Wikipedia blackout on January 18

Honey and powdered sugar, please.

 

Or click the stop button in your browser before the blacked-out page loads. Good job teaching the proles a lesson, Wikipedia. How about teaching the inner and outer party a lesson next time?

 

You can use the site on your smart phone as well.

 

Oh, that bullshit rationalization fails to pass the smell test as much as when Stain tried to preach that.

 

Maybe they'll take the day to correct all the mistakes.

 

If you've ever made a mix tape and given it to someone, you're a thief. If you watch YouTube clips of network shows, you're a thief. If you've ripped and burned a CD, the music industry considers you a thief.

Shall I go on as to what the media industry thinks is theft?

 

Unlicensed use of copyrighted material isn't theft?

 

Has anyone been criminally charged for uploading copyrighted material to file sharing networks? I don't recall any criminal charges being filed against defendants in various RIAA file-sharing lawsuits.

All of those kids making mix tapes were criminals, too, right? Being found liable for damages in civil court doesn't make one a criminal.

 

This answers a question I didn't ask.

 

Hey, I'm staying out of this one.

Regardless of how I feel about the morality of the issue, enforcement is becoming sophisticated enough that I stopped infringing copyrights awhile ago. I don't need a lawsuit in the mail or an ISP cut-off.

 

I'm happy to see that there are a few other voices in the wilderness here who are against music and movie pirating and other forms of copyright infringement.

I got pretty fierce about this a few months ago, and people did not take kindly to my opinion, to say the least.

 

Being against SOPA and PIPA doesn't make one a thief any more than being against marijuana prohibition makes you a pothead.

This law is coming as YouTube and others move more into programming that competes against existing networks and cable. The big networks and studios aren't pushing this bill because of piracy. They're pushing it to stifle and/or kill competition.