[math_is_life]

I am against this bill, but this kind of comment is absurd. SOPA could censor Google when it comes to piracy (and as most things do, it will end up being corrupt for many more things), but I fail to see how important information to save lives would be blocked. The Government will not take down Google and most normal searches would be intact.

The bills need to die, but sensationalism is not the way to stop it.

[cscheid]

(Do you agree that "Having Google's DNS blacked out because Google linked to a copyrighted sitcom transcript" a possible outcome if SOPA passes?)

My comment was that you need to calculate the expected loss on both sides: if you do something and if you do not do it.

I wasn't even claiming that Google _does, in fact, save lives_; I was claiming that if you say "X will be lost if Y is done", you need to also say ", which is better than the expected Z loss if Y is not done".

Please do not insert your assumptions into my comment.

[nyellin]

  Do you agree that "Having Google's DNS blacked out because Google linked to a copyrighted sitcom transcript" a possible outcome if SOPA passes?

No. Absolutely not.

[LisaG]

Is your reasoning because "The Government will not take down Google and most normal searches would be intact."? I am not sure I would put too much faith in the thinking that Google will get special dispensation from the government because it is so useful to so many people. Google is vulnerable to SOPA. In fact they are vulnerable on more than one front.

[electromagnetic]

I think the problem here is that google, and potentially any company, would be well within their rights to sue the federal government for damages and let a judge determine the merit for the take down.

Given that google makes approximately 3.5 million USD an hour, a take down and lengthy court battle could put the federal government on the line for billions of dollars. Not only in damage to revenue, but in loss of customers and customer conversion. If google lost even 1% of its users the government could have to pay for loss of future income.

IMO stopping SOPA/PIPA is protecting the government itself. A law isn't real until its tested in the supreme court. The major Tech companies run patent cases against each other like they're just trying to keep their lawyers busy. I don't know why the government would want to get on the wrong side of these multinational corporations. Sorry, but if too great an expense is placed on them by the government then it'll quickly become surprisingly cost effective to move entirely overseas.

Honestly I wouldn't mind. I live in Canada, I wouldn't mind the house prices in the Greater Toronto Area sky rocketing with a massive tech influx. I mean it'd be the greatest property market hike in fifty-years.

[philwelch]

Google will fold. They folded to the Chinese for years, and they will fold for SOPA.

[amalcon]

Do you agree that "Having Google's DNS blacked out because Google linked to a copyrighted sitcom transcript" a possible outcome if SOPA passes?

For what it's worth, this is an unlikely outcome with Google (or Wikipedia) as it is now. It would have easily been possible with Google (or Wikipedia) as it was back in 2000.

That's the real danger: SOPA is unlikely to shut down Google or Wikipedia, but it could easily prevent the next Google or Wikipedia from getting off the ground.

[hyperbovine]

And he was saying Z = 0. Calm down.