Unacceptable: Toyota/Subaru among group of auto manufacturers supporting SOPA.
 

Source: Jalopnik

The Auto Alliance trade group comprises of the following:

• BMW Group (BMW, Mini, Rolls Royce)
• Chrysler Group (Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep)
• Ford Motor Company (Ford,Lincoln)
• General Motors (Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, GMC)
• Jaguar Land Rover
• Mazda
• Mercedes-Benz USA (Mercedes Benz, SMART, Maybach)
• Mitsubishi
• Porsche
• Toyota (Toyota, Scion, Lexus, Subaru)
• Volkswagen (Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley)
• Volvo

This group has thrown its support being SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act. Wording in this bill would put the enthusiast community abroad, from automotive news blogs to forums like our own, on a knife's edge where a single copyrighted image or link to copyrighted material without the copyright holder's consent puts the entire website at risk for being shut down without notice or immediate review.

Stop Toyota and Subaru from killing us. Please contact Toyota NA and Subaru NA immediately to let them know how this bill affects you and your decisions to purchase from them.

If Toyota / Subaru continue their support of this bill, I doubt I will be purchasing any of their upcoming products. I would much rather spend my money on a new or used product from a competitor who doesn't actively attempt to kill the online community of enthusiasts who love their products.

At this moment I am NOT "Proud of Boxer".

I don't know if there's a US specific section of this site, but that's where this belongs.

I've actually been concerned with the reproduction of material on this site. I know nothing of the US bill of which you speak, but I know what happens when things that cost money to produce are given away for free.

A short term win results in the long term lose.

1. There is not a forum that captures all of the US simultaneously. There are US regions, but that would mean having multiple reposts across those forums.

2. The implications of this blacklisting are still not well understood. It could stand to reason that a website hosted in the United States and blocked by the United States would in turn no longer be accessible to anyone in the world.

Are there any manufacturers that aren't on that list? Looks like you are stuck with Nissan.

Could this effect sites that are hosted in Australia that post US materials? or will Australia be effect also(No idea about this kinda stuff)

lol Nissan probably haven't replied yet...

Honda & Suzuki too

Btw when they gonna vote on this SOPA thing?

Then there should be.

If those websites wish to be viewed in the US, they would have to take much, much more aggressive policies towards moderating user generated content. There's the additional concern that if this passes in the US, it could spread to other countries wishing to do business with the US via the internet.

This topic has come up multiple times. I am not an Administrator, but the Admin is aware of the issue. I think they're waiting for the dust to settle after the official release before restructuring the site.

From the look of that list, you won't be buying anything if that is the case. :respekt:

Honestly, no one reads or cares about legislation anymore: neither the lobbies that support or oppose legislation nor the legislators. You'll notice high-profile companies that originally supported SOPA are quietly backing down (Sony, Nintendo, EA, Apple, Microsoft, etc.) not due to consumer market pressure, but because after reading the bill they realized it hurts their ability to advertise and compete (read= make money).

A great example would be this very site: had a law similar to SOPA been in effect in 2008, the 86/FR-S/BRZ would not exist. Blogs wouldn't speak of it, social media wouldn't say a peep, and "fan-sites" such as this wouldn't exist. There would be no buzz, and thus, there would be no car. FWIW I believe the 86/FR-S/BRZ is the only other major product besides the iPhone to have this much hype surrounding it for this length of time (about 4 years now). Apple built interest in the iPhone through rumors, half-truths, and strategic leaks to various blogs and through social media. If AS1 launch is a success, you'll see that list of auto manufacturers shrink; if they actually read the bill rather than rely on their lobby group, they'll reconsider their support as other major corporations have.

Everyone would potentially be affected if the material can be linked to the U.S. at any point.

Oh right on all points. Except know who doesn't currently support SOPA?

Honda, Kia, Hyundai, and Suzuki to name a few. Have you seen the offerings from Kia and Hyundai lately? I'd have a hard time picking between those and their competitors as it is. The fact that I'm philosophically opposed to their competitors makes it a lot easier to get a Hyundai Veloster Turbo as a DD and get an S2000 project car just to never have to give another dollar to a company who would jump on a legislative bandwagon without taking a moment to ponder if they themselves would even exist had an environment like that existed at their inception.

This is the 1st step of gadget world taking over automotive world. Those auto companies have something better to do. I thought those images they made are for advertising, why would people pay for it?

Interesting you mention these names...

Only the games sections are backing down... the music and movies ones are standing strong for SOPA.

As these are the industries apparently loosing the most money because of torrents and alike.