SmugMug Censored in Protest of SOPA and PIPA
In protest to SOPA and PIPA, we’re rallying for action on our homepage and shuttering ADVrider, one of the largest motorcycle hangouts on the web.
We, like so many sites on the web, feel very strongly about web censorship. Today’s blackout could be a taste of things to come if you don’t take action now.
Congress has the power to kill the internet and all of your favorite sites: places that we all swap ideas and share opinions every day. Read about the Stop Online Piracy Act here.
If you value free speech, the internet, ideas and entrepreneurship, please take ten minutes out of your day today to contact your local representative. Visit SOPAstrike.com to see the many ways how:
>>>>> http://sopastrike.com/ <<<<<
Categories: Current Events, Images, SmugMug
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Absolutely!! This CANNOT pass!!
I totally stand behind SmugMug (and Facebook and many other) sites that have put their foot down against these bills.
Save the internet!
Has anyone read these bills? They actually help protect our IP rights as photographers. And I’m all for that. I’m tired of dealing with my work getting ripped off while some company makes money off my work.
On the face it appears that they are protecting our rights, but the cost of such “protection” is simply not worth it. There are already ways on the books to protect IP rights that are more effective, if they were only enforced.
There █████ █ ████ is ███ █ no █████ █ ████ problem █ ████ █████ █ ████ everything ███ █████ is█████ ████ ████ fine ████ ███ ██████ trust ███ ██████ ███ your █████ ████ government.
██ ████████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██. ███ ███ This comment has been found in violation of H.R. 3261, S.O.P.A and has been removed.
http://americancensorship.org/
It’s interesting how the PR firms were able to take the bill’s subject of IP protection and equate it with ‘censorship’ for the general public. Like the general public has some sort of ‘right’ to illegal music and movies…and digital originals of my photos…
Read the bill, not the hype.
Something needs to be done to cut out most of the spam and trash on the Internet. If you have read all of it, what is wrong with this bill?
thanks
——CENSORED—— http://bradfordbenn.com/stop-sopa/
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All my sites are dark
Seriously. The first time I heard about this I was like ‘yeah, whatever SM says!’ And then I read the bill and I agreed with over 90% of it.
This is the first foray I’ve seen of politics onto the Internet in this manner.
Like the general public has some sort of ‘right’ to illegal music and movies…and digital originals of my photos…
I understand what you are saying… but the problem is the Movie Studios and Recording Industry will be in charge of what is fair usage and what is piracy. You think they aren’t going to abuse their power? Yep.. they will! If they don’t like a review of their movie or artist they can shut the reviewer’s site right down and the reviewer has no recourse.
You think if the Movie Studios or the Recording Industry steals one of your images you’ll have any recourse? No way… they’ll just say the image is their’s and shut your site right down for using “their” image on you your site.
Don’t let Hollywood control the internet! First it’s Hollywood… then the government!
I don’t think they’ll be able to dictate anything on use. It’s already there in the copyright and other IP laws. They will only be able to choose if they want to allow something to be infringed or not versus those that have been stealing the content (as this is how its been working right now).
I think if a movie review uses copyrighted images or parts of the screenplay and the studios don’t want them used in this manner, they have a right to have those images and bits of copyrighted information promptly removed. Not the current ‘send a letter and then sue them a week later because they didn’t remove it’ method that most website uses to milk out what they want and then comply after the damage is already done with no ill effects. If a site continues to do this repeatedly, sure, shut them down. It’s obvious they are using someone else’s IP for their own profit.
These laws would also curb a new growing problem in our industry–photo theft. How many of us have had something published without our permission? How about without permission or compensation? If you have then you know what a pain it is to get paid for your work. I’m having to go through it right now myself. Publications and people are getting too pushy with image theft for profit. From coupons with your baby’s facebook picture to articles in startup publications using ‘Internet’ pictures vs staff photographers, this new problem would be completely nipped in the bud.
I don’t these laws will pass, but they’d make quick examples of a few bad apples and then the rest would all get in line and behave. It’s sad that these type of kindergarden techniques are what’s needed to get through to people, but that just reflects badly on the people imo.
If you think PIPA and SOPA will protect individual copyright you are wrong. Only those corporations with money and lawyers will benefit and they have the avenues and means already.
PIPA and SOPA are a slippery slope to corporate control and ownership of the Internet.
You would remove rights that have been in place for 150 years? In 1841 Folsom v Marsh set the rules for fair use. “[A] reviewer may fairly cite largely from the original work, if his design be really and truly to use the passages for the purposes of fair and reasonable criticism. …” although it didn’t become statutory law until 1976 (http://www.photosecrets.com/photography-law-copyright-fair-use-history).
Worse, you would allow anyone who simply claims to be wronged the ability to make your work unavailable? The claim need not be correct nor legal. The DMCA (which is pretty bad) already gives content owners a method to have their digital content removed. And it is already being abused by content providers. One of the reasons I use SmugMug for videos is the constant claim by YouTube that I’ve infringed someones copyright. I often use music/effects that come with my video editing package and are licensed to me (and anyone else that buys the software) for unlimited royalty free use. That doesn’t stop third parties from claiming that the content belongs to them and YouTube believes them as no proof is required.
When I read stuff like this: http://mbcalyn.com/tag/carl-malamud/ I have to nod my head in agreement as ContentID has flagged my non-infringing content, too.
And what do you base your findings on? It’s not like they’re inventing some new law for them to protect their copyrights any differently than our own. If anything, this will make it easier for anyone dealing with infringement to have action taken swiftly.
Reading ‘news’ articles and websites aren’t going to find you the truth on this subject. Read the bill and make up your own mind. I did.
Samir: Part of the problem with the bills is that they undermine the security of the internet. IT professionals, including those whose job it is to secure the senators’ and representatives’ computers, are not in favor of this bill because of how much harder it will be to provide a stable and secure system. As written, they are a technology professional’s nightmare. Enforcement would be near impossible and the internet would become unstable. Your customers would come looking for your photos, but there is no guarantee they could ever find them and you would lose money.
Another problem with these bills is they will not stop piracy and they will do away with privacy. In order to determine that piracy is occurring, they will have to open all the internet traffic and read it (deep-packet searching). We have this thing in the United States called the Bill of Rights that says the government is not allowed to invade our privacy without just cause. If you have digital media pirated, that does not give you or anyone else the right to monitor my internet communication unless there is substantial reason to believe that I am guilty, for example, if I post your picture on my website and claim it is my own. While I have nothing to hide, I object to my communications being electronically strip-searched just because the RIAA and the MPAA bought a few congressmen.
So it’s hard to do? That’s what all the fuss is about? Getting to the moon was hard. This is just a lot of work. That would also create a lot of jobs and stimulate the economy in a better way than just handing out money.
I don’t think it states anywhere in the bill that an Internet-wide packet snooper, besides the one already in place thanks to the Patriot Act, would be required.
Everyone is acting like this is some sort of doom and gloom that will end the Internet. Just read the bills.
“So it’s hard to do? That’s what all the fuss is about? Getting to the moon was hard. This is just a lot of work. That would also create a lot of jobs and stimulate the economy in a better way than just handing out money.”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57364330-281/judge-americans-can-be-forced-to-decrypt-their-laptops/
Reading the bills isn’t enough, you also have to read what the objectors have to say because some of them provide you with your secure internet connection and guarantee that when you type in smugmug.com, you actually arrive at the website smugmug.com. If you want to continue to be able to do that, you might want to rethink your position.
As for stimulating the economy and creating jobs, you are just plain wrong. It will drive up the cost of your internet connection while reducing the amount of service you get. That is ALWAYS the result of restrictive legislation.
There are also the privacy concerns that you completely ignored. You may not care if the government reads all your internet communication, but it is a HUGE invasion of privacy for even less reason than the Homeland Security Act. Get your priorities straight. Giving away your freedom won’t make you healthier, wealthier or wiser. It won’t keep people from pirating your work. It will only put you in a cage.
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One thing you’re forgetting is that all the publications that have been cited along the way are all making a PROFIT from any hype they create. In the news world, keeping the buzz and creating the buzz is all that matters, even if it does skew the facts. The facts are in the bill. And the legal ramifications of it can only be addressed by the attorneys and other legal counsel that would be tasked with making it a reality. Not by the news publications. It always amazes me how many people believe news opinions as facts…
And where does it say in the constitution that Internet should be free? If protecting IP drives up their costs, that’s just the cost of doing business. This isn’t walmart where it can just be imported from china just to satisfy people’s ridculous thirsts for cheap prices. There is a cost to doing business, and if it has to be passed onto the consumer, that’s a part of it. Do you know how much you’re already paying in taxes on your Internet connection? If you don’t, you might want to start by examining that first.
I hate to tell you this, but the government already reads everything, everywhere. The Patriot and Homeland Security Acts pretty much removed due process in terms of privacy. There’s backdoors to facebook and other social networks, and even more. You are being watched. I am being watched. We all are. Now what? What are you going to do about it? The people helped elect it into law!!
Giving away what freedom? The freedom to injure someone else with piracy? I’ll gladly give that away if it’s taken away from everyone. That’s a civilized society. You want raw freedom, check out India. You can pee on the streets there…and it’s third world.
I’ve been injured by priacy, and as a photographer I’m shocked at how many people don’t see how this can PROTECT their work as opposed to injure it. That’s the point of the bill. It has an extreme implementation plan, but what better way to shake it out and see what won’t fly than to throw it in congress? Remove the points of contention for round two and then it passes to everyone’s satisfaction. The days of rampant IP infringement are going to end. And that’s a good thing, not bad.
It is not true and not good to catch some criminals by offending and sacrificing the liberty and affairs of so many non-guilty people around the world. Furthermore, it is unethical and illegal to create a national law to put foundation for and justify such act. It is unethical to create a national law based upon the will of SOME corporations and for the sakes of SOME corporations. If a law must be created, it must be created based upon THE REAL MAJOR PUBLIC WILL and for THE REAL WHOLE PUBLIC SAKE.
Noteworthy, The Internet is not only the container of by-law-protected products, but also IS:
1. The universal medium of the unlimited flow of thoughts from humans all over the world
2. The universal place of unlimited thought-exchange and thought-sharing among humanity
3. The universal channel of unlimited talk among humans all over the world
4. The universal channel and virtual place of unlimited human encounter and human traffic
Therefore, SOPA and PIPA absolutely can not be applied. SOPA and PIPA are a form of Egoistic-Will Enforcement.
Moreover, products of companies have been protected by the existing laws of intellectual property. What is to do is just Law Enforcement based upon the existing laws.
I can tell you’ve been reading the hype and not the bill…*sigh*.
No one is trying to limit anything on the Internet except those companies that are deliberately and repeatedly guilty of IP infringement. These bills have been introduced because the existing laws aren’t working to protect IP.
If it was as simple as enforcing the existing laws, don’t you think the millions of dollars poured into creating these bills would have been better spent there? Corporations aren’t stupid with money, especially after that’s happened in the last few years, and the current financial state of the nation.
And unless you have experience with the enforcement process from the side of an IP victim, I don’t think you have enough expertise to know how hard the process is. I’m fighting one right now. I’m the one infringed, and I’m the one having to fight to protect my work after someone has already used it and gotten financial benefit from it. It totally sucks.
Now, if this happened to me day after day, year after year, with thousands of pieces of my IP
being infringed, I’d quickly determine that the system doesn’t work and look to change it. And that’s what the content creators that are behind these bills have done.
Wonderful points altogether, you simply won a new reader. What could you recommend in regards to your post that you just made a few days in the past? Any positive?