I realize that it is anti-piracy, but if it can be used by Monster Cable to confront resell of its used cables on Craigslist, couldn't LDSinc also claim that their trademarks/copyrights or some other crap be violated by sites like RfM?

While I am not a lawyer, I have taken business law classes in the past, and I have looked at portions of the bills. The basic answer to your question would be yes and no.

What would not be affected should SOPA and PIPA become law would be the personal stories and experiences found on this board. Those come from the person's own thoughts and are written in their own words.

On the other hand, posts like the one at

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,394996

(my latest, by the way) could well be affected. Both bills essentially aim to curb direct copying and quotations from other websites without the written permission of the story's copyright holder(s).

It would not be a surprise to me if I learned that the LDS church was one of the bill's backers. However, unlike the California gay rights amendment initiative, the LDS church would be a bit player in a much bigger pond.

I'm sure the MORG would stifle any and all comment in public forums that express any dissent whatsoever. They are after all, the perfect model for George Orwell's 1984....

aren't PIPA/SOPA tools of the entertainment industry more than anything else?

'of course' we know how "entertaining" the crap-ola that comes out of SL/COB is.... Don't we?

If you include book publishers as part of the entertainment industry, then your analysis is correct. And it is the publishers (because they publish articles on-line) that would probably have the most detrimental effect on this site as well as others.

That is the problem.

Of course! Would it be justified? No. But all they would need is an agreeable (Mormon) judge and an accusation.

Asking the Morg not to abuse power is like asking a fish not to breathe water.

And it wouldn't have to be them. Could be the FAIRies that would use it. The Morg has its modern day enforcers on the Internet.

Seems like they could use SOPA/PIPA to shut down sites that published things like the handbook of instructions and other publications that are protected by Intellectual Reserve.

I predict that the IP of media companies who try to enforce SOPA will become more irrelevant as independent media creators choose to use material in the creative commons. These big corporations do not understand new media. With the exception of outright, wholesale pirating, I think they underestimate the positive impact fan-media has on their bottom line. Why would they want to punish all these people immortalizing their art and stories for free?

At one time the Catholic church tried to control who could own and read the bible so that they could control what the congregation heard and how the message was interpreted. This oppressive content control was a major reason for the Protestant reformation. I predict that there will be a similar reformation movement against the large media conglomerates if this legislation passes and they try to enforce it. They will find people unwilling to talk about or reference the content the big media studios create and there will be an even bigger shift of power toward the independent content creators who put their media into the creative commons.

Couldn't this also bite the media conglomerates in the @$$? So many movies these days are retreads of old movies. So many of them reference or reuse lines from other movies. So many of them have similar to identical scenes from other movies. Will they need an entire department of media lawyers vetting all new media for possible infringements of other media? Will we see a big media corporations getting sued by an independent film maker whose ideas they have ripped off? Or are they confident that they have deep enough pockets to crush anyone who accuses them of piracy or copyright infringement?

The people pushing for this legislation should remember the words of Princess Leia - "The more you tighten your grip,"..."the more stars"..."will slip through your fingers."

For the record, NPR is now reporting that the Senate version of the proposed bill (acronym PIPA) is going to have a test vote next week despite today's protests and despite the withdrawal of support from many of its original co-sponsors. The person requesting that the test vote take place anyway? Why none other than the Mormon senator from Nevada, Harry Reid-which may give some creedence to my earlier speculation about the LDS church possibly backing this bill.

... but you can be sure that Intellectual Reserve Inc. will be backing this type of legislation to allow websites to be shutdown without due process. Personally I think its time for Congress to cut all funding for any copyright enforcement of any copyright that's over 10 years old. The whole purpose of these laws having such long tails is to destroy the Freedom of Speech.

I agree with you that the face of the church won't openly exploit this law.

The overall corp holdings of all LDSinc totals somewhere short of $60B by recent best estimates. To think their IP and book/media publishing entities won't take advantage of these bills is naive.

they want to hide, it could really backfire and the publicity will make them look more cult and less church.

They are screwed no matter what because it is they who are lying and trying to shut down the truth.

TSCC is a big corporation

And if you see someone putting up entire articles please hit the report button :)

Thank you ozpoof--eventually they will lose because truth will conquer and hopefully enough prominent people will leave and that will impact the believers who are too scared to face and see the truth that is in black and white on these websites and other notable sources...all we have to do is not fail(completely and give up) on the outside...I have seen it in my family-they secretly hope I will fail and crawl back to them.

I wasn't given the proper tools growing up in the Mormon church to hack it on the outside. 25 female here who graduated from BYU-I in El. Ed. and then left(toughest best thing I ever decided to do and I just couldn't stay...being a rational honest person I think I am) It took me a little over a year to make it known to all.

It's a tough world on your own...especially when your family thinks you have screwed up your life. They are so brainwashed by the LDS inc. it makes me sad. I hope it's the start of the end for the LDS church...every day I wake up and tell myself that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2012 03:07AM by holistic.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2012 03:35AM by steve benson.

Sorry - I just now noticed this thread with the flag for me (and with the board's problems the last couple of days I would not have been able to respond anyway).

But, my feeble response, better late than never:

I can't give legal advice or opinion, since I turned in my law license when I retired (I am still recovering). But my layman's opinion:

Forums like RfM are not the target of the proposed legislation. Even if they were, "fair use" is a fundamental principle of our copyright laws, and occasional quoting of brief passages of material for comment or criticism is (and, I think, always will be) protected.

However much TSCC would like to close down forums such as RfM (just as JS destroyed the Nauvoo Expositor), it will never be able to do so legally, at least in RfM's present configuration.

The latest news is that the legislation will not likely pass.

http://benetech.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-im-scared-of-sopa-bill.html

The blog post at the link above that was written in November of 2011 explains what could happen if SOPA passes to two categories of websites: those that make print materials accessible to the blind and those that try to assist the victims of human rights violations.

Thats it then after the stupidity with kindle books being sold without the screen reader function so it coudnt be recorded and sold that way now they are passing a law that will mean any silly lawyer with to much time on his hands can stop books ending up in a format any blind person can use? This is getting sicker by the minut.

You knew this was coming ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvXo4sGB7zM&feature=player_embedded#!