I’m sure by now most of you know what SOPA and PIPA is? If not I urge you to read up on it!

Today the 18^th of January 2012 for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC it has been a web blackout in which various sites, including high-profile sites such as Wikipedia and Minecraft.net have be down/blacked out in opposition of SOPA.

But are you supporting or opposing SOPA? Or do you not really care? Or don’t understand what it’s all about? Please discuss everything you think about it… should SOPA be stopped?

I asked the same questions to my minecraft server players and here’s some of their responses:

Madrad:

As I have thought since I found out not only about SOPA but also PIPA (Protect Interlectual Property Act) I have thought that they could potentially destory everything everyone loves about the internet.
It has been said the internet is already censored in countries like china but the problem these acts bring, not only to their native USA but also to the world in general (as they will cause presidence), it will take the decision of what someone owns from the correct hands of the authorities and the judicial system, and it will place it into the hands of corperations who have already proven to abuse the systems that are currently out there.
A case and point is Megaupload. Universal (UMG?) decided that Megaupload was enableing too much piracy (a term which I already have a problem with) and had it taken down. This caused an uproar among the fans of Megaupload who use it for legal things so they made an original song. This song had original lyrics and music and also endorsed and stared many recording artists (all of whom signed saying that their clips/names could be used). This video was posted to Youtube but then UMG seeing this had it taken down. The trouble is that it did not infringe any copyright but it turns out that UMG does not actually need a valid reason to take down someones video on Youtube. This was then taken to court.
The trouble is that people need to remember that it is not only SOPA that needs to be stoped but people also need to concider PIPA and the effects of that law. I am not saying that something needs to be done about online piracy (again a word I hate) but the decision on what should be taken down should not be in the hands of corperations and compaines. Due process is essential

ElseJon:

 I do care, but with any laws concerning copyright or internet are too complicated and obscure and need to be rewriten

Grindboy:

Vehemently against it. It is a stupid law written by people who have no understanding of the way the underlying infrastructure of the internet works. Blocking sites at a DNS level isn’t effective anyway since these sites can still be visited by knowing the public IP of their server and there are already services such as TOR (The Onion Router) which offer alternative DNS lookups.
It will do nothing to combat online piracy and a lot to damage the “free speech” that the US holds so dear. As a UK citizen you’d think that we shouldn’t worry about US laws however if this law gets through then it will set a worrying precedent for the rest of the world. The US has already threatened Spain (successfully) into adopting its own SOPA style law.
Also commenting on Robs point, piracy is such a stupid term for it, in order to pirate something you need to steal it and it is impossible to steal something, like a file, which is infinitely copyable without any degradation. It’s like saying that when you do one of those brass rubbings at tourist hotspots you are stealing the brass plate. Patently stupid (pun intended!)

Links for more info below:

• http://www.sopastrike.com/
• http://www.blackoutsopa.org/
• http://americancensorship.org/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
• http://www.darrenstraight.com/minecraft/index.php?/topic/1639-the-stop-online-piracy-act-sopa/