Would you like to see Boards.ie go dark in protest of SOPA Ireland?

Dara Robinson

I bloody well would. I think that Ireland's single largest website would raise a huge amount of awareness. Possibly not just having a black screen but also pointing at the Stop SOPA Ireland petition website and maybe some website that has some good info on the topic

What do you think?

Standard Toaster

Just set your monitor to black and white.

Shutting down Boards for a prolonged period of time? Too many people would die.

My name is URL

If it's just to raise awareness then maybe a splash screen with info & links on SOPA when people visit Boards would be enough. I don't really see the point in taking the site offline.

4zn76tysfajdxp

That would be ineffective. The government couldn't give a **** about Boards.ie. No, the only way to properly protest an Irish SOPA act would be to find out which companies are supporting it, boycotting them and sending them a letter letting them know why.

quietriot

Shutting down all the sites associated with the media group that controls Boards would certainly send a message.

Daft.ie, Property.ie, The Journal, Boards.ie, etc all going at the same time with a clear message would have an effect. Might inspire other Irish sites to do so too.

Boards by itself wouldn't do much.

Irish Guitarist

No. I don't see what it will achieve. Why would anyone involved in SOPA care whether Boards.ie shuts down or not?

I don't trust that Stop SOPA website either. For all anyone knows that could be run by IRMA or someone and is probably a way of getting a list of names of people who illegally download music.

wiseguy

Alistair Silly Treasure wrote: »

That would be ineffective. The government couldn't give a **** about Boards.ie. No, the only way to properly protest an Irish SOPA act would be to find out which companies are supporting it, boycotting them and sending them a letter letting them know why.

I am sorry but you are wrong, I have rang 3 local TDs today, waiting on 2 of them to get back to me after they finish in chamber.
Ring your local TDs and tell them that Sean Searlock, the Labour party and the Government have gone insane, and voice your opposition.

If we the people dont make ourselves heard every way possible how are they meant to know? Even if they ignore us, well damnit at least we tried!

And no need to shutdown, a banner message targeting Irish ip addresses is enough.

gavmcg92

Yes I think it would. I would like to see a joint operation between boards.ie, thejournal.ie, broadsheet.ie, daft.ie to name a few.

Professey Chin

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

I don't trust that Stop SOPA website either. For all anyone knows that could be run by IRMA or someone and is probably a way of getting a list of names of people who illegally download music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac_fmquTWq0

connundrum

Could DeV just not turn off the Internet?

gavmcg92

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

I don't trust that Stop SOPA website either. For all anyone knows that could be run by IRMA or someone and is probably a way of getting a list of names of people who illegally download music.

Simon McGarr
McGarr Solicitors
simon@mcgarrsolicitors.ie
01 6351580
Simon McGarr is a litigation solicitor and previously led a campaign for the expulsion of the Papal Nuncio following the publication of the Murphy Report.

TJ McIntyre
Digital Rights Ireland
contact@tjmcintyre.com.
TJ is a lecturer in law in UCD, solicitor, and chairman of Digital Rights Ireland.

Michele Neylon
Blacknight Internet Solutions
michele@blacknight.ie
059 9183072
Michele Neylon is the founder and managing director of Ireland’s largest registrar and hosting provider, Blacknight. He serves on the Eurid registrar advisory board and the ENUM 353 policy advisory board.

Ian Bergin
No SOPA Ireland Facebook | @NoSOPAIreland
Ian Bergin originally brought this legislation to social media attention in Ireland and has been actively campaigning online and with legislators and corporations to raise opposition.


No one from IRMA in sight!

Dara Robinson

Alistair Silly Treasure wrote: »

That would be ineffective. The government couldn't give a **** about Boards.ie. No, the only way to properly protest an Irish SOPA act would be to find out which companies are supporting it, boycotting them and sending them a letter letting them know why.

Who cares what the people think about? Its the people that matter. The more pressure we put on the more than changes. in 24 hours of going live Stop SOPA Ireland petition website received 22,000+ signatures, 12 hours later its 33,870. As Irish petitions websites that is HUGE. Last night most of you know that Anonymous shot a warning shot to the Irish government via a DoS Attack, the topic was covered in the 1pm news today (Go to min 15:30 if you want to watch it). Its about awareness of the public as that will filter down to the government.
As an example of that the IMMI in Iceland is the perfect example of this

AnonoBoy

gavmcg92 wrote: »

Michele Neylon is the founder and managing director of Ireland’s largest registrar and hosting provider, Blacknight.

Ah Blacknight - where www.endakenny.com is hosted I believe.

Wetai

Doesn't have to be major - something like urbandictionary.com did; changing the orange border to black. It caught (my) attention, without major problems or being obtrusive. Boards could do similar, changing all blue to black for a while.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Dara Robinson wrote: »

Who cares what the people think about? Its the people that matter. The more pressure we put on the more than changes. in 24 hours of going live Stop SOPA Ireland petition website received 22,000+ signatures, 12 hours later its 33,870. As Irish petitions websites that is HUGE. Last night most of you know that Anonymous shot a warning shot to the Irish government via a DoS Attack, the topic was covered in the 1pm news today (Go to min 15:30 if you want to watch it). Its about awareness of the public as that will filter down to the government.
As an example of that the IMMI in Iceland is the perfect example of this

"Public awareness" means **** all. Online petitions can be ignored and dismissed as forgery. Anonymous attacks can be ignored and dismissed as pranks. What cannot be ignored or dismissed is revenue loss. If the music, film and games industries found out that people have stopped buying music/watching films/playing videogames in their droves because of their support of an Irish SOPA law, then they'll stop pressuring the government to change the legislature in their favour. Call politicians and stuff too.

wiseguy

Just got a call back from local TD, he wants to meet to discuss whats all the fuss is about and why it would hurt the economy.

The system works?! :eek:


Also it seems that the pressure worked somewhat!
http://www.thejournal.ie/sherlock-open-to-dail-debate-on-plans-for-online-piracy-law-337005-Jan2012/

deckybarr

I vote yes on boards.ie going dark for 24 hours in protest or at least have something up on the main homepage or send a pm to all users. This law will affect boards.ie so it is in there interest to bring this matter to all boards.ie users.

KyussBishop

Alistair Silly Treasure wrote: »

"Public awareness" means **** all. Online petitions can be ignored and dismissed as forgery. Anonymous attacks can be ignored and dismissed as pranks. What cannot be ignored or dismissed is revenue loss. If the music, film and games industries found out that people have stopped buying music/watching films/playing videogames in their droves because of their support of an Irish SOPA law, then they'll stop pressuring the government to change the legislature in their favour. Call politicians and stuff too.

That's something I've thought about before; how many of the retail stores in Ireland are affiliated with the 'Big Publishers' around the world in the music/movie/game industry, who lobby and push for these anti-piracy laws?

If we can determine direct connections between retail outlets, and lobbyists/companies supporting these laws around the world, then we could organize an awareness campaign and boycott of certain publishers and retail outlets?

That would be hitting them directly where it hurts: Retail sails.


However, the big problem there is it would inherently impact upon artists selling works as well; granted, 90% of profits go to the publishers, but it would still affect the artists.

It would be great to see something like that happen though, to kill off the big publishers that support these laws, as most have become irrelevant now due to the internet; the artist need an alternative first though, e.g. a practical online platform for publishing, without a 90% fee.

Dara Robinson

Alistair Silly Treasure wrote: »

"Public awareness" means **** all. Online petitions can be ignored and dismissed as forgery. Anonymous attacks can be ignored and dismissed as pranks. What cannot be ignored or dismissed is revenue loss. If the music, film and games industries found out that people have stopped buying music/watching films/playing videogames in their droves because of their support of an Irish SOPA law, then they'll stop pressuring the government to change the legislature in their favour. Call politicians and stuff too.

You are right when you say "Online petitions can be ignored and dismissed as forgery. Anonymous attacks can be ignored and dismissed as pranks". However, the one thing they do acheive is awareness. 72hours ago how many people knew about SOPA Ireland? 24 hours ago how many people knew about it? Are you telling me that the same amount of people know about this topic now than they did before the Anon attacks? Is it the same number of people who knew about it before the petition website was launched? And are you telling me that as a result of this that no one has contacted their TD?

Are you telling me that the attack on Polish websites is not the reason for them pausing their signing of ACTA?
IMHO you cannot ignore the awareness they raise

MungBean

Alistair Silly Treasure wrote: »

"Public awareness" means **** all. Online petitions can be ignored and dismissed as forgery. Anonymous attacks can be ignored and dismissed as pranks. What cannot be ignored or dismissed is revenue loss. If the music, film and games industries found out that people have stopped buying music/watching films/playing videogames in their droves because of their support of an Irish SOPA law, then they'll stop pressuring the government to change the legislature in their favour. Call politicians and stuff too.

In order for people to do those things you first need people to be aware of why they should be doing it. All these blackout protests are highlighting just how serious the issue is and will prompt people to protest it themselves.

If Boards was blacked out for a day you'd have every single user asking why and the majority of them realising how much the new legislation could affect them. It may not be a defining factor but it cant be anything other than helpful in trying to get it scrapped.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Dara Robinson wrote: »

You are right when you say "Online petitions can be ignored and dismissed as forgery. Anonymous attacks can be ignored and dismissed as pranks". However, the one thing they do acheive is awareness. 72hours ago how many people knew about SOPA Ireland? 24 hours ago how many people knew about it? Are you telling me that the same amount of people know about this topic now than they did before the Anon attacks? Is it the same number of people who knew about it before the petition website was launched? And are you telling me that as a result of this that no one has contacted their TD?

Are you telling me that the attack on Polish websites is not the reason for them pausing their signing of ACTA?
IMHO you cannot ignore the awareness they raise

MungBean wrote: »

In order for people to do those things you first need people to be aware of why they should be doing it. All these blackout protests are highlighting just how serious the issue is and will prompt people to protest it themselves.

If Boards was blacked out for a day you'd have every single user asking why and the majority of them realising how much the new legislation could affect them. It may not be a defining factor but it cant be anything other than helpful in trying to get it scrapped.

Awareness isn't enough, though. I'm talking about people who are already aware of the issues. People who need to stop simply "raising awareness" of this **** and actually hit these businesses where it hurts.

MungBean

Alistair Silly Treasure wrote: »

Awareness isn't enough, though. I'm talking about people who are already aware of the issues. People who need to stop simply "raising awareness" of this **** and actually hit these businesses where it hurts.

Your missing the point. Awareness is key, without it you only have a small group that cant achieve anything. Nobody gives a crap what they boycott because they cannot affect change.

You need to raise awareness so you can get to the point of the TD's and record labels knowing that regardless of an organised boycott business will be affected because such a huge amount of people are opposed to the legislation.

In regards to Boards being blacked out then its all they can really do is inform their user base that they should be aware of whats going on. Unless you want Boards to promote a boycott of certain companies (which is probably illegal) then theres nothing that they can do but highlight the issue. Its people who need to take the next step and to do that they need to be aware of whats happening.

gavmcg92

Alistair Silly Treasure wrote: »

Awareness isn't enough, though. I'm talking about people who are already aware of the issues. People who need to stop simply "raising awareness" of this **** and actually hit these businesses where it hurts.

You can't have one without the other. The general population needs to be "aware" of the detrimental adjusts as well as forcefully attack the businesses who support the legislation where it hurts, their profit margins.

4zn76tysfajdxp

MungBean wrote: »

Your missing the point. Awareness is key, without it you only have a small group that cant achieve anything.

gavmcg92 wrote: »

You can't have one without the other. The general population needs to be "aware" of the detrimental adjusts as well as forcefully attack the businesses who support the legislation where it hurts, their profit margins.

Okay, I see your point. I was just frustrated because I see a lot more attempts at raising awareness when it comes to these things and very little organised protesting afterwards. Proper ones, with boycotting and hardships and ****. Pardon my hysterics.

wiseguy

Alistair Silly Treasure wrote: »

Okay, I see your point. I was just frustrated because I see a lot more attempts at raising awareness when it comes to these things and very little organised protesting afterwards. Proper ones, with boycotting and hardships and ****. Pardon my hysterics.

What people need to do right now is contact their TDs, a certain Labour Minister is after committing political suicide and is backpedalling due to all the pressure over last 2 days and now this thing will have to go to vote in Dail, hence its important that we tell them why exactly this is badTM, one can always at anytime afterwards boycott EMI and the music industry who started this **** and are suing the government.

recylingbin

YAY! Let's all black up. That'll show 'em.

fusuf

I was suprised at the result of the poll. I agree with what was previously mentioned, shutting down boards and site associated with it would be the only way

gavmcg92

Ahh here! FFS!

Ireland and EU to sign controversial ACTA treaty tomorrow

37 minutes ago 929 Views 8 Comments
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IRELAND IS TO sign a controversial international agreement tomorrow which promises a major international crackdown on the trade of counterfeit goods – and illegal internet filesharing.
Irish representatives will sign the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) at a ceremony tomorrow – as will representatives from each of the other 26 European Union member states, and the EU itself.
Once the agreement is signed, it can then be formally ratified and adopted into law once it has been cleared by the European Parliament. The treaty will be signed tomorrow in Tokyo by Ireland’s ambassador to Japan, John Neary.
Although the treaty is primarily aimed at stopping the trade of counterfeited physical goods, it contains provisions which demand that participating countries offer equal protection and enforcement procedures against digital copyright infringement.

• Read: The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in full – PDF >

The deal – which is unrelated to the controversial ‘Irish SOPA’ legislation – has been criticised by many, including the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, for its potential impact on privacy and freedom of expression.
Specifically, it sees member states agree to allow Internet Service Providers (ISPs) disclose a user’s information to a copyright holder, where the latter has a sufficient claim that the user is breaching their copyright.
No circumventing

It also says member states will have to offer “effective legal remedies” to ensure that anti-theft measures – such as the Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection on purchased music files – cannot be circumvented.
The clause could potentially mean that Apple, for example, would have to disable its MP3 recording facility in iTunes – because it could be used to remove the DRM protections from a piece of music purchased through its iTunes store.
Other critics of the treaty suggest that it will forbid the distribution of cheap generic drugs – because they would infringe the copyright of pharmaceutical companies whose research led to their discovery.
A European Commission spokesman said ACTA would not create new intellectual property rights, but would merely serve to enforce existing ones – and would not lead to constant monitoring of internet traffic.
Michele Neylon of Carlow-based internet hosting company Blacknight said the treaty could force internet hosts to deal directly with orders issued by copyright holders, instead of being able to ensure that such orders were handed down by a court.
“If we’ve been given a court order, fine – there’s no discussion, a judge has made a decision – but that’s not what happens, you don’t get your day in court.”
Neylon said it was a matter of “basic economics” that companies like his could not run up significant legal fees, ensuring that court procedures were followed, when those legal fees vastly exceeded the money it received to host sites in the first place.
He added that the current Irish legal situation, where there is no formal definition of ‘fair use’, meant even the likes of personal blogs could be subject to takedown orders if they included a company’s logo with permission, for example.
$200bn industry

The agreement is aimed at clamping down on the trade of counterfeit consumer and electronic goods, which the OECD believes was worth some $200 billion in 2007 – the equivalent of around 2 per cent of all legal trade worldwide that year.
All Irish government Departments will have to confirm that Ireland has the legal means to implement ACTA before it can be formally adopted.
A government spokesperson said, however, that Ireland did not expect to have to amend its current legislation – believing that the provisions of the deal were already accounted for in Irish law.
She added that negotiations on the deal had included representatives from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and members from Ireland’s permanent representation at the EU in Brussels.
News of ACTA being ratified by Poland earlier this week drew the wrath of Anonymous and another group called Polish Underground, which attacked the websites of many government departments in protest at Poland’s signature of the treaty.
The United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Morocco – all of which took part in negotiating the treaty – signed up to ACTA in October of last year.
The European Union and Switzerland said at the time that they would offer their support for the treaty and would sign it as soon as was practicable.
Other interested countries can sign up to the deal before May 2013.

Yakult

So its a few thousand people (The industries behind this) against, what? Millions and millions of people? They can try but they wont win.

Theirs ways around everything and in fact right now because of this, hundreds of programmers are currently creating new ways to share music/films etc that wont appear on their money grabbing radar's. The industries are always a few steps behind the fools and those fools in gov.

crazygeryy

it would be a waste of time imo.same as those "occupy wherever" idiots.what bloody good is it doing.a bunch of wasters is all they are.
wiki did it for 24 hours and could someone tell me if it did any good at all?doesnt look like it to me.
boards doesnt have within an asses roar the amount of people visiting the site as wiki does so i say again A BLOODY BIG GREAT WASTE OF TIME.