If the SOPA law passes, will NinSheetMusic be affected?
I dont think it ended up passing...maybe i'm wrong.
Whether it passes or not, the topic still brings up a good question - would it affect Ninsheetmusic?
kinda scary...but i don't think it's even constitutional...it seems to me like it would go against someone's freedom of speech.
I personally think its a dumb idea. If it did happen to pass the intenet would pretty much become useless. I don't think it will or did end up passing.
It didn't.
Has PIPA been voted on yet?
(https://www.ninsheetmusic.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_lydsxnA7KB1qef1ua.jpg&hash=8452c9634ae0ea98292af5d514a5a93e8a670e2b)
Nothing happend, nothing is going to happen
'cept Canada liked it so now they're going to steal our idea
Quote from: spitllama on January 25, 2012, 05:36:34 PM'cept Canada liked it so now they're going to steal our idea
Canada liked what?
SOPA and PIPA have been pulled out as of now. Probably going to get reviewed and rewritten or tacked onto another bill and slip in under the radar.
Don't forget about ACTA too, it's a big law as well that's a danger to the internet.
As to answer the original question: Yes NSM would be effected by SOPA, the sheet music is one thing but the forums would absolutely kill us. With MassiveMayhem's picture there, I believe that would be enough to kill NSM because, well it's Superman.
Quote from: Wrydryn on January 25, 2012, 06:09:53 PMWith MassiveMayhem's picture there, I believe that would be enough to kill NSM because, well it's Superman.
Way to go, MassiveMayhem. You've doomed us all.
Kidding...
Kidding or not xk, that's just an example. My sig can kill us too. Basically if it's protected by copyright law and somewhere without permission you're done for.
Well then we've all doomed each other.
Calm down. If Nintendo wanted to take us down before, they could do it already. I don't have the numbers to back it up, but it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that they regard fansites on the Internet as free marketing. When there are thousands of site out there discussing your products, would you want to take them away?
This goes for pretty much any company. As long as they don't encourage giving your products away for free (PirateBay, MegaUpload), or openly hate it (half of all Twilight sites out there) they boost your reputation in a way no marketing campaign ever could.
Though, if "Take it down because it infringes copyright"-requests could be filed by anybody, and not just the copyright holder, under SOPA, then we'd have a problem. Trolls would put any site they could get their slimy fingers on down within days. It's far too easy to register to a site, post a lengthy excerpt from a book, and then run over to the ISP and demand that the site should be pulled down "because somebody posted all of Harry Potter there without asking"
Though, for NinSheetMusic, all we would have to do would be getting the site registered in Europe. Remember, the law is only American, and invoking the powers of ACTA just to pull down a "free marketing!" site would be too much of a hassle.
SOPA was put on hold for a year, think the same thing happened with PIPA. And then we got ACTA of course.
I haven't checked ACTA, but both PIPA and SOPA would kill the internet, and no politics wants to support it (if they do, their carrier is over, seriously!).
If, let's say SOPA, would go through, pretty much every single page on the internet could get taken down.
When it comes to Nintendo, I asked Nintendo Bergsala (Sweden's HQ) a few month's ago about the copyright of covers, and they asked someone, whom replied that they don't mind covers or similar things being out on the internet as it doesn't inflict any damage.
But due to massive requests, they does not give out permission to normal persons to use their material (for Youtube etc.)
NSM might technically be infringing Nintendo's copyrights. Or not. Haven't really researched that stuff. I don't really see Nintendo suing me for this, though. We're not even making any profit. (In fact, it costs me $100+ a year to run this.)
Quote from: JaMaHa on January 26, 2012, 10:31:32 AM(In fact, it costs me $100+ a year to run this.)
Do you have your own servers?
Yah whoa I didn't know it cost you money
It has since we transferred from Drshnaps.
Quote from: JaMaHa on January 26, 2012, 10:31:32 AM(In fact, it costs me $100+ a year to run this.)
Site needs more ads :-X
Well geeze... I guess thanks are in order :-[
Thank you for paying out of your own pocket to give to the community.
This should be tax-deductible.
Just heard that SOPA is getting thrown in under some other bill against child pornography...so it's still gonna pass it looks like...this seems like total bull. Sheet music > Child Porn.
It just doesn't make sense.
ACTA
Quote from: Cobraroll on January 26, 2012, 08:20:28 AMRemember, the law is only American
I know that its been put on hold, but if SOPA were to pass, would Canada be affected? is it worldwide or just American? Its confusing to me.
It sounds like they could shut down any website that seems to have pirated content.
^That is not entirely true.
The act (SOPA) allows copyright holders to demand that ISPs, DNS services (the service translating ninsheetm.us into our server's IP address whenever you type the URL and press Enter), search engines and advertisers cut the connections to the offending site. They can legally do this if actors involved (the domain name register, the ISP, the advertisers or even the financial transaction site that gives the site the pay for their advertising) are based in the USA.
As NSM is registered under the .us domain, we could be cut off from the domain name. That means that the DNS service would refuse to translate "ninsheetm.us" into the IP address for the users, so we'd have to type this adress into the search field manually instead.
Also, searching for "Ninsheetmusic" on Google wouldn't yield any results connected to this site. Just a lot of dead hyperlinks from other sites, I guess.
If JaMaHa was to sign a deal with an American advertiser, these would be taken down upon copyright infringement request. If said advertiser was based elsewhere, but used, say, PayPal to give the ad revenue to JaMaHa, the ads would still be up, but the advertiser wouldn't be able to pay us for them.
Also, American users wouldn't be able to view the site at all, even with a manually inserted IP adress, due to their ISP's blocking the site.
However, there would still be ways around it. Let's pretend that SOPA was passed and we were filed for infringement right now. If we suddenly registered under ninsheetm.fi instead, the site would be fully viewable for everybody. Again, except for the Americans.
Adverts, had we had any, could also be provided by somebody else. As we're based in Finland now, we'd probably be advertising for IKI or Altia or something. If those companies used pay services based in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Oceania, Antarctica, Mexico or Canada to pay JaMaHa for having the banners there, we wouldn't be affected.
We still wouldn't be anywhere to find on a Google or Bing or Yahoo! search, our Facebook, MySpace, Google+ and Twitter pages would possibly be taken away, but we'd still top the listed results on, say, Kvasir, and our potential Weiboo page would still be going strong.
Yeah, the point is, SOPA would kinda suck for Americans. And, of course, the American Internet industry. Elsewhere-based alternatives to the American services would skyrocket. Even if SOPA was pulled away after the next election, the damage would be irreversible.
Of course, this is not taking ACTA into account. This would allow the American copyright holders to request European ISPs to block services based in their respective countries.
Somehow, I can see Swiss Internet industry going way up should this become reality.
The problem is that pretty much every big webpage got a server or something related to the US.
But SOPA would never pass, companies like Google, Facebook, *insert popular site here* would never let it
Quote from: fabbemannen on January 29, 2012, 05:10:07 AMThe problem is that pretty much every big webpage got a server or something related to the US.
But SOPA would never pass, companies like Google, Facebook, *insert popular site here* would never let it
If and only if the bribes to lobbyists and politicians exceeds that of the entertainment industry... this is basically a war of "who has the most money to get our way?"
If the bill passes, the tech industry may just either 1) adhere to SOPA/PIPA or 2) Pack up and go
Quote from: spitllama on January 26, 2012, 02:04:34 PMWell geeze... I guess thanks are in order :-[
Thank you for paying out of your own pocket to give to the community.
This should be tax-deductible.
Seriously, once SOPA and PIPA are off the table for good, JaMaHa should file for 501(c)(3) with the IRS and then accept tax-deductible donations from the community to help offset the cost. You will have to file a return with the federal government and make sure that you do not show a profit.
^Federal government? In Finland? Or do you mean that this can apply to non-US citizens as well, as long as the website is hosted in the US?
Quote from: Cobraroll on January 29, 2012, 01:14:15 PM^Federal government? In Finland? Or do you mean that this can apply to non-US citizens as well, as long as the website is hosted in the US?
Federal usually refers to the US Government.
501(c)(3) is a section in the Internal Revenue Code that contains exemptions for Non-Profit Entities, however for JaMaHa to get this exemption, he would have to basically create a NPO Corporation here in the United States... with lots of paperwork and annoying legal jargon that would lead to expensive filing fees and stuff. So, it really isn't an option.
I think there is something that NSM can qualify under as a "Charitable Deduction" on Schedule A of Form 1040 on an Individual's Income Tax Return... I think NSM would classify as a "Private Operating Foundation", however this would be allowed since the majority of the "business" and "benefit" is within the United States.
Is it okay if I link this thread to some lawyer guy I met?
Quote from: Jub3r7 on January 30, 2012, 07:09:24 PMIs it okay if I link this thread to some lawyer guy I met?
Sounds reliable xD
In boy scouts, it often takes a little over two months to earn a merit badge.
At an event called "advance-a-rama", we cram as many requirements for a merit badge in one day, excluding pre-requisites that you can't do sitting down in a classroom.
I signed up late, so I chose one of the few remaining interesting merit badges that weren't completely filled up, aka law.
The teacher taught most of it, and the son taught the internet portion.
I have the mom's email address; she's a child support lawyer that confirms allegations during hearings.
The son also knows a ton about law, but I have no idea what position he's in.
I didn't know you were a Boy Scout Jub3r7! I am too :) Got mah Eagle Rank already.
What is SOPA and PIPA?
(https://www.ninsheetmusic.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi764.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fxx283%2FAnton1792%2Fblah%2520blah%2FFacedesk-1.jpg&hash=c3bab65c0a8916250ceb2306ed1edf47196f70fe)
Quote from: Jub3r7 on January 30, 2012, 07:16:06 PMIn boy scouts, it often takes a little over two months to earn a merit badge.
At an event called "advance-a-rama", we cram as many requirements for a merit badge in one day, excluding pre-requisites that you can't do sitting down in a classroom.
I signed up late, so I chose one of the few remaining interesting merit badges that weren't completely filled up, aka law.
The teacher taught most of it, and the son taught the internet portion.
I have the mom's email address; she's a child support lawyer that confirms allegations during hearings.
The son also knows a ton about law, but I have no idea what position he's in.
I think one year I crammed 8 merit badges in a week at Boy Scout Camp (Life Saving, Camping, Cooking, Music, Wilderness Survival, Woodwork, Art, and I forget the other). It was a blast.
I got a gold palm when I had ma court of honor for eagle. It was quite fun.
I was a Boy Scout. I am an Eagle :D
However Child Support Lawyers really only know about the tax implications of Child Support (which there are none... only alimony affects taxes) and perhaps some stuff resulting with divorce. Pertaining to taxation of corporations and nonprofits, you would need a tax lawyer. I'm only saying this because lawyers know how to file the forms correctly to establish a corporation... however it wouldn't be in JaMaHa's best interests (especially if NSM was "public" hahaha) because he would be subject to taxation on earnings and dividends paid (something that must happen in a corporation).
Technically if one of us gives money (keep in mind that our itemized deductions exceed our standard deduction), then we could report the amount given to a private operating charity (NSM) in help of its "operations". That would work, but like I said your deduction MUST be over the standard $5,800 to claim the deduction. (Im really thinking I should make a tax advice thread... hahahaha)
Actually, I had in mind that I'd have her forward it to her son, who is more knowledgeable about internet law.