Public Outcry In Taiwan Kills Their Version Of SOPA

from the like-that-wasn't-predictable dept

Tue, Jun 18th 2013 11:01pm — Mike Masnick

At the end of May, we wrote about the Taiwanese government's bizarre proposal to create a copyright bill that was like SOPA, but even worse. Apparently, the folks at the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (IPO) had slept through the whole SOPA thing. Thankfully, the Taiwanese quickly did their own version of the SOPA blackout, with Wikipedia Taiwan and Mozilla Taiwan set to participate. However, seeing the writing on the wall (and, perhaps, someone showed the IPO folks what happened in the US), and the proposal was abandoned before the protest was even needed.

Of course, it's not completely over:

In the face of these criticisms and the planned blackout, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office abandoned this severe copyright law. In its announcement, the office stated that this plan would be “adjusted.” It’s clear that the government intends to introduce another copyright enforcement initiative in the future. Still, it’s enormously encouraging to see how users in Taiwan have organized to defend their rights and successfully stopped this draconian blacklist law.

The unfortunate reality is that many government authorities around the world still buy into the belief that the health of the Internet is acceptable collateral damage in this manufactured war on copyright infringement. Lawmakers need to understand that creativity and innovation can only thrive when our platforms remain open, where users are free to share and experiment with content. While it’s clear that the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office did not learn from the mistakes of SOPA and PIPA in the U.S., let’s hope others see the defeat of this latest copyright blacklist law and recognize that users will not put up with efforts to censor the Internet.

Still, it is good to see that whenever something SOPA-like pops up, the public quickly jumps up to protest it.

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Filed Under: copyright, public interest, public outcry, sopa, taiwan

14 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2013 @ 12:05am

Gnash, gnash, gnash. That sound is the noise of out_of_the_blue, furious that the evil general public corporations have kicked sand in the face of the glorious, righteous non-capitalist defenders of copyright. The moral horror!
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2013 @ 12:26am

Mike Masnick and Google just hate it when copyright law is enforced.
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- Just John (profile), 19 Jun 2013 @ 1:43am
  
  Re:
  Please feel free to show where he states he hates copyright. IIRC, he has even stated that copyright should exist, contrary to those like me who thinks it creates ultimately more problems because of abuses than it help.
  
  The most I have seen is Mike discussing his dislike of copyright abuse, not copyright enforcement.
  
  Personally, I will not go back to the US, and will stay in Taiwan, until the government gets its collective head out of its ass and starts enforcing the original "for the public good" copyright viewpoint, instead of allowing the **AA's to push their abusive views on the general public.
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- silverscarcat (profile), 19 Jun 2013 @ 2:04am
  
  Re:
  And you hate it when copyright law isn't expanded stupidly.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2013 @ 3:03am
  
  Re:
  Well, this is a case of EXPANDING copyright, not ENFORCING it.
  But by all means, carry on your ranting, don't let the actual article get in the way of your preconcieved notions.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2013 @ 5:44am
  
  Re:
  It's not enforcing if the law doesn't exist. Touche.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2013 @ 3:21am

the frustrating thing is, there is no need for any of this shit anyway! the entertainment industries know what they need to do but refuse to do it. they seem to think that they have to stop file sharing at all costs! rather than listen to what people keep telling them, they ignore it. rather than do as people ask, the carry on down the same ridiculous road. instead of doing what they know is the sensible thing and MAKE SHIT LOADS OF MONEY, they insist on doing the opposite and carry on suing the very people they rely on, the customers, which then obviously COSTS SHIT LOADS OF MONEY!! it dont take rocket science to work out which is the better option!
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Violated (profile), 19 Jun 2013 @ 4:11am

Good news indeed.

The Internet is under attack on a global front where no matter in which country they strike we should always stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters to strike down such bad legislation.

We cannot allow the Internet to be harmed by those organization aiming to make a land-grab for control.
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- Ninja (profile), 19 Jun 2013 @ 6:57am
  
  Re:
  Indeed Epic win for the Taiwanese! What we need now is to reach a critical mass of awareness everywhere to stop the censorship flow and start reacting.
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- gorehound (profile), 19 Jun 2013 @ 9:29am
  
  Re:
  We must be very Vigilante on stuff like the TPP as well as these SOPA & CISPA, ETC type Laws.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2013 @ 8:41am

"However, seeing the writing on the wall (and, perhaps, someone showed the IPO folks what happened in the US), and the proposal was abandoned before the protest was even needed."

Can the US Congress be replaced by the Taiwanese lawmakers? They seem to understand and get the picture must faster than their American counterparts. Isn't this country supposed to be smarter or more technologically advanced or something?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2013 @ 8:41am

SOPA - "Made in Taiwan"
but "Assembled in America"
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2013 @ 9:35am

...before the protest was even needed.

Not only that, but it looks like there was no video news animation from NMA.

Youknow, the guys who provided the SOPA video animation....
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2013 @ 9:47am

Good for them! Let freedom ring!
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