DescentBB

So, I have to write an informative paper for my English class. I figured I would write about online piracy and the SOPA act as it needs to be unbiased and informative.


I need some recent information on the SOPA act. I read about it before Christmas but I haven't kept track of what is going on with it recently. Any information on where it is going at current would be great.

Far as I know the bill is laying around everyone seems to be backpedaling from it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/techn ... .html?_r=1

Here's something interesting along those lines that will be put into Windows 8 on the PC. Another end around way to control what we have on our computers. If they can't stop people from downloading illegal stuff, they will just delete it without your input. It's already been a standard part of tablets, smart phones and e-readers.

The Killswitch

At least it only applies to whatever comes from their app store, which I couldn't see myself using anyway. We can still have all the shady fun we want with normal programs.

On the software kill switch: It would be wrong for the government to do something like that, but it is perfectly fine and acceptable for private industry.

However, there probably would be some exceptions that wouldn't work even for private industry. Like say Mozilla got Firefox in this app store of Microsoft's, and then Microsoft used the kill switch on it, or Open Office, or Google Chrome, or any other legitimate product that competes with a Microsoft product. Then it would probably be raining antitrust lawsuits and fines at Microsoft headquarters like a category 10 hurricane...

The better approach to trying to shut out competitors is not to let them into the app-store in the first place, but that's still anticompetitive. I'm not sure what sort of regulations apply to these "kill switches" - but I do imagine it'd be hard to get away with using it for anything but malware deletion. Even copyright enforcement is such a hot potato I'd be surprised if MS would do it without a court order. I bet the RIAA/MPAA (or as a friend likes to dub them collectively, "MAFIAA") would love it though.

Good video on SOPA http://yoast.com/stop-sopa/

Note to self: Don't buy from Microsoft's app store.