Windows 7: New Bill Would Require U.S. ISPs to Block Pirate Sites

The type of sites that would be blocked by something like this would be the big, obvious, no doubt about it web sites that specialize in nothing but doing illegal downloads.

You guys crack me up with your fears that it will target small websites or accidentally stop something that shouldn't be blocked....therefore it's an awful or a terrible idea.



Can anybody here really say that they have used the Pirate Bay for anything other than illegal downloading or content? Would outright blocking of this website seem inappropriate to anybody?

Putting locks on banks stops most bank robbers?? Huh? They're only called "bank robbers" because they succeeded, not because they tried and failed! The most the locks do is slow them down a little and make it harder. Anyway, the locks on a bank are more akin to DRM.

Again, the problem is that you're putting absolute confidence in an entity that they're not going to misuse power.

The biggest problem here is that the act of visiting a torrent site is not illegal. It's like making a law that says you're not allowed to walk within 100 feet of someone else's car, so that we can be sure you won't steal the car.

pparks1, we're not afraid that something will be accidentally blocked that shouldn't be. We're afraid that something will be PURPOSEFULLY blocked that shouldn't be, a la the Great Firewall.

pirating is not "sharing" files. It's sharing files that are not legal to share...there is a really big difference here.

Yes, torrenting is more efficient. Nobody said, "they are going to block torrents". I torrent Linux distributions all of the time because it's the fastest way for me to do it. And going forward, this torrenting would be allowed without question. However, if you are torrenting something like PhotoShop, Microsoft Office of Illustrator....then this is something altogether different.

The problem I see is that you are saying because "you" could imagine this spiraling out of control means that it cannot be done at any level.

Again, nobody said "we will block all torrents". But they might say, we will block access to The Pirate Bay where people go to get those torrent downloads in the first place. This seems perfectly reasonable to me. If we pull our heads out of the sand for a second, we know why these types of sites are operated offshore? So, it doesn't seem all that odd to me to just outright ban them. If you don't like it..feel free to move out of the United States and go elsewhere where it is allowed.

And I suppose you'd be fully willing to trust something like this to the government? You honestly can't picture them taking advantage of it?

Again, nobody said "we will block all torrents". But they might say, we will block access to The Pirate Bay where people go to get those torrent downloads in the first place. This seems perfectly reasonable to me.[/QUOTE]

Actually, torrents never contain illegal content. They contain links to illegal content. And websites contain links to those torrents, and hey, Google contains links to those websites, and other websites contain links to Google ... BAM, Great Firewall.

Ho. Hum. Here we go again.
To an Australian this has been done to death, we have been talking about this for a very long time when the Government tried to implement a filter to stop these sights.
Bottom line, it won't work because any ten year old will know how to circumvent it.
Just Google Australian filter and you will find everything that is going to be posted here.

Exactly. Which is why the only real effect of this bill, would be to give government more power.

big deal that is why we have ip changers, and proxy sites. they can try to block us all they want. we will just laugh in their face like we always do.

the bigger picture is trying to keep us from seeing what is going on outside the country, protecting copyright holds is what they claim they they are doing. it is not what the law is really for.

Most of us know what torrents are used for and why. What a law like this will do if used properly is stop know illegal web sits. What legal program would one get on line that a torrent would be needed. Why would one need a torrent site to down load legal copies of movies or music. You can buy such things and down load them from one legal web site with no problems. Stopping these kinds of sites just might slow down all the bad things that come from these sites like virus, Trojans, ect. You can fill a 1 Tig hard drive with music and movies all you have to do is pay for the ones that are not free. Why would that be a problem?

Our government already has deemed that download of this type of content is illegal and you can be prosecuted if caught and are responsible to pay fines, fees and royalties. This is simply taking an action to enforce those rules. I don't really see where we are giving up our civil liberties by taking a bit of action.

And I'll be honest, I'm not the type that is terrified of the government, policies and such. I rarely see major things like these really having an impact on my day-to-day life.

Now, the day they try to say that pornography should not be allowed on the internet and block access to something like that is the day that I cry foul. While porn is not for everybody, it's not illegal and much of it is not being traded illegally. This is one area where that Australian filter was over the top because they really were trying to deem which should and shoudn't be allowed based on this type of content. It wasn't as if they only tried to control content previously deemed as illegal.