- SOPA
- What is wise to watch on TV
- Homosexuality
- The Presidential election
- Boxers or briefs :)
- Should UNC have left the floor at FSU?
B. SOPA
3:37 pm
SOPA is wrong. It has been interesting how effective the protest has been at getting the word out today. Google and wikipedia are the big ones that I know of. Teachers and people everywhere are learning about it. I am surprised I didn't hear about this before. I had heard of it through passionate conservative friends but I did not know just how bad this was. I am told that piracy is bad. I know that. I have been told that in China, karaoke bars have all pirated music. Supposedly, it has resulted in billions of dollars in losses. Hollywood also contributed millions to Congress. Now piracy is against the law and should be. That is not an issue of free speech. It is property even if it is cyber. You have to buy the right to use it. I think that the law, what I've heard of it, goes way overboard with it, however. From what Ive heard the government can shut down your site without your consent because a company threatens to sue--not sues--just threatens. You don't have to be the copyright offender. You only have to post a link to the copyright0 infringed material. I think that is wrong. Youtube I think is huge here. Wikipedia has issues, although they have a team that go around policing. Google also has issues. The government can control where you go. That is wrong. That is very wrong. IT is a slippery slope. It could be done without taking away free speech. YEs, I just spouted off the same words I've heard my friends use. I'm not sure it is an issue of free speech. I think it is just scary that the U.S. government would consider censorship. I guess that involves free speech, then. To block certain parts of sites is censorship. This will cost money, although you might be able to argue that tax gained on the stuff that is soon to be bought instead of pirated will gain the governemnt more than it loses, but I don't know the numbers or if they even exist. I firmly believe that the government should not be able to have that power. Yes, the internet provides a whole new animal to hwat censorship was before. Beforew, it was tv and newspapers. That can't really be pirated in the way electronic files can. So I don't know how far reaching htis goes. I just hink they could do better. Shutting down sites is their easy way out just t osave money. Shutting down sites is easy. Tracking down those who pirated is not. I think that if they want to get serious about this though, they need to go after those people, not the sites of everyday people. My ENG 317 teacher said this will change the stat eof the internet as we know it. There is a lot of pirated stuff out there. I think it is wrong. However, it is a slippery slope. This doesn't have to do with political views, but it does have to do with the slipper y slope. I think this is wrong. I don't hink the governemtn will start censoring political view s any time soon, but once sites start getting shut down, where does it end. I think there should be a better way than shutting odwn sites. Track the people down . Perhaps change the way things are downloaded. Give each person a digital identity that can be recognied if it is replecated. I wouldn't want the governemnt looking at every move I make on the computer in order to find if it is replecteated, and I'm not a computer scientist, I just think that government censorship is a horrible idea. It is a huge mistake that could have huge consequences. If sites suddenl are shut down, that could have implications for every day people needing information--like students i n a homework crunch who need info fast. We would get used to it. But the trick is to not let it happen to start with. I think it is unconstitutional. The law protects free speech. Now again, there is a line there. But if you don't know the stuff is pirated, then I think it may become an issue of free speech. Will you lose your site forever? Perhaps we let this go through and we police the government when it gets out of hand. Tha tis what journalists do and that could be a job for me, as I am ans asipiring journlaist. Ok. That is all.
End: 3:54
c.
Popular opinion: Most people seem to be against SOPA that I know of. I haven't met anyone who supports SOPA or PIPA. Even some congressman are backing out after the protests.
People in authority: The congress proposed the law, so I guess they support it, though that is changing. Everyone supports ending piracy, except those who pirate. (interestingly enough, I heard that the man who wrote the law used copyrighted material in the law!). They think this is the best way to stop piracy and protect the profits of companies.
My position: Against. It goes too far and gives the government too much power. There must be a better way.
I most certainly am for stopping piracy, but not this way.
People I agree/disagree with: I haven't heard of anyone who agrees with it, apart from someone who wondered what the problem with shutting down pirate sites was, but that is oversimplifying it. I'm a conservative, and liberal democrat David Price, my representative, is against it.
My community will respond positively to my propositions, because there is overwhelming support in my circle against it.
D.
7:18
Well, now that I brainstormed that, I'm not sure what else to write for 15 minutes about. I had a friend who said he heard that the man who wrote the law violated a copyright when writing the law. He did exactly what he is advocating against. This is just like the dumb law a couple years ago that was supposed to protect children from lead poisoning. Now every toy resold and every piece of clothing must be formally tested for lead. No exceptions. Even library books. The enormous cost kills many things. Yard sales now need their stuff tested. Women who knit or make clothes for others from home now must get their things tested, even if they used stuff already bought at the store that was lead-free. It is dumb. Unintended consequences. These people in government just don't think things through. They act like being in congress automatically means they know who to run everything. Yes. I'm generalizing, but it says I have to type for 15 minutes. So, I'm gonna at least go for a little while longer. A friend said the main reason this is being done is to stop foreign pirating sites. But this law does very little to help that. It's dumb. My ENG 317 teacher said that it is like cutting off a hang-nail with a chainsaw. You fix the hangnail but cut off your hand in the process. The government is excellent at this. I can't say the government would lose money through this because the more people begin to buy legally, the more taxes come in. But this can be done without overstepping the bounds of government. The internet is still young and laws haven't caught up to the internet yet. This doesn't help. We still have work to do. I just want to understnad what goes through peoples heads who write this stuff. Ranting is all I can do when I type fast and I have to go for 15 mintues. All right. It's only been 8... Let's see. I think that the protest was excellent. It did a great job spreading the word. Wikipedia had a search so that you could find your representative and contact them and then post that you contacted them on facebook or twitter. They thought this through. IT was peaceful. It was effective. I like it. It was a bit weird since it affected us who use it, but it was still effective and a great idea. We have to make sacrifices to stand up for what we believe in. I know America has an overyly high view of itself, but we need to stand up for what we believe and for free speech. At least send a warning before shutting down a site. It can't be that hard. It's been 11 minutes. I have nothing else to say. I don't know much about it still. I did contact my representative. He already opposed it, but we need to show numbers. So there. bye.
7:30. 500 words.
e.
Give what you've written to someone you trust; ask him or her to tell you what else he or she wants to know about what you think. Listen carefully and take notes on the reader's suggestions. Don't talk or ask questions until the reader finishes talking. Then discuss your views on the issue further, if your reader is willing to -?o so. lf your reader said anything that modifies your views, revise your writing to take these changes into account. I need to know more about the bill. Is it just based on piracy? or does it deal with child pornography and things like that? Doesn't understand why it would be so hard to find out the actual pirates. Hit them where it hurts: in the pocket book.
f.
Keep these compositions as well as your original list of issues. You can repeat this exercise whenever you wish to write about an issue or when you are asked to write for a class.
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