ما هو

  SOPA أو PIPA

هو قانون وقف القرصنة على الانترنت و قد تم تشريعه وإعتماده في الكونغرس الأمريكي وهو قانون يمنع القرصنة في الانترنت حيث أنه سيتم إغلاق جميع المواقع اللتي تنشر مواد محفوظة المصدر أو مواد تساعد على القرصنة نهائياً ولن يتمكن صاحب الموقع من إسترجاعه وقد يصل الأمر إلى سجن صاحبه. سوف يتم التصويت عليه في الكونجرس الأمريكي خلال شهر يناير الحالي

    (من ويكيبيديا)

اعذروني على العربي الركيك… أنا مش متعود اكتب بالعربي… بس الموضوع دة لزم يوصل لأكبر عدد ممكن من الناس.

هتقوللي طيب إيه المشكلة؟ ما هما طول عمرهم عندهم قوانين حماية ملكية فكرية.

هقولك. القانون ده بيدي الحق للحكومة الأمركيية انها تقفل، وبلا رجعة أي موقع يخالف القانون ويحبس صاحبه و أي حد بيسهل وصول المواد المقرصنة دي للناس.. ودة بيمتد ابعاً من كدة كمان. نفترض إن أنا عمل مدونة زي دي على WordPress… أنا لو حطت حاجة تخالف القانون. مش بس المدونة بتاعتي هتقفل، WordPress بالكامل هيتقفل. فيديو مخالف على يوتيوب؟ يوتيوب يتقفل. كومنت على فيسبوك؟ فيسبوك يتكفل، إلخ.

وأزيدكم من الشعر بيت… المواقع إلي مش مقرها أمريكا، هيحصل فيها إيه؟ هيحط صحفة حجب شبة بتاعت السعودية أو الإمارات كده، و هو ما يسمى DNS block، من غير الدخول في تفاصيل الطريقة. يعني ببساطة أي موقع مش عجب حكومة أمريكا يتبخر في ثواني.

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كيف سيؤثر SOPA على مستخدمين الانترنت خارج الولايات المتحدة؟

ببساطة، كام نسبة الموقع الأمريكية من مجموع المواقع التي تستخدمها يومياً؟ طيب بتفرج وتنزل كم برنامج أو فيلم أمريكي في الشهر؟

دة معناه إن أغلب المواقع ألي بتزورها هتتشال بمجرد إن محامي يقنع قاضي واحد في أمريكا إن صاحب الموقع أو أي حد مشترك أو مسجل فيه حط حاجة تخالف القانون. إيه المواد المخالفة للقانون؟ ببصطة مفرطة، أي حاجة أي حد تاني عملها غيرك. مسقا، فيلم، جزء من فيلم، متاع من حاجة، صورة، أي حاجة متكنش إنت عملها بنفسك.

بص كويس على صفحة فيسبوك بتاعتك. بص على يوتيوب. شوف تويتر. لو بتفتح مواقع زي Reddit أو Digg…  ودي مواقع عادية مفيهاش قرصنة. أغلم اللي موجود فيها هيعتبر مقرصن حسب القانون دة. لو حطت فيديو لنفسك بتغني أغنية على يوتيوب هتبقى خارق للقانون إنت ويوتيوب كمان.

طيب وبالنسبة للعرب، إلي احنا أصلاً معندناش أي حماية لحقوق الملكية الفكرية… أفلامك و أغانيك … اشتريت كم في المية منهم؟ وكم في المية منزله كدة هيزي بيزي حلمنتيشي؟ مش هتعرف تفكر تنزل حاجة تاني. عايز مثال بسيط؟ megavideo و megaupload لسة حالاً mn مفيش نص ساعة متشااال! ودول لسة بيسخنوا والقانون لسة مخدش موافقة.

طيب ازاي ممكن تساعد؟ لو إنت في أمريكا أو  ليك حد هناك، قول له يكلم نائب الكونجرس اللي بيتبعله… عن طريق صفحة ويكيبيديا دي

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/SOPA/Blackoutpage

w لو إنت مش في أمريكا… أنشر المعلومات دي. عرف ناس أكتر. على الأقل كل ما الصفحات اللي ضد SOPA تنتشر، كل ما المعارضين موقفهم يبقى أقوى ساعة مناقشة القانون في الكونجرس.  خش وامضي اسمك في صفحة جوجل إلي عملين ضد الموضوع. وبالنسبة لل ZIP code… حط رقمك البريدي وخلاص مش فارقة… في 7 مليون قبلك وقعو عليها… شرق بصوتك.
https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction

إكتب على فيسبوك… عرف الناس… إستعمل الهاشتاج دة على تويتر: #SOPA و #SOPASTRIKE

وعلى فكرة… البيت الأبيض نفس معارض القانون… بس عشان عندهم ديمقراطية لو الكونجرس صوت ب نعم يبقى القانون هيتصدق عليه.

وشركات زي دي كلها معارضة، وفي منها كتير قفلوا امبارح لمدة 24 ساعة إعتراضاً على القانون.

1. Facebook فيسبوك
2.  Wikipedia  ويكيبيديا
3. جوجل Google
4. Yahoo ياهو
5. AOL  أمريكا أونلاين
6. Disqus  ديسكس
7. Mozilla  موزيلا – فايرفوكس
8. E-bay   إي – باي
9. Paypal  باي – بال
10. Reddit  ريديت
11. Twitter  تويتر
12. Zynga  زينجا – صحبة لعبة فارم-فيل
13. LinkedIn   لنكد إن

(وغيرها كتير)
ودول كانو مؤيدين لحد ما إتعأصب عليهم أنهم يسحب التأييد إما بالتحديد بالمقاطعة أو من أصحاب الأسهم.

1. Apple  أبل
2. Microsoft  مايكروسوفت
3. Intel   انتل
4. Adobe  أدوبي
5. Electronic Arts (EA)  الكترونيك ارتس
6. Sony Music Entertainment   سوني
7. Nintendo  نينتندو

لو حابب تعرف تفاصيل أكثر، إفتح النسخة الثانية من اللي مكتوب دة بس بالإنجليزية: إنسخ وشير …  http://bit.ly/knowSOPA

لو عايز تعمل شير الصفحة دي، ده لينك سهل علشان تديه للناس: إنسخ اللينك وشير في أي مكان.   http://bit.ly/arabicSOPA

واتفرج على الفيديوهات دي علشان تعرف تفاصيل أكتر.

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On January 20, 2012, Rep. Lamar Smith "called off plans to formally draft his version of the anti-piracy bill next month." Rep. Smith stated, “The Committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation … The House Judiciary Committee will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16655272 

Update 19/1/12: MegaUpload was just taken down, a couple of hours after I posted this!!

So I have been away for a while. Well, I lost a lot of my interest in my short-lived time as a blogger. I either don’t have the time or the energy or stuff to write on. I also probably lost a lot of my traffic, if not all of it. But I’m gonna do my share anyways, you never know, maybe someone will read this, and at least, it will poll up on search engines. And it is a rather long post, but it’s worth it. So keep reading.

So what is SOPA? And why are a lot of people opposing it?

There are actually two bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act, known as SOPA, in the House and sister legislation called the Protect IP [Intellectual Property] Act, or PIPA, in the Senate, which are both provisioned to be passed by the end of January, after a hearing. Otherwise they are very similar.

First off, as quoted from Wikipedia:

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), is a law (bill) of the United States of America proposed in 2011, to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Proposals include barring advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with allegedly infringing websites, barring search engines from linking to the sites, and requiring Internet service providers (ISP) to block access. The bill would criminalize streaming of content, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

You can continue reading the Wikipedia post here.

Arabic version available here.

And what about PIPA?

Again, quoting Wikipedia:

The PROTECT IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 or PIPA), also known as Senate Bill 968 or S. 968, is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S

Also, continue reading the post here.

OK. This doesn’t sound so bad, right? There’s a catch. Please watch this video until the end, and you’ll know what you need to know without all the technicalities involved.

Another simpler video…

And here’s one more video about a section of SOPA/PIPA called DNS blocking.

DNS blocking is basically what SAUDI ARABIA does to sites it wants to BLOCK. You do of course know the famous green block screen in Saudi Arabia.

You might ask, “This is a US bill, how does it affect me?”

The answer is simple. What is the percentage of US-based websites and American content that you view or use on a daily basis? Even worse, I’m in Egypt, and you probably are. Even WordPress right here, is US-based.

1. First, foremost, and the most important issue here… Any website that is SUSPECTED to have broken any copyright law, let’s say for example, a COVER of a song was posted on Youtube. Under PIPA, this would be infringement, and hence, under SOPA, the whole website, yes, every bit of YOUTUBE will be taken down. Same goes for a piece of information on Wikipedia, a picture of someone or something on Facebook, etc. You get the point. This also goes for comments. If you post a comment right here with a link to a website that infringes copyright, my website will be taken down too.

And if you didn’t watch the video, all what I’ve said so far is already mentioned. So go watch it first. 

2. In most Arab countries, or let’s say, in most parts of the world other than USA and Europe to some extent, copyright laws do not exist. Here, they do exist, but no one cares. They’re not used. You never heard of someone who illegally downloaded music in your neighborhood and got caught for it did you?

So there is the slight inconvenience of not being able to, for example, watch an American show online, or download an American album, while not even being able to purchase it (CDs cost a fortune here, IF AVAILABLE, Paypal doesn’t work, and even iTunes cards are sold for much more than their value). But let’s say this point doesn’t exist, since all what’s being done in our countries is wrong in the first place.

So let’s stick to point number 1. This means that anyone who owns anything that is displayed on ANY website and sue and take it down. If the bill passes, I can imagine 90% of the websites we use will no longer exist because of minor copyright infringements.

And I’m sure you’ve heard about or seen the blackout that took place yesterday, especially from Google, Mozilla, Wikipedia and other sites like Wired.com.

So who’s opposing it? Let me give you a list.

1. The White House (The Obama administration)
2. Facebook
3. Wikipedia
4. Google
5. Yahoo
6. AOL
7. Disqus
8. Mozilla
9. E-bay
10. Paypal
11. Reddit
12. Twitter
13. Zynga
14. LinkedIn
15. Foursquare
16. Grooveshark
17. Craigslist

All of these are websites you probably use, a lot. And will probably be sued and taken down. They all rely on user-based media, and most of it will be gone. Have you ever watched a music video on Youtube? Doesn’t VEVO annoy you already?

These companies were with the bill until forced to withdraw support:

1. Apple
2. Microsoft
3. Intel
4. Adobe
5. Electronic Arts (EA)
6. Sony Music Entertainment
7. Nintendo
8. GoDaddy

And these are websites that support the bill (and tell me if you see a pattern here)

1. BMI
2. CBS
3. Comcast/NBCUniversal
4. Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc.
5. EMI Music Publishing
6. Entertainment Software Association – Owner & operator of the E3 convention.
7. ESPN
8. Major League Baseball
9. Marvel Entertainment (Marvel Comics)
10. MasterCard
11. Motion Picture Association of America
12. National Football League (NFL)
13. News Corporation
14. Scholastic, Inc. (American school kids, look at your books)
15. Time Warner
16. Universal Music
17. Viacom
18. Visa
19. Warner Music Group

All are huge corporations that will make money as soon as the bill is passed.

OK, so you decided you oppose these bills. What can you do? Well, if you’re in the states, contact your congress representative. You can do so through the Wikipedia link below.

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/SOPA/Blackoutpage

Sign the Google petition here, already signed by 7 million people at the time this was written:

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

If you’re not. Do like me. Spread the word. Show opposition. It will be used against passing these laws.

Click the link below. Read about the blackout and share using the share links on it.

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/SOPA/Blackoutpage

You can also sign the Google petition and enter any ZIP code. Google any one, it doesn’t matter.

Post a status on facebook, create a post like this somewhere and spread awareness. Copy this and post it anywhere. If you’re too lazy, point your friends to this page to know more.

Use the Twitter Hastags: #SOPA , #PIPA and #SOPASTRIKE

I hope you guys learned something from this post. If you too oppose it, please spread the word.

Easy links to this page that you can remember and give out to people:

bit.ly/knowSOPA

tinyurl.com/understandSOPA

And for the Arabic version:

Oh well, I think I got some kind of a push to start blogging again. It eats up a lot of my time, which I spend doing nothing mostly but I always convince myself I’m doing something useful.

I’ve also been spoiled by my Blackberry, I feel that my typing on the computer is slower than ever. It’s been ages since I even used the PC. Everything I need is in that freak of a phone!

So, what exactly am I gonna do with this blog? I have no freakin clue. All I know is that I just linked it to Tumblr for some reason. Like I need two blogs already. Who cares, do you? I also lost most of my traffic because I’ve been away for so long. I don’t even know if somebody’s gonna read this. I don’t even have links up here, let alone absolutely no clicks. But I don’t give a damn really. I’m just putting my thoughts down, anyone’s welcome to read the crap I blabber out.

I’ve been active on Twitter like never before for a while now. You’re welcome to follow me @Halawaty

Other than that, I’m gonna try kicking back every once in a while, think of something witty or meaningful to write, and come spill it all out in here. So watch out for my dumbness!

On a not-so-very unrelated note, this blog needs a serious makeover! Maybe in the summer, I’m to busy to fire up Photoshop and Illustrator and start designing anything new.

So basically, I decided not to post anything personal. I don’t know how this would help the blog and my blogging experience, since it’s already been on hold for so long. My other problem has been that I’m too lazy to write about events and what not, since I’m even lazier at promoting the blog, since there’s actually no direct benefit to me from all that.

So is it personal? Is it not? I have no clue. All I know is that I’ll be back to posting. Either here or on Tumblr, but I’ll have to do something about it, because sometimes I just need to blabber about something somewhere, but I don’t.

Let’s see where this take me.

Click Here to LISTEN!

When you’re too lazy or too busy (or both), the ONLY time you realize that it’s time to shave is when strangers start calling you “Ya 7agg”… And in my case, because I’m always Mr Lucky Guy, you find out that your trusty Philishave that has served you for 5 years without a squeak, is BROKEN… at 2 am. Does it get worse? Hell yeah it does. I have an oral exam tomorrow, so I’ll be sitting in front of a professor of medicine tomorrow looking like a friggin hippie!

Does it get worse again now? It wouldn’t if I wasn’t me, but check this out, I’m meeting my girlfriend tomorrow and a lot of friends for lunch afterwards! Could it POSSIBLY get ANY worse??? Hello! We’re talking about me, if it’s not an extreme fuck up, it wouldn’t happen to me! Tomorrow Barack Obama is visiting Egypt, and the Pyramids are on my route to uni, and we’re expecting at least a dozen checkpoints on our way. Guess who’s looking like a fuckin terrorist! Yes, ME!

Too much information? Yeh, I’m bored.

“Narcy” has been cited as one of the most credible Arab MCs worldwide and has been at the forefront of the movement internationally as an educator, performer and more recently, a journalist by the name of Narcel X.

Anyways, moving on to what this is all about (the video not the Narcysist really)… My first encounter with his music came with his latest video “PHATWA” which isn’t about Phatwas or anything… instead it exposes the American racism against Arabs at airports due to “Security Reasons!”

I’ll be talking more here, so you might wanna click the play button for it to load, and continue reading… So there you go. And there’s an option to play in HD if you want, and for an even higher resolution, click on the video and watch it on Youtube in full HD.

Ok back to more talking and talking! No seriously, this video is an exceptional and artistic tribute to political Arab North Americans after September 11. It touches on “Flying While Arab”,  Uncle Tom Arabs working for the Man, Israel (one of the security officials had an Israeli accent and asked about “the Palestinian”), Guantanamo Bay, and the oil obsession behind America’s love of the region (the Petrosexual Man magazine). It even called out the kuffiyah fad. Oh by the way, what’s up with everyone wearing kuffiyahs all of a sudden? Was it because of Rachel Ray and her ad? Haha!

The world is a funny place! The svelte body of young white dude wearing a shirt saying “Same Shit, Different Hipster” also came across the screen, and of course his awesome “Same Shit, Different Saddam” shirt.

And just for a little more info, The PHATWA music video is shortened version of a full 10 minute movie that is entering into various movie festivals right now (none of which I know so far though…) And on a side note, just out of interest in Narcy,
The PHATWA album of The Narcicyst is coming out on May 26th, 2009… You might wanna check it out, Arabs and Non-Arabs too…

The Narcycist: Official Website and Facebook

Isn’t Ass Buster’s blog on fire or what?! We’re doing our best! Here’s some fresh movie news off http://ass-buster.blogspot.com

Sacha Baron Cohen is back with his third character from his very popular Channel 4 (in the UK) show “Da Ali G Show”

After the succes that Borat made on the big screen back in 2006 (Moey: one of my favorite movies), Cohen now brings his “Flamboyant Austrian fashionista” to the movies. Cohen has become famous for his outrageous yet hilarious comedy, and from the trailer for Brüno it doesnt seem like he’ll be slowing down on the crazy anytime soon…

Here’s a very wise quote from the trailer: “How do you defend yourself against a man with 2 dildos”

Oh yea and here’s the trailer:

Warning ! Video May Not Be Suitable For Viewers Under 18, Contains Offensive Scenes And Strong Language: