News of a Most Distressing Matter

Blaze the Dragon · Nov 27, 2010 4:52 PM

Okay, I know that we're not supposed to bring up any topics about politics, but this definitely, I feel, has relevance to this forum and its very future.

The U.S. Congress has recently passed a bill known as COICA. The full name for this proposed bill is Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act.

If passed into law, a committee would be able to look at any site and, should they find infringement, they will request that the domain owner immediately suspend operation of the site and lock the domain.

This is their definition of infringement as written within the bill:

(A) primarily designed, has no demonstrable, commercially significant purpose or use other than, or is marketed by its operator, or by a person acting in concert with the operator, to offer:

(i) goods or services in violation of title 17, United States Code, or enable or facilitate a violation of title 17, United States Code, including by offering or providing access to, without the authorization of the copyright owner or otherwise by operation of law, copies of, or public performance or display of, works protected by title 17, in complete or substantially complete form, by any means, including by means of download, transmission, or otherwise, including the provision of a link or aggregated links to other sites or Internet resources for obtaining such copies for accessing such performance or displays; or

(ii) to sell or distribute goods, services, or materials bearing a counterfeit mark, as that term is defined in section 34(d) of the Act entitled 'An Act to provide for the registration and protection of trademarks used in commerce, to carry out the provisions of certain international conventions, and for other purposes', approved July 5, 1946 (commonly referred to as the 'Trademark Act of 1946' or the 'Lanham Act'; 15 U.S.C. § 1116; and

(B] engaged in the activities described in subparagraph (A), and when taken together, such activities are central to the activity of the Internet site or sites accessed through a specific domain name

Powers granted should the bill be passed into law:

...would allow the Attorney General to bring an in rem action against the infringing domain name in United States District Court, and seek an order requesting injunctive relief. If granted, such an order would compel the registrar of the domain name in question to take the following actions:

Upon receipt of such order, the domain name registrar or domain name registry shall suspend operation of, and lock, the domain name.

In addition, this bill would also apply to NONDOMESTIC DOMAINS, those not within the United States, such as SpyroForum due to SR being in Canada.

Nondomestic domains

If the infringing website is not located in the United States, the bill empowers the Attorney General to bring a similar action in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Should an order for injunctive relief be granted, the Attorney General would then be empowered to serve said order upon, and compel to perform the actions listed:

(i) a service provider, as that term is defined in section 512(k)(1) of title 17, United States Code, or other operator of a domain name system server shall take reasonable steps that will prevent a domain name from resolving to that domain name's Internet protocol address;

(ii) a financial transaction provider, as that term is defined in section 5362(4) of title 31, United States Code, shall take reasonable measures, as expeditiously as practical, to prevent--

(I] its service from processing transactions for customers located within the United States based on purchases associated with the domain name; and

(II] its trademarks from being authorized for use on Internet sites associated with such domain name; and

(iii) a service that serves contextual or display advertisements to Internet sites shall take reasonable measures, as expeditiously as practical, to prevent its network from serving advertisements to an Internet site accessed through such domain name.

Should a party fail to comply with an order served upon it by the Attorney General, the Attorney General would be able to bring an in personam action against the party in question.

Clock-la · Nov 27, 2010 4:54 PM

soo...your saying were at risk?

Blaze the Dragon · Nov 27, 2010 4:57 PM

Yes, we are. Even though SF's domain is in Canada due to SR owning the site and domain, he could be brought under U.S. law if this bill is passed as we technically, in the U.S. government's eyes, wouldn't have permission from the owners of the Spyro franchise (Activision) to create a site based on its material.

deviantART is at risk
Fanfiction.net
FurAffinity
4chan

These are only some of the other sites that could be affected.

Clock-la · Nov 27, 2010 4:59 PM

nothing will come of it.

if 4chan suffers from it the WHOLE internet suffers.

Blaze the Dragon · Nov 27, 2010 5:01 PM

Er, was that sarcastic, or sincere?

Clock-la · Nov 27, 2010 5:04 PM

A bit of both serriosly 4chan are ultimet they will flood the internet with porn

as for DA its to big to just shut down. like I said nothing will come from it. we all have to many problems to bother with the internet.

Blaze the Dragon · Nov 27, 2010 5:06 PM

Well, I suppose I'm worried about it especially myself considering the fact that I write Spyro fan fiction. A lot of people on dA are up and arms against this.

Clock-la · Nov 27, 2010 5:09 PM

Like I said loadfs of bills are passed but nothing ever comes of them. im shure this will be no different.

JazzJackrabbit · Nov 27, 2010 5:26 PM

Let's hope we're safe. I'm hoping the law is meant to protect kids from exposure to dirty pictures. If you go to the Candyland website today, you will go to a child-friendly website about the game and its spinoffs. But if you were to go there in the early days of the internet, it would be an adult website with dirty pictures. The domain name was seized by the government and given to Hasbro.

riverhippo · Nov 27, 2010 5:51 PM

There is no reason for them to shut this site down. Congress has way more importnat things to worry about.

Clock-la · Nov 27, 2010 6:08 PM

riverhippo wrote:

There is no reason for them to shut this site down. Congress has way more importnat things to worry about.

________________

Blaze the Dragon · Nov 27, 2010 6:10 PM

@riverhippo: Congress will shut down any and all sites they perceive to be committing copyright infringement, regardless of whether they are a U.S. domain or not, the way that bill is worded. They will first send a warning to the domain owner telling them to suspend operation and lock the domain. If the site is not closed, the District Attorney will then take the owner themself to court.

You forget that the lion's share of internet processes are run from the United States. Congress has the power, and if the bill is passed, they will use it.

Latias fan · Nov 27, 2010 6:10 PM

Clock-la wrote:

riverhippo wrote:
There is no reason for them to shut this site down. Congress has way more importnat things to worry about.
________________

Which there not doing.

Clock-la · Nov 27, 2010 6:12 PM

Blaze the Dragon wrote:

@riverhippo: Congress will shut down any and all sites they perceive to be committing copyright infringement, regardless of whether they are a U.S. domain or not, the way that bill is worded. They will first send a warning to the domain owner telling them to suspend operation and lock the domain. If the site is not closed, the District Attorney will then take the owner themself to court.
You forget that the lion's share of internet processes are run from the United States. Congress has the power, and if the bill is passed, they will use it.

i dobt they will TBH i mean there will be FLOODs of complaints i mean DA is more like a comperney IMO with the fact you can buy art and member ship stuff...they can't just shut it down.

Blaze the Dragon · Nov 27, 2010 6:15 PM

There will be doubts, but there's always a possibility that they'll do it. We still should be aware of what's going on as it could potentially affect the site. I'm not saying that it's guaranteed to be enforced, but there's always the chance that Congress will enforce it.

riverhippo · Nov 27, 2010 6:17 PM

Blaze, IMO, you're kinda being a paranoid citizen. How did you find out about this? Don't be so fearful about what the government does. Their just a bunch of idiots and liars.

Swaffy · Nov 27, 2010 6:19 PM

Great. Now I'm greatly worried for wat might happen to us. And I'm going
to shoot someone if { banned website } gets hammered. It's based in a country
where piracy is allowed, though. So I'm not sure about { banned website }.

Clock-la · Nov 27, 2010 6:22 PM

Swaffy wrote:

Great. Now I'm greatly worried for wat might happen to us. And I'm going
to shoot someone if { banned website } gets hammered. It's based in a country
where piracy is allowed, though. So I'm not sure about { banned website }.

use youtube to MP3/ clip converter XD

Neotyguy40 · Nov 27, 2010 6:26 PM

Swaffy wrote:

Great. Now I'm greatly worried for wat might happen to us. And I'm going
to shoot someone if { banned website } gets hammered. It's based in a country
where piracy is allowed, though. So I'm not sure about { banned website }.

Did you hear the news?

The Pirate Bay founders lost their appeal, and the site may be shut down.

Good riddance to all those pirates I say...

Swaffy · Nov 27, 2010 6:33 PM

Well, I use { banned website } for some PC games and movies.
I get my music legally at Napster.

Blaze the Dragon · Nov 27, 2010 6:36 PM

riverhippo wrote:

Blaze, IMO, you're kinda being a paranoid citizen. How did you find out about this? Don't be so fearful about what the government does. Their just a bunch of idiots and liars.

I heard about it on deviantART to begin with; it's surging through journals on there, as artists and writers are concerned. As a fan fiction writer I'm concerned because I don't want to see my work snuffed out when it's starting to get momentum and favorable comments.

So riverhippo, before you go flinging accusations at someone, for instance calling me just a simple, paranoid citizen, think of why a person could be upset over something like this. You just come off as a troll and a flame war instigator that way.

Neotyguy40 · Nov 27, 2010 6:37 PM

Swaffy wrote:

Well, I use { banned website } for some PC games and movies.
I get my music legally at Napster.

You are a horrible person... :'(

riverhippo · Nov 27, 2010 7:07 PM

Blaze the Dragon wrote:

riverhippo wrote:
Blaze, IMO, you're kinda being a paranoid citizen. How did you find out about this? Don't be so fearful about what the government does. Their just a bunch of idiots and liars.
I heard about it on deviantART to begin with; it's surging through journals on there, as artists and writers are concerned. As a fan fiction writer I'm concerned because I don't want to see my work snuffed out when it's starting to get momentum and favorable comments.
So riverhippo, before you go flinging accusations at someone, for instance calling me just a simple, paranoid citizen, think of why a person could be upset over something like this. You just come off as a troll and a flame war instigator that way.

Well, for your benefit, maybe the bill will get rid of me too when it becomes law...

Clock-la · Nov 27, 2010 7:50 PM

Blaze the Dragon wrote:

riverhippo wrote:
Blaze, IMO, you're kinda being a paranoid citizen. How did you find out about this? Don't be so fearful about what the government does. Their just a bunch of idiots and liars.
I heard about it on deviantART to begin with; it's surging through journals on there, as artists and writers are concerned. As a fan fiction writer I'm concerned because I don't want to see my work snuffed out when it's starting to get momentum and favorable comments.
So riverhippo, before you go flinging accusations at someone, for instance calling me just a simple, paranoid citizen, think of why a person could be upset over something like this. You just come off as a troll and a flame war instigator that way.

he's only saying how it is hmm anyway why not just save your fanficton and find other sites if DA is shut down ((Witch it wont)) If one site gose anover like it reopens.

Blaze the Dragon · Nov 27, 2010 8:16 PM

If the Congress does systematically shut things down for copyright infringement, a lot of places won't be safe. Heck, most of my fanfiction goes on fanfiction.net. That would be a sure thing to be shut down after all. Basically, for fan artists and fan fiction authors, this proposed bill is like a pistol placed to the head and another placed to the heart. A very difficult situation.

#1 Nov 27, 2010 4:52 PM

News of a Most Distressing Matter

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