Subject: OT: Stephen Colbert on SOPA.
Author:
Posted on: 2011-12-03 17:09:00 UTC
Thought this might be of interest to more than a few of us here, as well as being entertaining:
http://fightforthefuture.org/colbert-sopa/
The fight to kill this bill is still going on, so check out the rest of the site if you're interesting in keeping up with it.
~Neshomeh
I'm gonna fight this bill as much as I can, 'cause no big business is gonna keep me from watching videos on Youtube!
...Look, I get what they're trying to do - as my brother put it, "We live in a generation where we don't have to pay for stuff" - but this is JUST GOING TOO FAR.
I already have a hard time finding certain videos on the internet, let alone Youtube! Can't they just let me watch an episode of Kamen Rider in peace?!?!
...SIGH. I hate big businesses.
The problem with this bill is that it's not written well, not that we should be able to disregard copyright and upload/watch whatever we want on YouTube or wherever. The whole point of copyright (or the equivalent law in other countries) is being able to control how the material under copyright is replicated and distributed. The owners are under absolutely no obligation to let anyone watch their show on YouTube for free. A sense of entitlement that makes us think we shouldn't have to pay for stuff is a bad thing.
~Neshomeh
Okay, fair enough, I do see your point. And I agree that piracy isn't a good thing, but as my brother put it, "We live in an age where we don't have to pay for stuff."
I'm still gonna fight this bill, though.
I'm confused, because you say you see my point, and that piracy isn't a good thing, but then you quote your brother as if to say that living in an age where we don't have to pay for stuff is a fact everyone should accept, which was not my point at all. Can you please clarify what that quote means to you?
~Neshomeh
Ah, sorry. My brother said that once about after I complained why a movie didn't get money in the box office, as people were apparently watching it somewhere else.
...I'll stop talking now. I don't know if I can explain myself properly...
Every PPC mission, OFU, etc. EVER WRITTEN will need to be taken off the internet. On top of that, every fic ever written will deleted. I am assuming that you can determine what would happen then.
Don't get me wrong. This is an overly broad piece of legislation that would likely result in a fair amount of draconian abuse. However, the PPC and the OFUs would not be affected by this bill. It's questionable whether it would even threaten fanfiction as a whole.
I refer you to the Copyright Act of 1976, which sets out the four defining aspects of 'fair use:'
"In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:
1.the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2.the nature of the copyrighted work;
3.the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4.the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work."
The PPC and OFUs - and, to a lesser extent, many pieces of fanfiction - are transformative works. We parody (that is, we use a work in order to mock the work itself.) We criticize. We create our own stories and our own characters that interact with these preexisting worlds. There is enough original transformative work within the PPC and the OFUs to make the case that we would be able to stand on our own.
As I said before, SOPA is not a good bill. However, there is no sense in leveling accusations against it that are just not true. I'm not an expert on law, but from the research I've done there does not seem to be much evidence that SOPA will harm the PPC. Its aim is to target people who stream movies and music, not fanfic authors.
Sorry if this seems ranty or disjointed. I just want to see the facts come out right.