Wikipedia blackout on January 18

How much money is really lost though online piracy? Not as much as people think because a download does not mean a legit sale was lost.

 

A download is a lost sale, as far as I can tell. What else would it be?

 

Someone who wants to preview something before buying it. I do that with music all the time and sometimes with movies. If I like them, I often end up buying them.

 

I've downloaded rugby and Auusie Rules games. I'm not paying the cash for a subscription package, so it's not a lost sale.

 

Just because someone downloads it, doesn't mean that they would have gone out and bought it.

 

Gotcha. So theft doesn't count against sales.

 

Actually, I didn't steal anything. I infringed copyright for personal use. I'm sure all of those Canadians using proxy servers to access Hulu are also thieves as well.

 

Look, I understand the first against online piracy. Hell, I rail against folks (Hi D_B!) who copy and paste entire articles on here, instead of linking to them.

But if these bills become law, then SportsJournalists.com (and every other message board out there) could be shuttered by court order if copyrights are infringed here. According to some Internet gurus, the bill is so poorly worded that one c-and-p job on a message board could be enough to get it blocked.

 

What's the likelihood this gets passed?

 

Dammit,was just looking up a Parks and Rec episode guide on Wikipedia and it blacked out. What will I do now??

 

More websites should be joining the blackout. ESPN and SI and Yahoo and Google should do it as well.

 

Google's doodle of the day is win.