As a Computer Engineer, who has done Networking, Network Security, Programming, Database Administration, ISP Administration, etc...
This is how the bill works
1.) Any site that has copyrighted content or has a link to another site that has copyrighted content is subject to the penalties in this, unless they scrub it.
Scrubbing the material becomes very expensive, as a quote can be copyrighted or a link to another site might at first show ok; but, then it has copyrighted material on it. It's nearly impossible to scrub anything user submitted to that extent unless you have a lot of money. Even the likes of google would find it very expensive to operate or so they claim, and I believe.
2.) The block provision is at the dns level, so if ElementsTheGame.com is subject to this the site ElementsTheGame.com will be blocked so can the IP if it can not be done at the DNS level. Can the site be rebuilt, under a new domain and IP? Yes, but then it has to be purchased, setup again, only to be subject to being blocked again, eventually, it's more costly to keep elementsthegame.com up.
3.) The block can be exercised by a very simple request that requires no proof by any entity that claims it have a copyright. Entities like the RIAA claim they will only use this of Foreign sites, but they among other major copyright representative bodies have hundreds of cases already where they have abused these types of rights already by taking down material they don't have copyright on, through the existing laws such as the DMCA. In the messy world of computer code, Microsoft could request to have
www.google.com taken down and Google could have
www.bing.com taken down, etc... the whole system of linking would theoretically end, thus ending the web.
4.) There is no need for this law, there is already laws in place, a big one is the DMCA, if you own a copyright, you can submit lets say to Google about a Youtube video to have it taken down. Google even makes it easy for copyright owners, it's a provision in the DMCA, but a little thing called proof is required, and that's pesky for them to deal with. Also not all countries support American Copyrights, and so could just ignore it, but then again, so could a foreign domain registrar, doing nothing.
So, at this point, it's a law that does nothing but is subject to abuse that can take the web down if abused, that hand power to the very entities known to abuse such laws.
Copyright in general:
5.) About copyright as it stands, it's already overly broad, a drum or synthasized pattern even if sped up or dropped an octave can by copyrighted. If any of the music written for Elements the game, was done by a synthesizer or non-open source software program there is a good chance it's technically in copyright infringement territory already. It's almost impossible for a layman to even realize what is and is not copyrighted.
6.) Copyright has been significantly changed since it first came out, same with patents. By old rules, All the original music done by let's say Elvis would be public domain by now. But that's not so important, as many of the changes include who gets to claim ownership of patents and copyrights. I mentioned in some forums, I've done some AI programming in the past. A big one was an automated artificial intelligence to interrupt severity of vibration on industrial machines based off of an initial base line reading and some information on the parts of the machine. Typically it takes years of training to do what this system could do and a person could miss it, reading spectrums and timewave forms and knowing that at 1800 RPM on machine a, having an amplitude of 2 m/s/s requires shutdown, but at 900 RPM having an amplitude of 2 m/s/s is nothing to be concerned about. I thought it was a neat little invention... unfortunately, because I developed it while working for the ICM division at an machine automation company the Patent and Copyright to any of this was theirs. I asked if we could apply to make it official so I could have my name on it and we could use it and they found that they weren't likely going to sell it to more than one or two companies and even then probably not for a while and so wasn't worth the cost and time. But to prevent anyone from being able to use the technology or controller code, they had a write paper drawn up and published, originally credited to me, later they even removed that. So now no one can have this technology that could save an industrial plant between $100,000 to $1m a year, unless this company decides to do something or a bigger company that has enough lawyers to fight off whatever decides to do the technology... so much for my time and effort, and it has since burnt me on ever inventing a thing again while I work for corporate America. I'm also a musician, I ran my music through a music search database, I found 50% of it, had at least one section that could be considered copyrighted. Even though it came from my heart and mind, the mere influence is enough to bleed into my music enough that I could be sued. So I never published, it wasn't really that good anyways.
Well, if it helps convince one more person great.
I've already called my congressmen for my state,
Signed a petition, and written letters... all I got left is this, forum posts... perhaps it helps one more.
