well people are going to be stupid wherever you go, it's just humans really, but yeah this SOPA blank picture thing is a bit of a waste of time

Today has been nothing more than an inconvenience to me.

If I wanted rolling-blackouts on my internet, I would move to California.

is it bad in California?
sorry I live in the UK and don't know such things, although I am paying attention to this SOPA thing and have signed a petition against it, not that I expect that to do much but it's all I know what to do right now

Actually you're wrong..
One image brings the ENTIRE site down.
I don't think you fully grasp what SOPA can do..
Sites become responsible for what users post.
One user can get a whole site shut down forever. :T

And this is what makes me laugh.

Just sit here for a minute. Do you think a supreme justice judge will listen to SONY and go,

"You're right SONY. FurAffinity has one image that violates copyright infringement, instead of simply sending a notification to please remove the image. We are going to violate first amendment and other amendments and just shut down this entire site without just cause."

Listen, I don't like the bill but this is NOT outright censorship. Do you honestly think that the government is ready for the backlash that the public would create if sites start shutting down.

No.

It's going to be nothing more than what happens on site like YouTube now, this video has been removed for copyright violations. YouTube is not going to shut down, Google isn't going to shut down. It's a bunch of fuckin' scare tactics that you and seemingly everyone else fell into.

Watch this.
Watch the entire thing. : /
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM

Scare tactics? Really? And where did you get that little notion from? Explain that. Explain then how the US Department of Homeland security managed to "accidentally" shut down and seize over 80,000 domains belonging to small businesses in 2010 because they "supposedly" contained infringing content when they in fact did not. This cost all those businesses a lot of money.

Just this morning, the FBI seized MegaUpload and all 18 of it's domains as well as $50 million in assets (servers, etc.), and arrested 4 of 7 suspects. A Virginia judge (you don't need a supreme court justice, apparently) deemed the site was guilty of multiple infringements from user uploads. However beyond that ruling there was no official court hearing for megaupload in which it could represent or defend itself, thus a blatant bypass of due process. This is what we risk seeing more of in the future if we don't challenge it and make ourselves heard.

Do you know how affiliate marketing works? And yes, that questions IS relevant to this topic.

Things like this have been going on for years and all the industry is trying to do is make it legal for them to do it in the eyes of the law. In fact, there are countless events in history where constitutional rights were broken by the government and they got away with it. So really there's nothing stopping them...

Look I'm not going to get into this anymore.

I'm tired of dealing with this subject. Cause time and time again it's the same thing, in the end whether people want to admit it or not, people are afraid that they are going to loose the ability to get something for free.

This bill has good intentions, do I agree with it entirely? Of course not, it still needs fine tuning.

This has turned into a "fight the establishment" and "down with government" campaign for college kids and computer generation people just like everything else is.

No one ever wants to talk about the illegal pirating that goes on sites like MegaUpload and RapidShare. That the sites have grown so out of control that the people who own them can't keep up with the demand of keeping an eye on it's users.

You know as well as I do that a "task force" can't police MU or RS because of the sheer size and the number of files and users. So they should go on allowing the illegal pirating?

Even if you use MU and RS totally legally and you follow the rules, some jackass hundreds of miles away is going to NOT use the site properly and you're going to get shit on for it. The few make it worse for the many, once again something else that have been prominent through out history.

So just drop it. I'm tired of every one who thinks they know everything about this subject. I'm tired of being sent YouTube videos and links to "news" articles about this whole debacle. You're not going to change my opinion, and I'm not going to change yours.

Drop it.

That's exactly how it works.

If you think clearing out blank images is annoying, wait until you can't reach sites you enjoy visiting because the government sees fit to deny you access to them.

And you know what?

I don't know about you, but outside YouTube, all the sites I go to won't be affected. So this bill really isn't going to affect me.

It's the people who torrent, the people who can't right their own music so they'll use a Disturbed song to put in their shitty-ass video, it's the people who don't want to pay the $60 for a video game.

It's people who don't want to pay for media that this generation has gotten used to.

As I said below if you honestly believe that the government has the man power to police the entire interwebs and to handle the backlash that would come of it, you're sorely mistaken.

Just like before it's just going to be youtube having the "This video has violated capyright laws" on offending videos.

Actually every site you go to could be affected, given the bill's overreaching terms. If Nintendo decides they don't like some Pokeporn on FA, the whole site goes down.

This is about far more than just torrents. Pretty much anything currently listed as Fair Use could potentially become a target.

But it's not just offending videos. UMG has had many videos removed from youtube simply because they didn't like the people uploading it , despite the owner's of the videos have full copyright to everything present in it. Megaupload eventually got to keep their video online, and only after taking them to court.

Now imagine that, but not localized to youtube. Pretty much anything, anywhere, slapped with a fine and taken down. It'll be your word against theirs, and you won't have the comfort of a multimillion dollar law firm on your side.

And even if you don't care about ANY of that, then you at least have to care about living in a world where the largest source of free speech is neutered because laws can be bought by large corporations.

yeah, but still, a man who's unsupported by everybody is like a toddler trying to fly a harrier

...Did your brain just stroke out when you wrote that? I don't think he's 'unsupported by everybody' because I agree that the censor images are annoying, and this whole thing is blown out of proportion by people who are afraid of not getting their free anime and music anymore. The next time everyone is whining about FA's speed and bandwidth, and they will, remember all these stupid blank and 'censorship' images floating around out there.

oh I could care less about the image spam, it's the whole damn principle of the bill I find completely dumb and useless

Aside from the potential of YouTube videos being yanked if they happen to contain a copyright image in them, what exactly do you, on a personal level, oppose about it? I'm not talking about any 'what ifs' or imaginary scenarios. How would it affect your personal, day-to-day life? Because if the answer is that you won't have access to free music, TV shows, and whatnot, that's not enough to hold up.

And if you didn't care about the image spam, why comment on a journal directly aimed at talking about it?

well for one thing nearly all my of my time on the internet and Xbox Live because I lost my job due to budget cuts and nobody anywhere where I live isn't hiring, and I ment the guy who started the sopa bill in the first place, and I don't use any downloading programs (but I'm not entirely sure about my little brother who uses this "cracked server" site to play minecraft for free is entirely legal either) and I heard that if this bill passes that it will give full rights to the company who claims copyright infringement on one site to have it shut down all together, or if that is caused by delusional paranoia from the masses. In short, I'm just calling Lamar an idiot like the rest of America, nothing special

Despite all the angry comments you might be getting, I agree with you. I understand that SOPA and PIPA is bad, but it's starting to feel like it's really getting into meme territory now, ESPECIALLY with the ones that say "Deviation Censored"

I honestly don't see the point when 'Neer put up a notice on how to contact your senators and representatives RIGHT FUCKING THERE. Anyone who has been on this site since it went up has read it. It's nothing but preaching to the choir.

It's kind of annoying but it's the internet and if people want to do it they will. Usually best to ignore it and just come back a day later ><

Ehhh, don't care about this whole movement but hate this whole "Internet killswitch" bill. But meh.

Couldn't agree more, as if congressman are gonna notice (or care about) a furry art site posting an assload of blank images. " but, but its to raise awareness!!! *flame*" umm..pretty sure dead people are aware by now, so quit posting shit for the sake of hopping on the bandwagon. I'm not pro sopa by any means, but I am anti stupidity. Glad I'm not the only one who sees the futility in posting this shit here, thanks. Needed to get that off my chest

This close minded behavior is unlike you. I hope you'll take the time to learn more about the situation before making further judgement on it's protesters methods.

Sites to lose are Wikipedia, Youtube, Facebook, Furaffinity, Reddit, Stumble, Digg, Deviant Art, Grooveshark, JustinTV, SeeToo, and an infinite amount more. The web's content could be diminished in such a way that it only hosts proprietary, information completely lacking "unapproved" imagery and creativity. You could shut down someone for making a remix of a song they like. Lets say that you and a couple friends are playing xbox and decide to take a picture, maybe upload the gameplay to youtube. Now youtube is shut down because there was an image of Skyrim, and an xbox. Microsoft and Bethesda didn't like it.