# New Anti-Piracy Bill Proposed in U.S. Senate



## sanity (Sep 24, 2010)

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet but....

"Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont introduced the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act" in the United States Senate on Monday. 13 other senators — Orrin Hatch (Republican-Utah), Evan Bayh (D-Indiana), Benjamin Cardin (D-Maryland), Thomas Coburn (R-Oklahoma), Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), Dianne Feinstein (D-California), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), Herbert Kohl (D-Wisconsin), Charles Schumer (D-New York), Arlen Specter (D-Pennsylvania), George Voinovich (R-Ohio), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) — co-sponsored the bill.

The bill would allow the Attorney General to pursue restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and injunctions against websites that have "no demonstrable, commercially significant purpose or use other than" copyright-infringing activities. The bill would also allow these actions to be pursued against such websites in rem — meaning that the website itself can be treated as the defendant rather than its owner. This would also allow the government to pursue sites whose owners may not be within the United States' jurisdiction, if the site knowingly provides infringing content within the United States.

In Leahy's introduction (PDF), the senator cited an American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) report, which estimated that piracy costs the United States over 200,000 jobs within the movie and music industries. (The AFL-CIO derived its figure from "The True Cost of Sound Recording Piracy to the U.S. Economy" report published by the Institute for Policy Innovation, a think tank founded by former U.S. Representative **** Armey.) He also said that the new bill would "provide the Justice Department with an important tool to crack down on Web sites dedicated to online infringement."

The bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Leahy is chairperson. A full text of the bill is available courtesy of the independent GovTrack.us website.

In 2008, the Judiciary Committee approved the Prioritizing Resources and Organization of Intellectual Property Act of 2008, another bill introduced by Leahy. The bill directed the President to establish an Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator and allowed the Justice Department to bring civil suits against infringers on behalf of content owners. Then President George W. Bush signed the bill into law in October 2008.

This past May, the FBI shut down a comic book scan site, and the Justice Department later filed a federal suit against the site's owner for copyright infringement."

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-...d-in-u.s-senate


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## Saddamsdevil (Sep 24, 2010)

Nice one, but, doesn't this mean pirates win anyway if the site is hosted offshore?


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## Canonbeat234 (Sep 24, 2010)

Here we go again, the democrates busy fighting something that they know its not going to work in their favor.


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## jbruckus (Sep 24, 2010)

dems, repubs, same thing. Lets hope the empire doesnt strike back.


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## trumpet-205 (Sep 24, 2010)

Why do I get the feeling that 4chan is going to attack these senators' website?


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## VashTS (Sep 24, 2010)

^ that would be awesome!

this is a waste of time and tax payer money.  focus on something productive.  i really hate the way the government is run.  they waste SO much money.  i hope it gets an overhaul from some good president in the future.


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## monkat (Sep 24, 2010)

VashTS said:
			
		

> ^ that would be awesome!
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> this is a waste of time and tax payer money.  focus on something productive.  i really hate the way the government is run.  they waste SO much money.  i hope it gets an overhaul from some good president in the future.



*in the case of games at least - not all copyright infringement is the same* This really isn't a waste of money. The government wastes a ton of my money (specifically on their own salaries), but stopping piracy is important for any economy. Receiving goods and services without paying means that the providers have nothing, which means they can't buy anything, which means no money is being circulated. Granted, for people who just can't afford to buy games or systems (really, if you can afford a system, you can afford to buy games - people who play on emulators and such) don't hurt the economy by pirating - it's a net zero (lolpun).

A coming trend, though, is that a higher and higher percentage of people just pirate because they can - not because they need to, and that's really where it needs to stop. We spend taxpayer money to stop you guys from hurting yourselves and other Americans.


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## Dark_linis (Sep 24, 2010)

God damn it Charles Schumer! I never voted for you.


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## elmoreas (Sep 24, 2010)

For one thing this will apply to sites outside the USA because they would be treated in REM if the sold/shipped to the USA. As for its effectiveness, meh don't worry about it. All the site has to do is list make sure 51% of the items it sells are BS junk knick knacks and voila they are no longer able to be considered as it is not their sole purpose, legally/technically.


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## worlok375 (Sep 25, 2010)

Lol. If they're going to treat the website as a defendant how are they going to get it to show up in court?


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## Deleted_171835 (Sep 25, 2010)

worlok375 said:
			
		

> Lol. If they're going to treat the website as a defendant how are they going to get it to show up in court?


The founder would show up in court or in our case, Costello.


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## myuusmeow (Sep 25, 2010)

Diane Feinstein, I am disappoint.


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## Hakoda (Sep 25, 2010)

SoulSnatcher said:
			
		

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I'm pretty good at making arguments, I'll be Costello's lawyer. Unless someone is actually a lawyer here, then you can have the position.


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## EpicJungle (Sep 25, 2010)

trumpet-205 said:
			
		

> Why do I get the feeling that 4chan is going to attack these senators' website?



CAUSE YOU PHYSIC.


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## Hakoda (Sep 25, 2010)

Crazzy1 said:
			
		

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Fix'd


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## _Chaz_ (Sep 25, 2010)

Hakoda said:
			
		

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## axb993 (Sep 25, 2010)

Thanks for the info. Im in aus, so it's hard to find info like this from trad sources(newspaper etc).














 (oh i lie, it's a psx)


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## thebigboss14 (Sep 25, 2010)

Here we go again but now let's seriously see what are their plans for this new bill.


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## worlok375 (Sep 25, 2010)

SoulSnatcher said:
			
		

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It said that the WEBSITE would be the defendant.


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## chrisrlink (Sep 25, 2010)

but what if the piraters dl their stuff before the new US law is enacted will they get slammed also?


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## godreborn (Sep 25, 2010)

and who's to say what is significantly purposeful?  most of the websites I visit have community forums--many of which aren't even related to piracy.


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## windwakr (Sep 25, 2010)

chrisrlink said:
			
		

> but what if the piraters dl their stuff before the new US law is enacted will they get slammed also?



From what the article says, it's only going after the websites that host the material, not people who download it.


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## Lost Wisdom (Sep 25, 2010)

I'm voting republican next time, I'm through with democrats.


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## Augustus Osari (Sep 25, 2010)

Nigbasketballger said:
			
		

> I'm voting republican next time, I'm through with democrats.


Do you not know how to read? This is receiving pretty much equal support from both "sides." Your whole government is in the pocket of the corporations and you're still falling for the act.


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## I K K E (Sep 25, 2010)

Saddamsdevil said:
			
		

> Nice one, but, doesn't this mean pirates win anyway if the site is hosted offshore?
> I don't think so.
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> QUOTE(sanity @ Sep 24 2010, 08:02 AM) The bill would allow the Attorney General to pursue restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and injunctions against websites that have "no demonstrable, commercially significant purpose or use other than" copyright-infringing activities. The bill would also allow these actions to be pursued against such websites in rem — meaning that the website itself can be treated as the defendant rather than its owner. *This would also allow the government to pursue sites whose owners may not be within the United States' jurisdiction*, if the site knowingly provides infringing content within the United States.


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## R2DJ (Sep 25, 2010)

Hakoda said:
			
		

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Not entirely...


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## Deleted User (Sep 25, 2010)

Americans..................................Always Americans in high places. Give Americans power and they go crazy like what they did to Cuba, from 1898 to 1959. GO CASTRO!!! But dumb Russia made Cuba communist.


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## striderx (Sep 25, 2010)

Not good, not good...


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## Sonicslasher (Sep 25, 2010)

I K K E said:
			
		

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This site does not provide infringing content. It's a purely informational website.


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## JackSakamoto (Sep 25, 2010)

OMG.
After France,It's the US !
(Nintendo VS french = Big N lose !)
Remember it !


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## Rogue_Syst3m (Sep 25, 2010)

diando said:
			
		

> Americans..................................Always Americans in high places. Give Americans power and they go crazy like what they did to Cuba, from 1898 to 1959. GO CASTRO!!! But dumb Russia made Cuba communist.



right.......cause some people like the Russians or Germans would never abuse their power........


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## Saddamsdevil (Sep 25, 2010)

Rogue_Syst3m said:
			
		

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I didn't see a statement saying that Americans are the only ones. 

Any asshole with power would abuse it.


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## Deleted User (Sep 25, 2010)

Saddamsdevil said:
			
		

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Yes Hitler needed to be hit. (PUN) He was half Jew! I never said "Only Americans" Even in my small country (Smallest in the Western Hemisphere) People go mad with power.


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## Dimensional (Sep 25, 2010)

sanity said:
			
		

> The bill would allow the Attorney General to pursue restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and injunctions against websites that have "no demonstrable, commercially significant purpose or use other than" copyright-infringing activities. The bill would also allow these actions to be pursued against such websites in rem — meaning that the website itself can be treated as the defendant rather than its owner. *This would also allow the government to pursue sites whose owners may not be within the United States' jurisdiction*, *if the site knowingly provides infringing content within the United States.*


Sadly, anything outside their jurisdiction they can't touch, so this bill would be illegal. They can't legally go after sites that aren't in the US, as foreign websites would be protected by foreign governments.  They would have to get the help of the governments, and if those governments say no, then the US can't do anything about it besides not import from that country. Now, I don't mind the fight against piracy, but they are doing it all wrong. One of the reasons why pirates do this, which isn't a major reason, is that people always love a challenge. You make it harder for someone to do it, they will either give up, or try harder to succeed. And when you add in the fact they have been pirating for a while, they will try harder and do something new.


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## Fishaman P (Sep 25, 2010)

Saddamsdevil said:
			
		

> Nice one, but, doesn't this mean pirates win anyway if the site is hosted offshore?



NO.  If you read it, the website itself is the defendant, meaning offshore websited can be tried too.


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## commdante (Sep 25, 2010)

If piracy is costing the media-industry 200.000 jobs, it means it creates the same number of jobs too in other industries. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 It's not like pirates are all turning to millionairs over night due to saving all that money, it'll just be spend elsewhere.

Maybe if they'd cut prices like every other industry has done, instead of raising them.
Movies on VHS were a lot cheaper, though production costs were at least 10* more.

Best example of the worst of kapitalism, rich people get richer, poor people get sued by them.


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## Samus_aran115 (Sep 25, 2010)

I Loled. It'll still be around no matter what. As opposed to people not getting it for free, people will just live  without it. They don't make any more money. If we're stealing it, we have no intention of buying it, obviously. 

Lets say I download WoW and play on a private server, I obviously don't give a shit about playing live, so if you shut down all the private servers, I just won't play! People are so fucking stupid and naive when it comes to the internet. They have no idea how much pirated stuff is one here.They have no idea how much Pron is floating around. They don't understand anything.


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## Deleted User (Sep 25, 2010)

I don't think this will hurt sites that only provide information such as GBAtemp or scene.org. They are protected under the 1st Amendment of the US constitution and are not at risk unless they are linking to pirating sites or actual files.


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## Covarr (Sep 25, 2010)

If the law was changed to say "no demonstrable, commercially significant purpose or use other than directly hosting and sharing copyright-infringing materials" it wouldn't be so bad. That'd help with ROM sites and the like, but at the same time wouldn't potentially lead to taking down sites with legitimate but ignorable-by-the-government purposes, such as homepages for various torrent clients.


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## Centrix (Sep 25, 2010)

You do nothing, just ignore them!, I'm so tired of this stupid crap, if there so concerned about this matter stop making video games and systems, end of story!


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## JPhantom (Sep 25, 2010)

it seems to me the government could try and then order the shutdown of offshore sites but I see no way to enforce such decisions if they are based outside the jurisdiction


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## Bunie (Sep 25, 2010)

Yeh move GBATemp to Peurto Rico!


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## trumpet-205 (Sep 25, 2010)

Bunie said:
			
		

> Yeh move GBATemp to Peurto Rico!


Nah. Move it to Cuba.


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## Bunie (Sep 25, 2010)

I found this!
http://judiciary.senate.gov/legislation/up...terfeitsAct.pdf
I'd say this is the official document.


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## BedtimeGuy (Sep 25, 2010)

commdante said:
			
		

> If piracy is costing the media-industry 200.000 jobs, it means it creates the same number of jobs too in other industries.
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*THIS IS THE BEST ANSWER*

they are trying some similar shit in Canada, and im pretty pissed off myself, but what will it ever do? not much besides annoy people.

ALSO: why people will never stop pirating


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## Bunie (Sep 25, 2010)

We will have to get our stuff the old fashioned way. The guy on the street corner.


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## jumpman17 (Sep 25, 2010)

sanity said:
			
		

> The bill would also allow these actions to be pursued against such websites in rem — meaning that the website itself can be treated as the defendant rather than its owner.



How would the website show up for court to defend itself? Would they print out a picture of the homepage and mount it to a board?


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## Overlord Nadrian (Sep 25, 2010)

Maybe they'd create a virtual court? I don't know, these days it seems like anything is possible...


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## monkat (Sep 25, 2010)

jumpman17 said:
			
		

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Websites are global, while citizens are not. If we are not going to censor the internet, there needs to be a way to prosecute those who create websites meant for blatantly illegal activity, and since we can't take the owner directly to court, we have to take him to court through the website.


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## Omega_2 (Sep 25, 2010)

Overlord Nadrian said:
			
		

> Maybe they'd create a virtual court? I don't know, these days it seems like anything is possible...


Well, that'll get made fun of with YTP, and use CD-i King as the judge? 
It'd get trolled so hard XD

EDIT:
More proof that Big Business controls the government & EVERYTHING and is after EVERY penny, even if it means putting potential customers deep into the red.(lawsuits, eventual bankruptcy, foreclosures, ect)


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## trumpet-205 (Sep 25, 2010)

I still doubt legality of this act. Can you really put remote website on federal court? Will other countries say anything to this?

To be honest, now is not the time to pursue pirates. Now is the time to revitalize economy. When will these pumpkin heads learn?


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## Deleted User (Sep 25, 2010)

The US can pass what they wish for their own country.  However, I think it's wrong that they can/try dictate laws, rules, etc... and impose them on other countries.

Simple:  if you are in country A, then you should be held liable for the laws of country A, and not have to worry about the laws in country B.

I wonder how many companies have already bought a vote for this?  Also, how will they get their culprits?  Will they they have other countries extradite these people to the US so they can appear in court?  I don't see how they can take you to court in another country... So your honor this guy broke the Anti-piracy law in the US...  but didn't break any laws here in his own country????

Overall this is all complete BS!


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## Ratmonkey (Sep 25, 2010)

As far as taking a website to court, I used to buy cigarettes from yessmoke.com and Phillip Morris took them to court. The judge demanded they turn over thier customer list whch they didnt keep and was illegal by thier own countries law to turn over so they refused. The judge then took the yessmoke.com domain and turned it over to Phillip Morris. Although this is not exactly what this law is about the US already has precedents with taking over foreign websites.

Read more here:
http://yesmoke.eu/conflicts/philip-morris-vs-yesmoke/

Note: If the above links are in violation in anyway Mods please edit to delete them.


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## Beige (Sep 25, 2010)

Yeah, whatever, like they'll be able to enforce it.


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## Santee (Sep 25, 2010)

They do this every 4 weeks, so just move along there is nothing new to see here.


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## dragon574444 (Sep 26, 2010)

When I'm 60, I'll tell my grand kids about the good ole days of the internet, when you could download ANYTHING you wanted for free. And if you could get speeds above 5 MB/sec, you were hot stuff.


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## Uncle FEFL (Sep 26, 2010)

I can't see this getting passed even though I partly agree with it. Well, the overall principle, anyway. I think public domain should include items that can no longer bring a company money, like SNES games.

Hold other countries responsible for this? Yeah right. Have some sane copyright laws and perhaps piracy wouldn't be a big issue.


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## trumpet-205 (Sep 26, 2010)

It makes me wonder just how much did entertainment and video game industry "donate" to these senators? I'm pretty sure this bill violates international law in some way. But given that it is United States we are talking about here, I highly doubt there will be any obstacles along the way.

Like I said in the previous post, senators should be focusing on revitalizing economy, rather than this cat and mouse game. And I wonder just how much can America economy benefit from this. Sure, entertainment and video game industry will benefit greatly from this. But overall for the entire US economy I highly doubt there will be a huge boost. While they spend money on prosecuting those pirates, US economy continues to plummet, unlike other countries where their economies are stabilizing as we speak.

Now, no offense to those who actually love US, but this just really shows how corrupt and stupid our government is. Democrats, Republicans, third parties, independences, they are all the same in my eyes. Frankly, I have to agree on what the Iranian says, "[we] are the western dictator, and are no better than Hitler".


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## BedtimeGuy (Sep 26, 2010)

trumpet-205 said:
			
		

> It makes me wonder just how much did entertainment and video game industry "donate" to these senators? I'm pretty sure this bill violates international law in some way. But given that it is United States we are talking about here, I highly doubt there will be any obstacles along the way.
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> Like I said in the previous post, senators should be focusing on revitalizing economy, rather than this cat and mouse game. And I wonder just how much can America economy benefit from this. Sure, entertainment and video game industry will benefit greatly from this. But overall for the entire US economy I highly doubt there will be a huge boost. While they spend money on prosecuting those pirates, US economy continues to plummet, unlike other countries where their economies are stabilizing as we speak.
> 
> Now, no offense to those who actually love US, but this just really shows how corrupt and stupid our government is. Democrats, Republicans, third parties, independences, they are all the same in my eyes. Frankly, I have to agree on what the Iranian says, "[we] are the western dictator, and are no better than Hitler".


about the least nationalism i've ever seen form an american. honestly you do have a great deal of corruption, but i disagree with he Hitler comparison, that was mindless murder, mindless greed isn't quite as bad.

on another note, this bill is stupid and will accomplish something between nothing and nothing useful.


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## Fear Zoa (Sep 26, 2010)

Don't worry! Google will save us! They HATE government and censorship and anything restricting internet neutrality!


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## ThatDudeWithTheFood (Sep 26, 2010)

Piracy will live on you don't stop pirates EVER!!!

No matter how hard you try because theres something called offshore hosting WOOT WOOT


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## Fear Zoa (Sep 26, 2010)

ThatDudeWithTheFood said:
			
		

> Piracy will live on you don't stop pirates EVER!!!
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> No matter how hard you try because theres something called offshore hosting WOOT WOOT


*cough* That one unstoppable website *cough*


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## Vahnyyz (Sep 26, 2010)

I just read the news on gba and WOW is all I can say, that is ridiculous because they don't waste enough money on sh** we don't need, we have to f*** with the things that actually help out our small/big businesses. Honestly I don't know about everyone else, but even if people were just downloading the games instead of backing up their games and stuff, it doesn't "take" that much from their big picture cause the way sony/nintendo/microsoft have actually helped make their game and systems they can basically just burn 12031928309 games in like seconds now blu-ray included. they're making the craziest advancements that really just help the state of gaming to a newer and higher heights. I wish the US government had at least a little insight as to what things were being done/said. I wish they had been educated properly because with the mistakes they're making and the morality they all obviously lack, we're the ones that end up paying, because as US citizens if they f*** everything up, we're the ones caught with our pants down.


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## macgeek417 (Sep 26, 2010)

Solution: Use offshore DNS


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## Peelbash (Sep 26, 2010)

Abbreviation: COIACA


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## Eric345 (Sep 26, 2010)

so they can break the Private policy...


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## wiiuser2 (Sep 26, 2010)

hmmm... if this bill gets approved, for sure GBATemp is at risk. Maybe not for hosting illegal content directly but undoubtedly this website is instrumental in the further spread of piracy of games and stuff.
GBATemp provides all the required knowledge to nOOb's regarding how to pirate, and gives clues where to find copyrighted materials.
It even has an affiliate website selling hardware to facilitate piracy on multiple game platforms.
All added up enough to qualify for "copyright-infringing activities" in my view (luckily I am not a lawyer.....)

P.S. the counter argument that GBATemp is giving all this info just to be able to run homebrew on our consoles is highly questionable.
I have no firm statistics but my guess would be that the use of homebrew compared to playing copies of commercial games is less then 0.01%.
P.P.S. in most countries you are not allowed to make a backup copy of a game disc you have purchased. Even if you own the disc, coping it to a flashcard or a USB disc is already a copyright-infringing activity.

Interesting to see how this develops.......


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## vknight (Sep 26, 2010)

You should check out the movement that Nina Paley is in. She's an awesome filmmaker and a "copyright" activist.
She did some videos like "Copying is not theft" and "Should your computer work for you?" Last year she released a movie for free.
She's one of the people who understand that the internet is just starting to change the way things are run.
Like they say the best things in life are FREE.


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## vknight (Sep 26, 2010)

Don't you think it's just sad that they waste their time on fighting against piracy when 1 in 7 people in the country are in poverty? Talk about setting your priorities straight. They seem to care more about the protecting the rich than helping the needy.


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## MelodieOctavia (Sep 26, 2010)

When they have fair use laws that hold more weight than a piece of Scott toilet paper, I'll support this bill. Until then, they can kiss my ass.


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## DarkFocus (Sep 26, 2010)

Fear Zoa said:
			
		

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woot! teh pirate bay! /assumes this is what you referring to..


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## kirby145 (Sep 26, 2010)

I K K E said:
			
		

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In other words, the United States owns the internet.

You all know its true


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## TheDarkSeed (Sep 27, 2010)

It seems to me like they made this law just for Gbatemp. It also seems that file hosting sites are off the radar in this bill. 

In reality they're using the tax payers money to protect the money of big companies. don't quote me on this but...

(Edited for convenience)


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## lordrand11 (Sep 27, 2010)

Aah, what the hell, I'll just ask it. How do they find this a useful solution in a complete Democratic government, i mean seriously their will just be a new loophole that will allow pirates to keep doing what they're doing


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## chyyran (Sep 28, 2010)

Where is Phoenix Wright when you need him the most?


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## chyyran (Sep 28, 2010)

kirby145 said:
			
		

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The United States can't own the internet, technically, it's owned by everyone who owns a domain. Doing this would practically be stealing. Good thing im in Canada, Stephen Harper doesn't give a crap about pirating video games, the Anti piracy bill thing in Canada will be dead very soon. SH would probably be too lazy to sign it and go for coffee instead


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## lordrand11 (Sep 28, 2010)

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Yes as was www.pokebeach.com and www.serebii.net but Nintendo still sent them some Cease and desist letters with threats to sue them. The Video Game Corporate entity is getting too large and trying to control too much in my opinion.


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