SOPA & PIPA - US Trainzers could be in trouble...

RRSignal said:
I agree in principle, but if you actually work for or with a political office, you immediately see the other side of the coin with respect to petitions and electronic communications:

1. People who don't personally take the time to write their congressperson probably don't even know who he or she is.

2. If follows if they don't know who he or she is, they probably don't vote, or, if they do, they aren't savvy enough to remember a particular vote on a particular issue.

3. Petitions rarely target a specific representative of a particular area. Most tend to be generic (we'll send this to every representative and Senator!) and are thus meaningless. My congresscritter and Senators don't give a flying bleep what a signator in Maine or California thinks because they're not constituents and have no vote.

4. Emails and petitions are too easy. Again, the assumption (based almost entirely on experience across offices and levels of government) is that if you're not going to take the time to write a letter, odds are good you're not going to take the time to vote, let alone volunteer or write letters-to-the-editor in favor of a particular candidate.

5. Emails and petitions are easy to fake. Let's face it, they are. Even before the internet, the role of petitions was dubious; I remember signing a few but giving a fake name or fake address, because I didn't want to get on a mailing list and just wanted the free coffee mug they were giving away. Sorry, but that's just the truth. In the age of the internet, where we're EXPECTED to shield our identities at least a little (I'm pretty sure your real name isn't Gandalf 0444; I can assure you that mine isn't RR Signal), politicians don't expect too much accuracy and honesty from the relative anonymity of the internet. That's the perception, but based in fact (and, in all cases of which I'm aware, personal experience by the politician and his or her staffers!)

Related to that, it would take a few minutes for me to submit individual form emails in - EASILY - ten thousand different names, and I could do that just as easily in partition form as well. But, owing to the inherent costs of snail mail, most people don't have $4,400 to blow on postage. And, I haven't even gotten into spam-type programs that can modify messages' grammar and wording to differentiate one letter from another. Trust me, we know about that.


In summary, put yourself in the shoes of a representative or a staffer and think about all the things that can go wrong with or be abused using electronic communications like email and petitions, and you'll understand completely why they are not taken seriously.
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I do see your point, however they also have to grow up and get there big boy panties on and deal with the newer generations. Simply because they refuse to use what the new generations consider normal practice, that is on them. The newer generations always will control the future. If the newer generations think that petitions are better(not to mention cheaper as you pointed out since most of us young ins can't find a job and when you do you are usually quickly laid off or fired for a more experienced person or just to save money.) Having 90 years olds in a place of power defeats the purpose, they don't understand the new generations, but the reverse is also true having to young of people in office they will not understand the wants or needs of the older people. That is why I think there needs to be a limit to terms served for one, and a limit of age at both ends. Say 60 years old is the oldest you can go, and you need to be a minimum of 40 to become one. I say those ages because those are the ages where you are in lingo between both sides of the argument. You are old enough to follow what the old people want and understand it, but yet young enough still to understand what the younger people need or want.

Back when my grandfather was a Judge and lawyer in several states, and worked for senators and congressman as well as a lawyer for the town he lived in he always talked about how back then the politicians were more of a down to earth type person and you could actually get in contact with them and speak TO them more often then not. While now a days it is virtually impossible to speak to anyone in the government higher then town or city level, 1 is because of security issues, but that does not stop them from being able to speak to you on the phone or in a "town hall" type meeting, then even when they do they beat around the bush when you ask a tough question. Not being able to TALK to your supposed representative makes things VERY hard for the average Joe to believe anything the government says or does. Hell most people don't even have a clue who the hell is supposed to be representing them. But then again who said representation was supposed to be interpreted the way it was/is currently?

I only know 1 of my state senators simply because he was the Attorney General...the others..pfft I wouldn't even know if I did happen to run into 1 of them somewhere. If I cannot speak to or see the person who represents ME how can I feel that they are actually doing so?

Part of my high school requirements was that I had to come up with a hot issue, for example lets say abortion. Then list the pros and cons of each side and see which side I agree with, then I would have to find MY representative, which was a chore enough to find, then CALL them or at least attempt to, and then talk to the secretary or whoever answers the phone and voice your opinion and see if you could get the REAL representative call you back and talk further. Out of the entire school ONE person actually got a call back from the real representative. Now granted there is a large ratio of people to representative(on both state and federal levels) but you rarely ever hear about them talking to anyone about anything.
 
Oh,

http://news.yahoo.com/guess-just-jumped-anti-sopa-train-185030179.html

Don't think for a minute that because they're reconsidering some of the "controversial parts" that the bill is dead. First, they're trying to calm the situation. But, let's say, even if they remove the especially bad provisions (and that's a big IF, I doubt they will fully) and pass the bill, the same actors will be back again next year to fight for what they didn't get last time. Let me let you in on a little more on U.S. politics: don't give an inch, or the other side will take a mile.
 
Be aware though. The entertainment industry has deep pockets and view the internet as a threat to their profits. This is an election year and the party who benefits the most from donations from that industry have a lot of seats up for election this year.
At most they will delay the bill until after the elections and it will be back in swing in a less risky political environment. The deeper pockets will win, just need a more advantageous time for the politicians. Both are patient.

Dave............
 
JohnnyC1 said:
It does not matter, the Rep control the House and the Dems control the Senate, this bill will add more government control of your life. Remember the DHS & the TSA. If you travel and take aircraft/RR pictures you will run across the friendly folks of the TSA. Heck, it's not even safe to be a nerd anymore and sit in your car and take pictures with out being stopped!

John
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I never said I supported the bill, I just wonder why you decided to lay the blame at one party's feet.
 
The electorate thinks that the job of politicians is to represent their views.

Politicians seem to think their job is to be re-elected.
 
I think that their job is neither. Their job, in my opinion, is to use the best of their intellect and core principles and beliefs, i.e., what they should have been elected on, to make decisions as the People's representative.

This is why we are really in trouble with the crop we have now.

Bernie
 
I'm in New Zealand and it will definately affect me

I've been reading your posts, I figured that this thread would turn up.

A lot of people have speculated that SOPA wont affect people outside the US, when in reality, it definately will.

Down here in New Zealand (Beside Australia, not a state of it), the most well known sites that we know of are Google, Youtube, Facebook and wikipedia. Considering how SOPA would pretty much wipe them off the face of the planet, that effectively means that we have to find alternative means of information and cat videos.

Assuming that nobody minds, could I possibly introduce a few rabid dogs into Congress and lock the doors? :D Perhaps that would get their attention...
 
FYI, there has been a lot of (evidently false) info going around that SOPA has been tabled. AFAIK, it has not been, and either way, it's companion PIPA is still being pushed. BOTH of these bills have to go down in entirety.
 
Yeah, a train to ruin.

I've been thinking, a few months ago, a fellow Trainz got into a spat with a railroad. Fortunately, the RR (CSX) decided to be cool about it and let the guy license their mark, but it just as easily could have gone the other way, and might have with another RR.
 
All that RR has to do is file a claim and all access to N3V from the US could be blocked, including all credit card and bank transactions. Not much to do with trains but a lot to do with a disgruntled user or someone who thinks their work was stolen shutting the whole smash down. A lot of content on the DLS to wade through.
 
sparky15 said:
All that RR has to do is file a claim and all access to N3V from the US could be blocked, including all credit card and bank transactions. Not much to do with trains but a lot to do with a disgruntled user or someone who thinks their work was stolen shutting the whole smash down. A lot of content on the DLS to wade through.
Click to expand...

If you analyze it closely, much of U.S. (and non-U.S.) law involves shifting the burden of proof away from one party towards another.
 
SOPA? looks like the supporters of that act need to clean up their act.. WITH SOAP! Stop Obnoxious Arrogant People. On the topic of this act, and PIPA as well, It's worrying that it could leak into the UK. The big companies in America think that money talks, but it's the SHEER NUMBER of people who use the services that give the businesses the real picture. My support on PIPA and SOPA? Zilch. Zip. Nada. Diddly squit.
 
So, what this means for the community is that we will never be able to release any more content???!! What will this do to all of the people that have their own sites that contain reskinned content?
 
wilh said:
So, what this means for the community is that we will never be able to release any more content???!! What will this do to all of the people that have their own sites that contain re-skinned content?
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High chance if there's copyrighted material or if the government doesn't like it. Yes, especially if there is copyrighted material it can go into lawsuit cases/Jail-time. Maybe not NEVER to be able to, but can be blocked. As read somewhere else: Piracy was originally defined as an aggressive attack against a shipping lane.
Since the internet is the 'shipping lane' of the 21st century, and PIPA/SOPA attack its foundation, then both PIPA and SOPA would technically be acts of piracy.
Blows your mind doesn't it?


Nonetheless though I'm highly against it as well, even if this act will possible never die since another one just might take its place, been that way for a long time. But this one goes far into infringing Human rights and invading privacy with censorship emails, things that show even by mere suggestion a pirated text when its not etc.
Freedom of speech is a human right, not a privilege.
Copy/Paste I found eailier

What is the intent of SOPA/PROTECT IP? The stated intent of the bills is to provide tools for law enforcement and copyright holders to protect their intellectual property rights.

What’s wrong with protecting copyrights?
Nothing! The devil, as they say, is in the details. PROTECT IP and SOPA will cause too much collateral damage, have a high potential for abuse, and won't even be that effective at stopping the crimes they target. Read alienth's examination of where these bills fail.

I'm not in the U.S. Why does this affect me?
Many of the sites that you may use (e.g. Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, etc.) are all affected by this law and will be required to hide offending domains from you.
If a non-U.S. site is blocked in the U.S., the site could suffer financially or even be bankrupted by the loss of U.S. traffic and revenue.

What are the differences between PROTECT IP and SOPA?
At a general level, the bills are very similar. SOPA, the "Stop Online Piracy Act," is from the House of Representatives, while the PROTECT IP Act is from the Senate. Either or both bills may pass a vote in their chamber of congress on their way to becoming law. Both must be defeated to end this threat. There have recently been more detailed explanations in an ELI5 thread and alienth's blog post.
What about ACTA?
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, is a multi-national agreement with similar goals to the U.S.-only PROTECT IP and SOPA bills. It is criticized for many of the same reasons that PROTECT IP and SOPA are, but is also concerning because it has been drafted in secret. ACTA is not the focus of this blackout but please take the time to learn more about ACTA.

I'm not a U.S. citizen. How can I help?
You can still call or e-mail the U.S. representatives (sponsors of the bills would be a good choice). However, you may want to turn your attention more towards ACTA or other over-zealous copyright bills in your country.


@AJ The sigs and Avatar's count as trains right?
 
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How would the SOPA and PIPA acts affect trainz, as pointed out above, would it mean that members would have to ask for permission whenever they would want to skin a train into a company livery?

I seem to remember Magandy created some Thomas characters for trainz, and then HIT ordered him to take them down due to copyright issues.
Capitalist society seems to be becoming like communist society but instead of government, big business controls people all for the name of profit.
 
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