Ok, so I'm still looking into this to see if it is actually true or not; however, I have seen a few things about SOPA act 2013. Pretty much the same piece of legislature that burned and crashed in 2012. I haven't found out if it is actually true or not if they are trying to pass it again but, well better safe than sorry.

petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/stop-sopa-2013/LMzMVrQF#thank-you=p

The link will lead you to a site where you can sign the petition, I figure that if we sign it, and get all of the signatures needed then we could stop the passing of the bill. That is if they are trying to pass it again. If not then, well we signed a petition for nothing, but at least our opinion will have been heard again.

I don't want to cause panic that is not my attention; however, I figure it is best to be prepared especially for something like this. Fan Fiction is an outlet for a lot of us, and if the bill is trying to be passed again, and does succeed this time we won't have that outlet. I don't know about a lot of people but I like my fan fiction. It's been apart of my life for a little over 13 years now and I am not willing to give it up without a damn good fight. Pardon my language.

I am pretty sure a lot of you are rolling your eyes and telling me to shut up now, and I will, in a moment. I am also relatively sure that a lot of you would rather sign the petition once you know for certain that it is going through to be passed. I am normally the same way, but I figure this time 'prepare for the worst and hope for the best' and signed it before I even had proof it was going to be passed.

Since I am still looking into whether or not SOPA is trying to be passed again, I will keep everyone updated as I can. I would appreciate a bit of help though, cause I am in the process of moving, and I have a final project due in a couple of hours that I sadly have not started because I have been trying to find information on this act. If anyone knows where to find more information about this, please post a reply with the link so that we can all look at it.

Thank you!
Infinite Silence, ChaoticPsyche

P.S. You are all awesome!

Yeah... you don't want to really know about it. *sigh*

Okay, you prolly do, but ...

Complex.com - SOPA May Be on its Way Back

USPTO Copyright Paper

Not sure what Media company lawyers wrote most of this one... :/

-J

Alright, here are a couple of news articles that I have found, though a couple of them only say that a portion of the act will try to be passed:

SOPA Died in 2012, but Obama Administration Want's to Revive a Part of it

Obama Administration Revives SOPA Proposal To Make Unauthorized Streaming A Felony


This is just what I have found in the past hour or so, there were more, but as I am skatter brained right now I can't remember where I stored the links, and as a moron I recently cleaned my history out because of the fact that my computer hates me. So.. yea...

What exactly is this SOPA thing everyone is talking about? I'm afraid I'm not exactly up to date on the news.

Basically they're Internet Piracy Laws that are primarily aimed at torrents but are a little too broadly worded for their own good.

I don't get it though. We're only righting FANFICTION. It's not as if we're using the actual show and claiming it as ours. We make our own stuff up and we even put in disclaimers saying that we don't own Inuyasha or make money off of it. So I don't get why what we do is so wrong. Kinda stupid if you ask me. When's this thing supposed to be passed anyways?

We do put up disclaimers, but I think it is more along the fact that we are using characters that others have spent a lot of time building, and we just take those characters and change them. Sometimes in a very fundamental way, and some of the owners might not like that.

We could probably write all of the disclaimers in the world and someone would still claim piracy. However, there are a few people who don't mind covers of their music going up, or us writing fanfiction using their characters. Mainly I just think that the government want's more ways to get us into trouble.

As much as I am owned by the government I still choose to say that too. Well formerly owned, I should say. My contract finally ended! WOOHOO lol. Sorry

I'm not sure when it's going to be passed, I do know that the petition closes around the 22 of September though.

This latest version of SOPA is emphasizing streaming, which typically means they're looking at restricting video downloads and uploads.

It's not so much the "government" that wants to get you in trouble, it's the pressure the media outlets are putting on the legislators that is driving this thing. Obviously, every movie, every tv episode that we view online for free takes money out of the media outlets' pockets. They are VERY focused on protecting their rights to make money off their products, y'know?

Again, I'm not sure that the wording is broad enough to affect fanfiction. Like I said, they're focused on preventing streaming video content, which has little effect on us. If I DO hear of any issues in SOPA that relate to fanfiction particularly, I will let you all know. I just don't think it's something that we, in our little corner of the interwebs, need to panic over right now.

With that being said, though, I have signed any and all petitions protesting SOPA. Let the government (or the ISPs, in this case) start determining what you will or won't see on the internet and we're headed down a very slippery and restrictive slope. Fundamentally, I've been in favor of internet freedom since its inception, so I will do what I can to protect that.

~~Wiccan~~

I prefer the way you explain things more than my way. I can never seem to get explain things correctly. But you are correct that this SOPA proposition is more geared toward that of streaming video and downloads. However, once you start restricting one thing, you have to start restricting almost everything.

That is why I signed it, because you can't have one thing restricted and not expect someone to get huffy later on and then everything that is on the internet to not be blocked. Or at least restricted. If media outlets are really that worried, then they should work out deals with the companies that are streaming the videos, most specifically those that are used constantly, such as Hulu and Netflix, because both of those companies are very well known.

That way, they can still make profit from their work, and people can still enjoy them. There are other solutions to the problem that don't involve putting a lot of business, successful ones at that, out of business. While I do admit that there are quite a few streaming websites out there that stream videos for free, those sites could be taken down, or made to where you have to purchase their services after watching so many episodes.

The point I was trying to make though, please forgive me I'm still drinking coffee so I went off topic, is that once they have restricted the viewing of streaming video, it's not a hard train to follow that eventually fan-fiction will follow soon after. Even if we put up disclaimers, they have legal teams that will find a way to make what we write a felony. I don't want on my record that I have a felony because I enjoy writing a story about characters that are in entertainment.

It makes no sense to give them this inch, just for them to take it and run the mile that I am sure they want to do. Stopping it before it even gets started would probably be the best way to do so. Preferably I prefer internet freedom, and I do respect some of the laws that are there for our protection in regards to the internet, especially those about hackers. Not that anyone really wants my identity or anything. However, in all honesty you can't really ban something on the internet, because of the fact that if you take down one website in regards to something another 5 could pop up within an hour.

The internet is much like a hydra, you cut off one head and another will come back twice as vicious.

Alright, that's my pep-talk, I'm going to finish my coffee and pack up my computer... I hate packing my computer...

Wiccan: I am really glad that you put the whole SOPA issue in perspective. I live outside of the U.S.A and I have never heard or even remotely familiar with this bill. And I know that sometimes things may start one way and then it affects other things, but as you said for now the concern of the SOPA act will only affect downloads and uploads of videos. Wow! I feel a whole lot better knowing that. I really don't know what I would do if I wasn't able to read or write fan-fictions.lol!

I read the document that Mith referenced above, thoroughly.

Fanfiction falls under the heading of "derivative works." In that document, there are only TWO mentions of "derivative works" - and both are in reference to music sampling. There is NOTHING to indicate that they are concentrating on derivative works like fanfiction anywhere in that document.

That being said, though, I do agree that - as I said - it is a slippery slope. Sort of like dominoes, once they get one thing outlawed, it's a short slide to the next, thus my opposition to anything that impinges on internet freedom to a great degree. Also, the emphasis on the Internet Service Providers, or the Online Service Providers (like this website) is particularly troubling.

THIS is why I strongly oppose any attempt at U.S. government micromanagement of the internet. And that is what any U.S. Piracy Act would do - ATTEMPT to micromanage the internet internationally. Myself, I don't see that happening, but I will continue my opposition regardless!

~~Wiccan~~