Wikipedia Blacked Out For 24 Hours

[Petrodus]

When I went to post this topic I noticed our forum has it already
flagged with Action Required Link to stop the SOPA and PIPA bills.
However, here is a post for discussion

Wikipedia is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out
the English Wikipedia for 24 hours: Link
Google "Blacked Out" its logo in solidarity

What the powers-to-be are trying to do is painfully obvious
to those "In-the-Know"...Its nothing more than a game to
steal more liberties...It all starts out (being sold) as trying to
protect us and ends up stealing more of our liberties.

I'm well over 60 and these old eyes have seen them
steal a lot of freedoms and liberties.

When "They" have the power over the Internet...You can just
"kiss discussion groups like this one good-bye"...Why? Well, some one
is not going to like what we are all about and complain.

 

[simplyme82]

Just tried to use Wikipedia and saw the same. They ask you to enter your zip code for a list of representatives in your area. That list has the contact info for your representative.

There is a link that says contact for. Once clicked, it gives you a easy to fill out form to contact your rep and urge them to vote NO on these two bills. It's very easy and only takes a couple minutes to do so. I urge you all to do so.

If you are unfamiliar with SOPA/PIPA, this very short video will explain the basics. PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet on Vimeo

 

[CoffeeFairy]

I've been as active with this as with all of the letter-writing/calling/e-mailing for our most beloved cause here, not just for myself but with full knowledge that if I didn't my daughter would never speak to me again. I'm so sick of the so-called powers that be robbing us blind of our money, our livelihoods, our liberties and our freedoms. I don't need them "protecting me"....it's not "for my own good" and it's not "for the children"...not any of this.

Since I started vaping my blood pressure has been great, but things like this make is shoot right up into orbit all over again.

 

[simplyme82]

Can the subject be edited to say "INTERNET SHUT DOWN"

 

[Petrodus]

The proposed legislation has absolutely nothing to do with copyrights. Anytime they set out to steal rights and freedoms...They always do the same thing. They come up with something they can sell to the uninformed public in order to get what they really want.

You can't control thought unless you can control the Internet.

For those thinking that this topic has nothing to do with vaping and the ECF...There is no Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy. However, there is a Santa Clause

 

[CoffeeFairy]

Something that we might want to think about to put it into a easy to understand morsel - if SOPA and PIPA pass ECF could very easily be shut down simply over the matter of it's users avatars....as could the hosting sites such as Photobucket, ImageShack, etc.

Your favourite blog could be shut down because it used a picture of the moon that someone else claims they took and possess exclusive rights to.

The footage of your child's high school graduation could be removed and the host site frozen because a licensed piece of music was able to be clearly heard during the ceremony.

It gets worse from there...it gets downright Orwellian once you start considering the far-reaching ramifications.

Haven't we lost enough already?

 

[Petrodus]

 

[Vocalek]

The proposed legislation has absolutely nothing to do with copyrights. Anytime they set out to steal rights and freedoms...They always do the same thing. They come up with something they can sell to the uninformed public in order to get what they really want.

You can't control thought unless you can control the Internet.

For those thinking that this topic has nothing to do with vaping and the ECF...There is no Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy. However, there is a Santa Clause

Ask your attorney to delete that Clause from the contract.

 

[throatkick]

Unfortunately this is a gravely serious matter. Each and every single person that has ever received any amount of information, no matter how little, from the Internet should oppose this vehemently.

It is my contention that the Internet is the single greatest invention of humanity and it has done more to raise the collective human consciousness in a few short years than all others combined. It is little wonder it has become a point of contention.

For those that are well-versed in "how this works" I am certain this move was expected. To those that "don't get how this works" you had better "get it" quick. They start by candy-coating everything and then, slowly, the layers are peeled off in hopes that slow introduction of the draconian results won't be noticed. I can assure you there is a very, very bitter pill in the center.

If you think about it, there is simply no way that any freedom-loving individual can even remotely support this. So what's the solution? Have people think they are free when they are actually not. Have people think they are free until it is too late. Is that not exactly what happened during the crash of 1929? Is that not exactly what happened when the tech bubble popped? Is that not exactly what happened with the recent housing bubble? Now, they are after your mind.

The choice is yours.

 

[Petrodus]

throatkick ...
Outsanding summary !!!

I highly suggest that all read throatkick's comments again!

Wiki took their site down for a day for very good reasons
Google blacked out their logo in solidarity for very good reasons
YouTubes are up and running in protest for very good reasons
The ECF's call to action was archived for very good reasons

I've been out of the ECF loop for a long time. However, I remember
when there was a "Call to Action" ... ECF members rallied and made
our voice heard (Loud and Clear)

Please join with other Freedom Loving Americans and contact our
elected officials. We will not silently stand-by any longer while they
steal more of our rights and freedoms.

 

[tommy2bad]

Another example of corporations writing the law and Gov implementing it.
Who are they supposed to represent again.... of the people, by the people, for the corporations.

 

[Eddie.Willers]

I don't want anyone to think I am nitpicking (even though I am) when I wholeheartedly endorse Wikipedia's anti-SOPA stance, but...

Wikipedia isn't actually blacked-out - they just implemented a javascript code to call up the 'blackout' screen.

If you set your web browser to disable javascript, or hit 'escape' as the Wiki page is loading then you can continue to read as normal. Content editing, however, has been locked-out.

 

[Petrodus]

One of my Favorite posts on the ECF on the subject of "Truth and Lies"
Flash from the Past (Nov. 22, 2010): Click Here

 

[CoffeeFairy]

My daughter's words on the subject, posted on one of her online game forums: "C'mon America, I thought we were a REPUBLIC. Not a DICTATORSHIP. If they're screaming FIGHT FOR FREEDOM why are they taking it away from us a little more every day? Isn't America "the land of the free and the home of the brave?" No. Not anymore. We're the land of iron bars and the center of the world's cowards."

A little harsh but there was harsher posted and most from her peer group (14-17 year olds mostly). These kids are waking up and opening their eyes and they're already sick and tired of being stepped on, used and ignored depending on the angle a given group is working on. They want to know what happened to the America they've been taught existed...they want to know why their loved ones and ancestors have fought and sometimes died when the freedoms they were defending are being destroyed left and right and the people they were fighting for sit at home and thumb their noses at them. They want to know why their government and it's "agencies" want to rob them blind, leave them sick and dying and work them to death along the way to hurry the process along.

I bet a lot of their parents, like me, are wondering the same thing.

Something the "powers that be" should be thinking about....these kids are going to be voters soon....that is, if our votes continue to mean anything at all....

 

[Petrodus]

You can not control thought unless you can control the Internet.

Social Networking spreads the truth and brings people together. Social Networking can bring down governments (as we have recently experienced in the Middle East). Social Networking can bring pressure to bear to change policies with Corporations (as we have recently seen with Bank of America)

Social Networking groups like the ECF and others "pump out" the truth and can make a difference

Governments and Corporations know they can not control the masses, as long there is a “Free and Open” Internet.

When "THEY" have the power over the Internet...They will (at first) move slowly to show us that they are doing something good by shutting down "the bad guys". Then they will go to work on their "Primary" objectives...Shutting down Internet Social Networking groups as well any website that publishes any information contrary to what they want us to know.

Would THEY really try to shut down Google, Facebook, YouTube, Wiki, and others?
Do you think the FDA would like to shut down the ECF ???

Will "They" eventually control the Internet? Oh, yea...Unless Americans stand together and send the message that we will not go quietly into the dark.

 

[throatkick]

I just read on another site that Sopa was shelved "until consensus can be found". The massive outcry was the reason. It will come back in a different form. Perhaps a bit sneakier and lower key. Good news for now!!

 

[simplyme82]

Friend posted this today... I'm not a super religious person, but the wording makes me think of the Mark of the Beast.

» The Secret Behind SOPA Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

 

[throatkick]

This isn't 100% e-cig related so I'll be brief.......

I will never understand why everything has to be tax, hinder, obstruct, control and regulate. If I was ever in a policy-making position, I would like nothing more than all of my constituents to prosper, be free, and have as little burden as possible.

 

[gheebee]

Oh, look: yet another example (as in one of MANY...) of why SOPA/PIPA simply aren't needed!

 

[rolygate]

The problems with this kind of legislation are the piggyback effect and the wedge effect.

You might think the Bill has a legitimate purpose, but it will be used for purposes that could not be imagined when it was first enacted. Other purposes are piggybacked onto it, so that there is a hidden payload.

Then, once in effect, the Bill can be added to far more easily than the original introductory process. All sorts of addenda can be tacked on according to who pays most.

One excellent example of misuse of legislation occurs in the UK. A local authority was found to be using anti-terrorist legislation to spy on families, in an attempt to discover if the residential area requirements for the placement of children at schools were being abused. These abuses of power are widespread and nothing can be done to stop them: if a law is in place, it can sometimes be successfully perverted for other means.

Internet laws would be the finest example of the use of law to achieve commercial aims not envisioned when the law was introduced, since the possibilities for abuse are endless. ECF has already been threatened with takedown for commercially-based reasons, and you can be certain that the days of e-cigarette forums would be numbered if these laws came into force.

Freedom has to be fought for, it is not free.