Kawi2strokes.com Forum

We don't like political stuff here, but something like this could shut down our and many other sites. I stole this from the Yammi board....

A some of you may or may not know, there is some legislation going through congress that would effectively stifle our freedom on the internet. Today, many sites are blacked out in protest:

http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://advrider.com/
http://www.thumpertalk.com/
http://www.reddit.com/

Those are just a few of the sites blacked out in protest.

What does this mean for the internet? It means that site owners are responsible for policing all links posted on their sites for pirated content. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: ... Learn_more

What does this mean for 2StrokeWorld? It means that if someone posts a link here to a site that contains pirated material anywhere on it, 2StrokeWorld can be shut down for it. Obviously this is an impossible task for a small site like us to police, let alone a large site like Wikipedia or Google.

Small sites like this one are especially at risk, as they do not have the legal means to fight an order to shut down, and many will just be crushed as a result.

What can I do?

Call your representatives:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:CongressLookup
http://americancensorship.org/modal/call-form.html

Sign the petitions:
http://sopastrike.com/modal/strike-modal/index.html
https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/


Make your voice heard!

As all of you know, I do not take political stances on this site, nor do I normally make my opinions on things outside this site known, but this has the potential to shut down small sites like this, and thousands of others, as well as take down the large sites that we all love, and use every day.

Please take a minute to call or write to your rep, or sign the petition, the web needs your help!

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

That was all over craigslist yesterday.
Every time I changed to a different city a black page came up with those links John posted and more.
After 30 seconds or so a link appeared at the bottom of the page to proceed to the for sale sections.
I agree, talk to your local representatives and dont let congress take away any more than they already have.

Im done now.
Putting the soap box away.

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Bad decisions make the best stories.

Need to read the legislation.

My understanding is that such legislation is already in place for the Continental United States (CONUS). That is, the law can go after anyone pirating copyrighted or otherwise protected content or product.

The SOPA legislation is meant to aid U.S law to go after such pirates outside CONUS. It is not about going after the bazillion small or large web sites (like ours) that have legitimate purpose but may have a link to a pirate site that someone has placed on it.

It would mean that sites inside CONUS (as is the case with todays law) and outside CONUS (with SOPA inacted) could be sought out by U.S. law enforcement if such a site was actively engaged in pirating and/or sponsoring pirating sites.

My only concern is that of giving government more power in the market place. However, in this instance, if you are pirating you're stealing, you're breaking the law and if you're sponsoring pirating sites you are aiding and abeding criminal activity. So, as with the law which is already in effect within CONUS, I see no problem with SOPA.

I see no difference in this than the right the law has today of going after other criminal activity that might be condicted elsewhere as well as through the internet; such as child porn for example.

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Busy doing more riding than wrenching.......

The big issue with the law is that it can shut down websites that links to copyrighted material. Ric, if you post a link here to a video on www.advriders.com that the AMA decides is their copyrighted material, then my hosting site is required to shut down www.kawi2strokes.com simply because you posted a link.

Take this one step further. Mraxl's resource page. Posted on the resource page is a link to the H2 service manual. That manual is scanned from the Kawasaki Factory manual that is in my possession. I can prove this by by my thumbprint on a a few of the pages (greasy fingerprints that are clearly visible on the scans). Occasionally, some a$$hole tries to sell the H2 service manual on CD via eBay that is directly taken from the resource page. I have unofficial permission from Kawasaki to post the service manual online. I do NOT have permission to sell it.

SOPA, the way it's written, can not only shut down Mraxl's resource page (and this forum because it's the same hosting service), but it can theoretically shut down eBay because someone is selling what I have permission to give away for free because they are selling it without permission.

Because of SOPA, I'm doing a full backup of all kawtriple.com and 3cyl.com. Our data (resources) will be preserved and will be available to all here via email if necessary.

Jeff

There are links to copyrighted works all over this site. Scan a magazine ad, post it on a board...............etc
Its not "No Problem" out of print and otherwise unavailable (although copyrighted) information will cease to be posted or hosted if this come to pass.
Movies, TV, Books, Music etc I agree should be paid for (if Copywritten) , people deserve to earn the fruits of their labour, but the way it stands a link to a Tri Stars poster scan could get a site shut down.

Well...we'll agree to disagree.

The example of the H2 shopmanual: I would think the copyright on that has long since expired.
The example of a video taken at an AMA event: if your not selling or otherwise using some video clip to promote the site then it is not protected under copyright laws.

I just think a lot of these types of examples are "The Sky is Falling" examples. SOPA targets foreign entities actively engaged in pirating material specically for resell.

If there's something on a web site similar to these examples in which the site is using to make a profit the law can already require you to remove it. There are already cases of corporations asking sites to remove their copyrighted material. I see nothing wrong with that.

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Busy doing more riding than wrenching.......

As the Moo-Man eluded too in starting this post (which should be of interest to all of us), my post here is not political but rather a fact finding investigation.



From House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas)


"The Stop Online Piracy Act makes it harder for illegal foreign websites to make a profit off the sale and distribution of stolen technology and innovations. It specifically targets foreign websites that are actively engaged in illegal and infringing activity. Domestic websites like Facebook and YouTube have nothing to worry about under this bill.

The activity these foreign websites are engaged in is already illegal in the U.S. But because they are operated overseas, the sites are out of reach of current U.S. laws that protect intellectual property. The Stop Online Piracy Act simply applies to foreign illegal websites similar standards that are already in place for domestic sites.

This is a constitutional bill that protects free speech and America’s intellectual property. It’s not censorship to enforce the law and stop criminal activity.

Just like online piracy, child pornography can be found on the Internet. It is also illegal. Just as there is no First Amendment right to offer or access obscenity online, there is no protected interest to offer illegal counterfeit and pirated products and services. Laws exist to protect our property rights in the real world – those same protections apply to the Internet.

This bill authorizes only the Justice Department to seek an injunction against a foreign site that is dedicated to illegal and infringing activity. The Justice Department must go to a federal judge and lay out the case against a foreign site.

If the judge finds that the site is primarily engaged in illegal activity, then a court order can be issued directing companies to sever ties with the illegal website. Search engines will simply be required to remove only the direct link to an illegal site. Third-party intermediaries, like credit card companies and online ad providers, will only be required to stop working with the site. They cannot be held liable for the illegal or infringing actions taken by the rogue website.

So if SOPA only applies to foreign illegal websites, then why are Google and Wikipedia opposed? Unfortunately, one of the reasons why you can’t believe everything you read about the Stop Online Piracy Act is because some critics of this bill have generated enormous profits from illegal websites that sell stolen intellectual property.

For instance, Google has directed consumers to these illegal sites by featuring them prominently on their search function. This includes sites with counterfeit drugs that could endanger the lives of Americans.

In August, Google paid $500 million to settle a criminal investigation into the search engine’s active promotion of illegal foreign pharmacies that sold counterfeit and illegal drugs to American patients.

Google’s conduct demonstrates there is a need for the government to step up enforcement of intellectual property rights online and provide increased protections to American consumers.

The ability to pass along rumors on blogs and social networks comes at the risk of getting the facts all wrong. "

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Busy doing more riding than wrenching.......

These law is very dangerous for every site, of course they said we'ren't affected by it, but in fact if SOPA comes this site and others could be easily shut down.

Copyright lasts a lot longer than you think. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... ght_length

My bet us that the bill was compiled by those that have good intentions but don't even know what a browser is or the potential impact that the legislation could have.
There are already laws on the books to deal with piracy without government censorship of the internet. Next there will be an internet "czar" with a cabinet to regulate the internet.

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Answers are here: http://kawatriple.com/