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howardfine
join:2002-08-09
Saint Louis, MO

howardfine to BronsCon

Member

to BronsCon

Re: SOPA Protest/Awareness Event

said by BronsCon:

Where did I say it was OK to copy material and use it on your own site? Nowhere.


You were complaining about it so I asked for the clarification.
quote:
However, there is a defense to infringement, called Fair Use, which SOPA does not account for.
Yes it does. Fair use is part of copyright law and the bill specifically states it is supported by copyright law and, therefore, fair use provisions.
quote:
Further, yes, linking to a site which contained infringing content would be illegal under SOPA. Further, user-contributed content (such as comments and forum posts) would be considered as part of the site and, if it contained infringing content, would possibly get a site shut down or blocked under SOPA.
But there you have to consider a number of variables such as it's legal to quote statements, paragraphs and so on from copyright material in part. I'm sure money changing hands comes into play in all this, too. iow, it's one thing to copy a paragraph from a forum and it's another to copy a whole book from a web site.
quote:
where I mention the numerous threads in these forums which link to, or display, videos from YouTube. Since YouTube would be, under SOPA, considered an infringing site, and this site links to it, well... Goodbye, DSLR.
Displaying the content is one thing. Linking to it is another. Links are NOT illegal under SOPA.
quote:
What I did try to point out is that SOPA is way too far-reaching and dangerous.
SOPA is just applying the same current copyright laws to the internet. It does not create anything that doesn't already apply to books, movies, and music. That's why the first two lines of the description in the act reference those laws and does not do much more than supply definitions.
quote:
You missed the message;

I don't think I have and no one yet has been able to show me I'm wrong.

BronsCon
join:2003-10-24
Fairfield, CA

BronsCon

Member

Fair use is not a part of copyright law, it is a defense to violation of copyright law. It is applied after the fact. Since there is no mechanism by which to appeal a SOPA takedown, it can not account for a fair use defense. There is no defense to a SOPA takedown, period.

Further, yes, there's a difference between quoting a paragraph from a book and copying the whole book. I think we're all aware of this. There's an even bigger difference between linking to a site where some user may have posted, on some page other than the one to which you linked, full lyrics to a song, which you were not aware was posted, and copying a book. However, under SOPA, either of these can get your site taken down.

Have you read SOPA? Linking to infringing material is, most definitely, illegal under SOPA. Why do you think search engines would have to filter their results or face hefty fines? Oh, because those links would become illegal.

The current copyright laws already apply to the internet. Can you point out how they don't?

Until I linked you to the full text earlier today, you hadn't even read SOPA. I'm still not sure that you have.

howardfine
join:2002-08-09
Saint Louis, MO

howardfine

Member

said by BronsCon:

Have you read SOPA? Linking to infringing material is, most definitely, illegal under SOPA.


I was saying linking to copyrighted material is not illegal.
quote:
The current copyright laws already apply to the internet. Can you point out how they don't?
SOPA is essentially listing the actions and penalties. As I said, other than that, it only references the copyright laws.
quote:
Until I linked you to the full text earlier today, you hadn't even read SOPA. I'm still not sure that you have.

I'm not sure you read anything I've posted then including the part where I said I read through it quickly. Since then, I posted parts of the text including bullet points. And then I spoke of the content. So if you think I'm just guessing at all this, we can just end this right now.

BronsCon
join:2003-10-24
Fairfield, CA

BronsCon

Member

You "read through it quickly". I suggest giving it a more thorough read and giving some consideration to the full implications of the bill.