MMO Fair or Foul: Should SOPA Bother You?

13 Comments + Add Comment

• D.C. January 18, 2012 at 5:14 pm

  I am against the SOPA bill 100%. Violates all forms of freedom and this country will go backwards if this bill passes. There will be no more Mets and sports related sites for us to read or write.
• Brandon Butler January 18, 2012 at 5:18 pm

  Because of the fact that…

  1.) SOPA affects our freedom of speech
  2.) SOPA is going to screw people economically by taking away MILLIONS OF PAYING JOBS
  3.) SOPA will make the United States of America NO BETTER that China, Iran, and North Korea (in terms of ).

  It bothers me to the core. This bill is 100% communist. All that these companies care about is making money from pirates. They already have the legal obligation with the DMCA to go after piracy/torrent websites for publishing copyrighted materia (or people for that matter). Because they want to earn their money back from pirates, they want to jeopardize the first amendment (or freedom of speech for those of you who don’t know what it is). It just makes me sick.
• Mr North Jersey January 18, 2012 at 5:45 pm

  I am glad to see the turnout online against SOPA. When I logged onto Google after midnight and saw they had blocked their logo as a form of protest I smiled. Then I was pleasantly surprised to find WordPress also doing the same even though it was a bit of an inconveniance. But better an inconveniance for a day than see SOPA pass.
• William H. January 18, 2012 at 6:57 pm

  Don’t worry. It’s almost a certainty that President Obama will veto this bill. He has hinted that on more than few occasions and he is dead set against the USA playing internet police with a whole new government oversight committee to go with it. What is shocking to me is that’s it’s the Republicans who always are against bigger government and more government regulations and yet’s it’s them that are pushing this initiative. This would be an attack on freedom of speech on top of all the other concerns it could lead to. It would open up a Pandora’s Box of demons and gremlins that will end the internet as we know it.
  • MetsMan86 January 18, 2012 at 7:17 pm

    Heard all that before Obama signed the NDAA
    • Donal January 18, 2012 at 7:20 pm

      different situation.

      The real danger is that they’ll just turn around and pass it in bits and pieces. they’ll attach small parts of it to bills that are actually good (or that we wouldn’t too closely at) the same way the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed.
• Donal January 18, 2012 at 7:18 pm

  Joe, you didn’t have to black out the site. Just having the discussion puts the issue in front of people.

  I think we all agree it is important to protect intellectual property rights, but this doesn’t do that. Mozilla already has an add on that gets around DNS blocks. the real threat of piracy is in other countries. What do they care what laws our government is passing?

  All this will do is give big companies another hammer to drop on smaller, more innovative competition. They’ll be able to bury the underfunded competition in mountains of litigation, fair use laws be damned.

  Also, it will give organizations like MLB to power to silence criticism and any real journalism. Remember when Deadspin got their hands on the financial records of the Marlins and some other “small market” teams? Ya, that ain’t happening again if SOPA/PIPA passes.
• JetsMets13 January 18, 2012 at 7:22 pm

  I’m not going to pretend like I know what this is all about, but a lot of people I respect are against it so I am too. I also agree with the person above me.
• Connor January 18, 2012 at 8:45 pm

  Baseball bloggers should be worried. This is their chance to take it back.. like they did with MetsOnline.net and Brian Hoch.
• srt January 18, 2012 at 8:56 pm

  More unnecessary government policing and laws disguised as ‘in your best interest’ type propoganda.

  The fact that these laws are purposely vague to be far over reaching is just an insult to our intelligence.

  Here’s hoping that if it does get that far our Commander-In-Chief will indeed veto it.
• Joey D. January 18, 2012 at 10:12 pm

  I too do not understand what the law will and will not do so I cannot comment on it specifically other than to say that those who are victimized by outright piracy of their copyrighted material in the form of knock-offs, bootlegs, illegal downloads available on the web, etc. are already protected by the law and those accused of such violation can be held accountable for their actions through a court of law. Those laws can also be amended when seen fit and not in violation of our first amendment rights.

  No power should be given to a government, private citizen or corporation where it has such discretionary authority to simply just black out a website without due process – after all, organizations such MLB and ESPN are not institutes of national security. In addition, while such an act might not introduce repression common in China, Cuba, Iran and other dictatorial powers (whether they be communistic or fascist) I am very much concerned about the real possibility of the U.S. once again becoming a repressive society similar to the abuse of power we experienced in the fifties under McCarthyism and the communist witch hunts when the genius that allowed for a free exchange of ideas and open debate for dissenting and non-conformist points of view was repressed and one had to fear being labeled.
• Hank January 18, 2012 at 11:17 pm

  The one good thing about this law is that it’s united people. I’ve talked to and heard from more people from all over the political spectrum that are all very against this bill. I sum it all up like this…surely our Congress has more pressing matters than shutting down Wikipedia.

  P.S. I love Wikipedia and it’s progress over the years to bring knowledge freely to people. Come after my love, and the war’s on Congress. You’ve been warned, ha.
• martin January 19, 2012 at 7:00 am

  good post, agree entirely.