Black People : SOPA could shut down this website.

[Asomfwaa]

Oh Snap!!!!! Bro I had to laugh cause, folks been saying that around here in Crown Heights for like the last 12 years!

I know exactly what you are saying! And understand the philosophy behind your point!

50 people in a hole with a ladder to the side to get out, aint used that ladder in 20 years , but when
the janitor comes to get his ladder,, everyone is upset!

I have said this for over 8 years, our youth walk around with the wisdom of all of our African elders at the touch of a button from devices, they carry in their pockets and pocket books, access 24/7 something we never had as youth or 20 somethings, and still have no knowledge of self, for even liberation consciousness.

Exactly. And we know what these youth are using the internet for! Becoming more depraved. Not only doing the Dougie and Cat Daddy but videotaping one another beat up the other and posting it for the rest of them to follow suit.

Word to me, a friend and I were walking in Brooklyn and saw a kid getting whopped while another kid videotaped it. I hope to take down the site putting up that stuff. I'll tell you what.

 

[Gorilla]

And most importantly it is a financial tool for those who know how to operate it! There are millions of $$$ being made daily by people all over the internet of all colors. I know plenty of people my self included would be drastically affected financially if SOPA were to pass. For those of us who depend on the internet to make a living...it affects the hell out of us especially us black folk.

I agree but, you don't need to be directly making money off the internet to be affected either. YouTube features a lot of educational content that would otherwise be inaccessible to a lot of people. YouTube doesn't endorse copyright infringement and actually does a lot of work to remove it in a timely manner and investigate into abusive uses of DCMA takedown notices.

What happens to children or adults who want to better their lives but cant access quality material from open courseware sites because some user uploaded a stupid Lil Wayne video?

What would stop someone from intentionally uploading copyrighted material and then using links to bring down websites they'd like to shut down?

The Internet has improved our quality of life in so many numerous ways it's not even funny.

 

[Ankhur]

Fire can kill or cook

a hammer can build or destroy

the internet is a tool plain and simple

Now if I do not know how to use a pipe threader, I am not going to knock that tool because the plumber can feed his family and help the community with it

 

[Asomfwaa]

What educational purpose do our music posts offer? Take a look at this part media section of the website: http://www.destee.com/index.php?media/category/hip-hop-rap-videos.5/

This is 10 pages of links to Youtube accounts and most of them do not appear to be a part of a channel licensed to upload that content. There's no way to use fair use as a defense for this section.

For the videos that do feature documentary content, the posts that feature articles, etc. There's a bit of a gray area. Among those though, there are plenty of examples that would fail the fair use sniff-test. To successfully cite fair use, there's a number of criteria things must meet and it goes a bit beyond labeling something as for "educational purposes". If a party can prove that the website is somehow generating revenue from it (not hard in theory: premium memberships, ad revenue), things could end up on the losing side in a court case. It goes without saying that all of this assumes that the defending party has the resources and time to defend themselves in court.

SOPA, PIPA and similar laws like it don't require a full trial before moving to use this.

The person speaking in the video isn't white. Either way, let's stick to the actual topic of the discussion. In the first part of the short video he points out the justification being offered by supports of the legislation. He then points out the dangers of interpretation and how the policy will actually work.

This simply isn't true.

It's not really about race. It's about personal freedom and stopping censorship based on alleged Intellectual Property violations. The problems with intellectual property don't foster the development of any community. This issue could easily destroy start-ups, even Black ones.

I'd suggest reading up on this issue, fair-use, intellectual property, and patent trolling. The system is already abusive with the tools it has, this presents another danger to free speech, and there is no sane reason to provide them with more ammunition that would naturally favor rights organizations over civil liberties.

For those of us who have been paying attention, this isn't a new kind of law or tactic. Check out parts of ACTA. Look into DRM and trusted computing (UEFI etc). Previously, laws like this have been justified by supposedly aiming to fight against child pornography and in the name of national security.

I never even knew that there was music on Destee. But clearly, IF the law passes, Destee would make the necessary changes if requested.

But by the by, one needs to remember our focus as a race, especially here in America.

For instance, right now we are talking of 'personal freedoms.' How can we talk of that as a kidnapped population?

If the internet falls out, we should just work it to our advantage. Maybe spring up more communal businesses or sabotage giant competitors--if we can.

I'm not really worried. Like I said, I saw a kid beat up another kid while another videotaped. That videotape is probably online and those three kids are probably still 'friends.' I'm interested in helping my people. I'm not really worried if they can't spend as much time on the internet.

 

[Asomfwaa]

I agree but, you don't need to be directly making money off the internet to be affected either. YouTube features a lot of educational content that would otherwise be inaccessible to a lot of people. YouTube doesn't endorse copyright infringement and actually does a lot of work to remove it in a timely manner and investigate into abusive uses of DCMA takedown notices.

What happens to children or adults who want to better their lives but cant access quality material from open courseware sites because some user uploaded a stupid Lil Wayne video?

What would stop someone from intentionally uploading copyrighted material and then using links to bring down websites they'd like to shut down?

The Internet has improved our quality of life in so many numerous ways it's not even funny.

You mention ways to use the law--that can be a good thing. What if we want to take down a website, for instance? Oh yeah--we don't have any lawyers. But see--that's a bigger problem that's not being mentioned.