A thanks to all the staff at VF!

[bodhran105]

I don't know if I could say it enough, but it just lit up my day to see Visions Fantastic closed down for the whole day yesterday. Kind of say I wouldn't be talking much, but it was great to see support for the oppositions to the current legislation that will completely break the internet. Even with the removal of the Domain Name System clause, the bill is still a mockery to free speech and free communication that the internet was made to uphold! I'm so glad to see support from the whole of the VF staff for closing the site down. Thank you so much for the support for the millions who work every day. Yup, I'm the dude who keeps calling into my senators and representative and yelling- metaphorically of course- to them to pull support for this bill and to remove it from consideration.

Thank you.


I'm still wary of s. 978 though. It's just the "10 strikes" clause out of the current legislation, into it's own bill. Currently on hold, but if the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act fall through, the media companies still have s. 978. So, while not trying to be condescending: How many "public performances by digital means" does VF radio stream?


Anyway! Thanks for the support, and her's to the future of a fair, free, and open internet! *Raises glass* Cheers!

[Chris Lang]

Thanks for the kind words, Keith. It should be no surprise to anyone that if legislation passes prohibiting linking to copyrighted material, it potentially affects every website and blog. I think you would basically see the end of the discussion board and un-moderated commenting on blogs.

I'd rather not get into the specifics of VF Radio - its a service we offer for our users, but it obviously would be cost prohibitive to offer if we suddenly had to start paying royalties and use fees services like Spotify or Pandora. Since we're only offering about 40 slots of streaming content, we hope that, for now, it will simply be overlooked because we aren't offering any of those materials for download. If new legislation goes forth (and Disney is a BIG supporter of SOPA and PIPA), it could spell trouble for many websites out there.