PIPA and SOPA

What are PIPA and SOPA you might ask? Well, you’ve come to the right place. PIPA and SOPA are anti-piracy bills inspired by Hollywood. (Piracy is the unauthorized use or reproduction of another’s work.) SOPA is an acronym for Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA stands for Protect IP Act.

PIPA and SOPA are two different bills that were written to help block and prevent acts of media piracy. The laws were directed towards foreign websites and aimed to lower the number of stolen copies of movies, music, apps, and software downloads. The most infamous illegal website was the Pirate Bay and one of the reasons Hollywood began to promote the PIPA and SOPA laws.

Technically these laws sound like they could really do well on the Internet, but they could also be misused. If the government doesn’t like a website for some reason, theoretically, they could close that website down. It would also give them the power to control searched items that pop-up and what can’t. If these laws had passed, however, then large numbers of websites could have been blocked or taken down just because the government didn’t like the information provided on the site.

Even though I don’t think the government should be able to take websites down at will. Media piracy should be located, the creator determined, and even possibly the website deleted. I also believe that individuals caught pirating should be sued for restitution and provided a fair trial.

Without PIPA and SOPA, Internet companies and Hollywood are always trying to invent new ways to fight media piracy. Companies have tried suing individual users, getting Internet providers to take action against subscribers, and even having the U.S government shut down fraudulent media domains. PIPA and SOPA would have meant possible shutting down of websites like Google and YouTube, because they allow users to add their own creations and possibly pirated material. It was estimated that 7 million people signed the Google petition against PIPA and SOPA, even though these bills were promoted by Hollywood and use to create a blacklist for websites.

Many people believe that the world has not seen the last of PIPA and SOPA. I agree also that these bills will come back and strike again. The bills are meant for sites that foreign organizations use to allow citizens to illegally stream or download movies, music, videos etc. There is no reason to fight over the bills, but instead we should have legitimate discussion about how best to prove that preventing piracy is a worthy objective, although, this is not the best route to resolve the problems with the online piracy act.

In conclusion, I chose to be against PIPA and SOPA. If these laws had passed then you would probably not be reading this right now. The government does not have the power to block websites in a foreign country. In protest of PIPA and SOPA Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, and other websites blacked out and asked Internet users to fight against the bills.

 Reference

http://www.pcworld.com/article/248298/sopa_and_pipa_just_the_facts.html

http://lifehacker.com/5860205/all-about-sopa-the-bill-thats-going-to-cripple-your-internet

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/technology/sopa_explained/

Windows vs. Apple

The general audience of computer users often refers to Apple and Windows brands as Mac and PC. Through decades of computer design and upgrades, Mac users are often thought to be young, hip liberals, while PC users are thought to be older, number crunching conservatives. These stereotypes don’t necessarily make the most sense though. Hipsters who might want to choose from multiple designs like customized colors for the shell and a desktop layout might really be happier with a PC. But businessmen would probably also like Macs for the firewall and anti-virus protection as well as the uniformity of shell designs and features.

Some pros for the Apple brand are the closed operating system (or firewall), good standard applications that come installed on the computer (such as iMovie and Garage Band), and higher quality hardware. Macs also don’t get as many viruses as PCs users tend to endure and therefore require less overall maintenance. Many designers use Apple hardware to create blueprints. Some of the cons with using Macs are the lack of customization and the general thought that Macs are a more expensive brand. Mac is also compatible with both OSX and Microsoft Windows.

PCs are more customizable to the individual user’s preferences, thought to be cheaper, and most gaming software are meant to be played on PCs rather than Macs. Unfortunately most computer viruses and malware are targeted towards PCs because, unlike Macs, PCs must have an additional program for virus protection due to their open operating system. So while software designers appreciate the open operating system, hackers are also able to send viruses to trick users into opening or installing corrupted files, which allows hackers access to the operating system.

Users can’t really compare the prices between Mac and PCs, because even if all the hardware and memory storage were the same, there would still be the varied operating systems to deal with.  Users may have to buy software like Microsoft Office for Macs or anti-virus protection software for PCs, which adds to the basic computer purchase price.

Macs are considered to be higher-end processors with more expensive parts, while PCs maximize RAM availability and often provide special features like Blue-ray players and additional USB ports. Mac also reduced the amount of wiring necessary compared to Windows computers, but if you want a certain design and Mac doesn’t offer it then you are out of luck. PCs have many different brands like Dell and IBM, and so a person can easily choose from many designs to personalize their purchase as well as offer a wider variety of retailers.

Each brand has their own pro and con list, which makes some aspects easier to deal with on certain devices. If you want a gaming system you need a PC, but if you want extra free apps, like Garage Band and iMovie, then a Mac might be your best choice.

So in the end, it doesn’t really matter if you have a Windows phone or an iPhone because while they are very different users can link devices on the iCloud program or the Windows SkyDrive. Personally I prefer the iPhones and iPad better than Window’s tablets and phones, even though I would rather own a Windows computer than a Mac.

Reference

http://lifehacker.com/mac-vs-windows-your-best-arguments-486125257

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/macs/10-differences-between-macs-and-pcs.htm

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/tech-tips-and-tricks/pc-vs-mac-the-big-debate.html