There are a pair of bills in Congress right now: Protect-IP (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) which, if passed, would kill BTF.


If you haven't heard about it, they are bills that on the surface look to stop online piracy, but they try to smush it out with nuclear weapons. The bills would force ISPs block access to "infringing" domains, sue Google and search engines to block access to these sites, and will give corporations and judges the ability to cripple an entire site if the copyright owner thinks there's a questionable link. Oftentimes, these copyright owners are looking to kill competition and fair use, and are not the right stewards for this power.


What does it mean for BTF?  It means that a judge could deem some of the user-generated posts here as "infringing" and shut down the entire website. That includes linking to piratebay or "free sony audio software" website, linking to bhangra music sites, or even posting remixes. Yes: a user who posts a LINK to a different site that has some copyrighted content could mean that BTF gets shut down. Or, let's say some corporation thinks a DJ's remix is not "different enough" from his original. Right now, there is a legal structure (DMCA, Section 230 of CDA) that BTF follows where the copyright owner notifies me (as site owner) and I remove the content if it's infringing. After these bills, a judge could deem the song infringing, or see links to other sites who infringe, and order the blockage of all of BhangraTeamsForum.


If this bill was passed, BTF would have been shut down 2 months ago. I received a strongly worded letter from a copyright owner's agent/lawyer, demanding I take down the copyrighted content that a user uploaded. When I looked at the page, there was no uploaded file: it was a link to THAT ARTIST's official YouTube video (which he was making money off of). With today's sensible laws, I was able to resolve this amicably. After SOPA, who knows.


I really recommend this video which explains it very well:

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet

PLEASE read more

Google's article on it: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/


Wikipedia's blackout for today: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

The really galling thing about SOPA and PIPA is that in the case that Saleem is talking about, the onus is on the website owner to prove that no content was infringed upon. In essence, you're guilty until proven innocent.

In the above case, what would have happened is that the lawyer for whatever artist would have filed a subpoena demanding BTF be blacklisted. At this point, it would appear that BTF simply ceased to exist to US users. Internet Service Providers would have to block BTF's Name Servers, which translate a series of numbers representing the site's physical address (called an IP address, often looks like 128.135.221.120 or similar) into a site name (bhangrateamsforum.com in this case). Search engines would also comply by delisting the site from their search results. In short, all of the US users of the site would be locked out for good, or at least until Saleem went to court, countersued and proved that there was no illicitly uploaded content on the site.

In short, we'd be screwed.

Fortunately for you, there's something we can do about it. Call your representatives and senators. Do your research first, though. If they support the bill, call them and urge them to reconsider (be sure to use the "guilty until proven innocent" line, it really sticks). If they're against these bills, thank them for their support of a free and open internet. Use this directory tool (http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/)

SOPA and PIPA would be massively detrimental to American ingenuity and would likely cost us billions of dollars in unrecognized revenue as a result of tech entrepreneurship in the US screeching to a halt. Not to mention the fact that BTF would likely cease to exist. Help keep that from happening. Call your senators and reps today.

first obama takes a big nasty dump on your 5th and 6th amendment rights by signing the NDAA (obama can detain any american citizen without trial or even a reason for as long as he wants) while you guys were partyin on new years night and now this..

what are you guys doing down there? honestly its like america is just one big corporation thats looking out for the very few wealthy men who control it.

at least wikipedia seems to be taking a right direction

Wikipedia Leaves GoDaddy Over Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

To be fair, Obama and the White House are not supporting SOPA.

Quote from: HarmanSingh on January 18, 2012, 12:41:41 PM

Quote from: HarmanToor on January 18, 2012, 12:35:27 PM

first obama takes a big nasty dump on your 5th and 6th amendment rights by signing the NDAA (obama can detain any american citizen without trial or even a reason for as long as he wants) while you guys were partyin on new years night and now this..

what are you guys doing down there? honestly its like america is just one big corporation thats looking out for the very few wealthy men who control it.

at least wikipedia seems to be taking a right direction

Wikipedia Leaves GoDaddy Over Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

To be fair, Obama and the White House are not supporting SOPA.

obama has a really bad history of saying one thing and doing another

NDAA/guantanamo being prime examples.. oh and haha who can forget the drones they plan on using all across america to help fight crime.. thank god I live in canada thats all I can say about that.

but lets be realistic guys, its the american people vs newscorp/hollywood/republicans and a whole shit load of wealthy people that have tremendous power

it doesn't look good for the internet at this point

Be that as it may, it is not fair to act as if he is supporting SOPA.

I'm not overly pleased with Obama's administration, but Swi brings up a good point on NDAA. I probably would have just gone scorched earth to protect our rights, but I'm not a politician. As for Gitmo, Obama's intentions stand but CONGRESS has refused to fund movement of the prisoners and trials anywhere else.
 
Recent article: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/07/2578082/why-obama-hasnt-closed-guantanamo.html

PIPA is so sneaky... Everyone knows about SOPA which is why its been openly debated in front of the public. People know its bad... a lot of people (including myself) have only just recently found out about PIPA. I find it hard to believe that it went under the radar unintentionally.

Sde note: what's the point of all these acronyms? They just confuse people and make the actual words look less intimidating. I'm sure if people read "Stop Online Piracy Act" and "Protect-IP Act", they'd sound more serious and people would look into them with further details.

Protect-IP is the senate version of the same bill...it wasn't intentionally under the radar. PIPA was actually an older bill that failed and got rewrote. SOPA is a new bill with stronger and more ambiguous language "foreign vs non-domestic" and so it's considered the more dangerous and is getting the attention

Also Protect-IP and Stop Online Piracy Act are kinda laughably cute and positive. If it was called "Completely Ruin and Change the Internet Act" then I'd understand using the acronyms. Using SOPA means we can shape how we feel when we hear that word. There's no exisiting connotation. Someone might be against Piracy but think this is a stupid bill. By creating a new word and building an aura of negativity around it, you're much more likely to build a base (plus everyone's lazy, SOPA is shorter).

It goes beyond being old out of touch congressmen. Trace the campaign contributions from hollywood/media companies and others

http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/

It goes beyond being old out of touch congressmen. Trace the campaign contributions from hollywood/media companies and others

http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/

Exactly. As stated above, it really benefits the companies but no one else. The government is not serving the common good but an elite group of rich assholes.

The institution of freedom that the US is known for is being blanketed by ignorance and malice.

Just called Schumer and Gillibrand's office...they are the ones starting this thing...Just gets put on hold and then discconnects on its own. Luckily was able to get in touch with Nadler who is the rep...but still, much more powerful if I could voice my opinion with the senators.

Gonna keep trying, thanks for the link to the congressmen contact info

Obama promised change and he's doing just that.... Changing the US to communism Theres a really Fine line between taking away piracy and taking away liberty and this guys way beyond it

IT'S NOT OBAMA (and he's not turning us into a communist nation). Please stop reading nonsense on the internet and use your brain.

or at the very least call a congressman so you can keep reading that nonsense...