[Meizicht]

I haven't been around much for a very long time, but I believe this should be brought to everyone's attention because not many people seem to be talking about it. As I've been seeing it explained around a bit, here's what people are saying: The original SOPA proposal was revised into a smaller, stricter version, where it will now be a felony ( that means a ton of jailtime, on par with murder and rape ) to roleplay anything already in existence, make a music cover, make fanart, any fanfiction site would be shut down and every single writer would be arrested under felony charges. All artists who have made fanart would be rounded up in the same fashion. Anyone who sings a song by their favorite artist and posts it on youtube would be tossed in jail. Plain and simple.
Of course I don't know everything, but if you wish to know, here it is.
Pretty sure everyone would rather be safe than sorry, though.
So here is this petition as well.
It's been quietly circulating on tumblr, but it's been kind of hush-hush. I don't really like that; this scares me pretty bad. Because my ass is pretty much booked in jail for life for all the rping, fanart and commissions I've done that would be considered felonies if this were to pass. So hey, at least I'm boosting the signal. So please read it and make your own decision.
Maybe share it so more people are informed and not clueless about what's going on.
Make a big deal, because it is a big deal.

Anyway, discuss it here if you like. I believe this falls under the lifestyles and issues category so I think I'm posting it in the right place. If not, I apologize.

If this were to pass, I'm pretty sure I'm getting my ass to Canada. I wouldn't do very well in jail.

( Also for those of you who can take the time to read every word of that bill and understand the roundabout way the government likes to be when they write these things, please do feel free to correct me on any mistake I've made, if any. )

[Lauv Keiko]

Yep, I've seen this around tumblr too, which sucks. D:
I mean, seriously? because you like to rp and do art, you'll be in jail and treated like a murderer?? -_-

prisoner one: "I'm here because I killed two people... what about you, man?"
prisoner two: "...I raped my cousin..."
prisoner one and two to prisoner three: "What about you, dude?"
prisoner three: "Well...I posted a fanart on dA and posted a video of me covering one of the Beatles's songs..."

...wow. Is that even... I don't know anymore...

[littl3chocobo]

the damn website would not let me log in last night but i did see this, it's pretty fucked up. myself and all of my friends and a lot of people i know would be considered felons

[Batty]

Yup, I saw this too. Zane and I were talking about it... how in the hell do they think they can pull that off? Everyone, AND their mothers, would be in jail. I mean, seriously? What a joke.

Who wants to do the math of everyone they'd have to persecute?

[Tiva]

It wont pass, because of the fact that they would then have to shut down so many sites and ban others inside the US.

[Pernicious Storyteller]

That would be one or THE stupidest law of all time if it came to pass. We have all at least hummed a song in our lives and the US would become one big jail if this is indeed true.

[Meizicht]

I know it's next to impossible that it'll pass, but it can't hurt to make a huge roar about it to make sure they know that nobody's okay with it lol.
Instead of sitting back and going "oh it wont pass, we'll just let it go".
I don't think that'll fly. They need some sort of giant rainbow flashing sign that makes noise that can be heard miles away for them to actually get that no means no. OTL

[Poggio]

If this law ever did pass, I would like to know how future Artist Alley would work, and how much the economy would suffer.

[Espy]

I'm still gonna do what I like to do, felony or not.

[Lucid:]

I skimmed through the bill (I mostly read the executive summary and the summaries of each section), but I didn't see the part where any of this was a felony. I got the impression that the whole idea was to get together to redefine ownership rights and distribution laws (and that even those decisions hadn't been made yet). Can somebody point out the part where it's a felony? I feel like I should be outraged with the rest of you, but I'm not because I think I only read the warm fuzzy parts of the bill.

[Meizicht]

"While the willfully infringing reproduction and distribution of copyrighted works can be punished as a felony, willful violations of the public performance right are punishable only as misdemeanors." - they want to change them all to felonies.

"The Administration and the Copyright Office have both called on
Congress to amend the Copyright Act to ensure that illegal streaming to the public can be punished as a felony in the same manner as other types of criminal infringement."

It states it a lot on page 45.
It lists it again on page 100.


Edit: I think they also want to create a loophole about what can be considered "illegal streaming". It seems they not only want to cover things like youtube videos of the actual work that's being streamed, but also any altered or created "version" of it, like fanart, fanfiction, covers, mixes, what have you. I think it's really full of holes that they want to weave through so they can dominate the internet and make even more money off of everyone. This would make it hard for any rising talent at all to break out, and will make those already famous even more rich. It's kind of disgusting, if I'm understanding it right.

[Lucid:]

Oh man, that's really crazy. It really bugs me how legal documents always tend to hide phrases like that, and how they're so full of loopholes.

I wish the people in charge of our legal system weren't all old white men. It's great to have some aged experience in law, but we also seriously need some young people who know where American culture is going.

[Glass Heart]

haven't completely read it yet but was asking my bf about it since he knows more about law than I do and he sent me a link
about: What’s Wrong With SOPA

https://www.eff.org/sites/default/fi...age-SOPA_0.pdf

the people who do commissions, of fan art, trade it for money or trade for other stuff would be the ones more likely targeted, but its vague so someone may determine it differently in one case or another


edit: neat well over 1000 more people signed it than what was needed, smiles