a comment by 1/30/12.  Answer one of the following questions and use evidence to support your opinion. Alternatively, you may respond to another comment or pose questions yourself.

- Do you agree or disagree with this bill? Explain.
- What do you think of censorship in the media?  Explain.
- Do you think "sharing" film and music on the Internet is the same as "stealing"?  Explain.

Good resources:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/technology/sopa_explained/index.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/11/sopa-internet-piracy-bill-criticized-as-internet-censorship/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/sopa-internet-censorship-online-piracy-house-hearing_n_1098255.html
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-11-17/news/30412322_1_ip-act-rogue-websites-sopa
9 Comments
Rrubaiya Sarmin
01/23/2012 01:08

I'm agree with the SOPA because if i make someing and this is for buisness they have to make money for their buisness. If people still their staf how they will make buisness and money so they will loss their profit also all the money they expend for the buisness.

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Nahid Urmi
01/23/2012 18:48

According to me, it's complicated because if they shut down the webs then it will be a problem for people to research and gain knowledge. I agree that it's bad to steal someone else's works and it's bad for the future as well because people will stop creating or inventing things because of copyright but I think sharing is not same as stealing. People share videos and music because they like them and by sharing it with other people, they are actually promoting or making it more popular but they make a big mistake by not giving credit to the owners. So I think the bill should be only for those people who don't mention the name of the owners or creators.

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Hala Hussein
01/24/2012 21:21

W'll i think that people have the right to protect their work because they wll not going to make money if people just keep on sharing their work,and they should be given credit from their work.But its not really stealing when people share or download stuff such as songs or movies,because they like it and as Nahid mention the more they share stuff the more it became popular because other get to heart as wll.Therefore,if this bill pass then the internet will be a mess and people will get hard time in making reserach because first they have to get permission from the person of that informations or posts.So still its so "COMPLICATED"

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Vanessa Soanze
01/25/2012 18:25

I definitely disagree with this bill. Well I understand that musician and film businesses are trying to protect their properties from pirate which is a great thing but this bill can shut a lot of website that we use right now big example Google for most of the students Google is like the heart of the internet because you can anything on it. And if this bill is passed the use of the internet will not be the same because people who own properties on the internet will use this advantage to close any website that they believe violated a person's copyright.

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Myrlene Etienne
01/26/2012 12:03

I'm not agree or disagree with this bill but to be fair i think that if i was a musician or an artist i wouldn't be happy to see people taking my work from the internet, and i don't think "sharing" film and music on the Internet is the same as "stealing" because it on the internet where everyone see it so if it stealing then why it there, why they put it there. Sometime it just easy for us to go on the internet for information instead of read a whole book and you also find many information in every web that you search for. Finally, If this bill passed, it will be good for the owners or creator because there are trying to make something out of their business, but not for us who use the information on the internet and we all use to it so it will be a big "Deal".

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Isa Gonzalez
01/28/2012 19:35

I strongly agree with Vanessa Soanze.

I believe if this bill pass common people like us would not be so happy. It seen as not "Internet freedom.” We would only have access to websides own by the government, which means they would only inform us about what they want to, and what benefits them, just as it happens in Iran and China.

And I believe it would be even harder for students! Because it forms part of our lives!

I know now days many music, movies and between other big industries are affected by the interned piracy, but now is hard to stop it or "it couldn't function" just as Bob Boorstin said. It is because now it seen so common to download everything at our computers.

If this bill is pass I believe all the companies supporting this bill would benefit because people would be force to buy their products, however, many others could affect because people might stop buying products as "computers" or smart phones because they would not be able to do all we do now!. Just as "free apps," that makes everything seen even more fun!

I am between half and half! But I believe I am more on the disagree with the bill! so I say " NO TO SOPA!!"

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Iris Avalos
01/28/2012 20:14

.. Well I am agree with the bill S.O.P.A in part as they are protecting their own business, with all the copyright now people do with instead of buying like for example music they just download it As easy way they see it!! But also shutting down the webs also might be like unfair from where now people will research ; I know they are books , but come on let's be realistic people prefer the Internet.

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Makuda Begum
01/29/2012 20:31

I agree with this bill for various reasons. As days are passing each and every days students are basically depending on internet. Why is that? Well, personally we feel that most often when we don't understand a skill, we do not have to think so deeply. Besides, we directly refer to internet. Internet would be helpful at some extend. However, when it comes to education it isn't the right key. We have to gain knowledge from our brain not websites. Also, "stealing" music and film artists could be limited. After all, music is made to increase business and downloading music instantly isn't going to be beneficial for business. As you can see, I agree with this bill. There is a limit to everything in life and crossing that limit would definitely lead others to take steps to rehabilitate the internet sources. .

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Jesus Silvestre
01/31/2012 01:36

It was a matter of time for something like these two bills to come up if you ask me. Now the hard part comes when you get to decide on whether you will support or not. Why? Well because if you getting something for free from the internet why would you pay in a store or the internet it self? On the other hand, you have to have on mind that you are actually stealing somebody's time, effort and work which is just NOT right. Approving any of these two bills will be a tough decision full of criteria, conflicts and disagreement. Even for me is hard to side with one or the other but from my point of view, when it comes to media work like music, movies and any type of information or entertainment, people will always try to steal it one way or the other.

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