Azazello1313 Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 http://the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=1182 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delusions of grandeur Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 (edited) I thought this part was particularly insightful: Policies designed to protect industry players who are unwilling or unable to address unmet market needs are always bad policies. They retard the growth of new business models, and prop up inefficient companies. But in the end, they don’t even help the companies they try to protect. I think the "blackout" protest and how quickly it killed support for the bill shows exactly why these bills are so dangerous, and why a free internet is necessary.... When these same media conglomerates pushing for this were leaving discussion about it out of the news, then it's more clear than ever that democracy and the check-and-balance nature of the "4th estate" press is waning rapidly. The internet really is the only outlet left where democracy and transparancy truly exist (even if it is mixed in with a bunch of BS).... The idea of the governement controlling the internet is just terrifying to me, and I'm so grateful that the big internet companies showed that the support for a free internet is alive and strong.... Obviously something needs to be done about piracy, as it is all too easy nowadays to copy media and mass-distribute it on the web, but we absolutely cannot disregard habeus corpus and the burden of proof that protect the innocent from McCarthyistic witch-hunts like this bill would have stood to bring (not to mention the loss of jobs by killing legitimate internet businesses for what their users are "reported" to have done). Edited January 20, 2012 by delusions of granduer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTed46 Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I can honestly say, this is one of the WORST decisions to ever come out of legislation. Even the idea of something like this passing makes me sick to my stomach. This is one of those rare times I will write and petition to my government. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godtomsatan Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 A very good read. This is all old media vs. new media. The way of doing things we're used to vs. the new way you're gonna have to. The old media thinking it's good enough to throw the weight around in Congress and over the airwaves, when in fact, there's as much (if not more?) power and influence in search engines and social media. There will be something done much less far reaching than SOPA/PIPA, but the author's sentiment is correct in that what the old media corps (add an -e for a good pun) ought to do is adapt rather than legislate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 A very good read. This is all old media vs. new media. The way of doing things we're used to vs. the new way you're gonna have to. it's also about croneyist "capitalism" versus the true free market forces of creative destruction. often, no one hates free markets more than an entrenched economic interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 can we gamble on line again or have the republicans not given up on that one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 mmmmmm...sopa-pipa's! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 list of supporters and detractors in congress sort of bipartisan, but it's interesting that, with a few exceptions, all of the people I really have some respect for in both parties are on the right side (opponents), and the people I think are the biggest scoundrels in both parties are on the left side (supporters). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godtomsatan Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 list of supporters and detractors in congress sort of bipartisan, but it's interesting that, with a few exceptions, all of the people I really have some respect for in both parties are on the right side (opponents), and the people I think are the biggest scoundrels in both parties are on the left side (supporters). This is a blatant follow-the-money thing. Though, I've noticed some of the names on the "against" were definitely "for" prior to Wednesday. And Issa has a thing called OPEN he's proposing that sounds like it does the same thing as SOPA/PIPA, but grants authority to police it to someone besides the justice department (same rules, less enforcement budget). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 no one hates free markets more than an entrenched economic interest. This is an immutable law. Companies always follow the same progression: Vigor, innovation, plateau, complacency, protectionism, monopolization, sclerosis, ossification, death. It's been interesting over my lifetime to watch IBM follow this path, then Microsoft, both being at different stages as they go along. Google is next and Facebook will inevitably follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Berkshire Hathaway (post Buffett's death) will surely be similar. That thing will HAVE to be dismantled at some point down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Although SOPA is deeply flawed, the question of Internet piracy remains. It is now incumbent upon the SOPA opposition to suggest ways of stopping or curtailing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godtomsatan Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Although SOPA is deeply flawed, the question of Internet piracy remains. It is now incumbent upon the SOPA opposition to suggest ways of stopping or curtailing it. I've long maintained that they should flood the black market with dummy copies that contain viruses and "bombs" that wreck devices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 I've long maintained that they should flood the black market with dummy copies that contain viruses and "bombs" that wreck devices. Nice. It worked for the Israelis with Stuxnet. All you'd really have to do is infect a few copies and the majority of pirate customers would be scared away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 The Lesson the Tech Community Should Have Learned from SOPA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delusions of grandeur Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 The Lesson the Tech Community Should Have Learned from SOPA Yep, looks like SOPA's "evil twin" has been in the works since 2006 where "they resort to getting these things put into international trade agreements, which get significantly less scrutiny.". Meet SOPA's evil twin, ACTA (not suprisingly, CNNMoney was the lone MSM source that I could find, again showing the problem of the media, when these media moguls have a massive conflict of interest to not report on it). Apparently the document has been signed by numerous countries, including the US, and has led to hugh protests in Europe, where it's being signed in as we speak (and would become law in every EU country if EU parliament votes it in June). I'm just now learning about this myself, so don't know many of the specifics yet, but there are the same fears that this offers precedent to stifle free speech and expression on the internet, and same as SOPA would place liability on the companies for what their users upload (an extremely dangerous and potentially company/job-killing proposition in itself). I know something needs to be done about piracy, but I think this has just as much to do with powerful people using that as a catalyst to control the internet just the same as they control every other major outlet already. I mean, look at how it's working economically for China!! Maybe the Chinese don't mind losing their free-speech for current economic prosperity, but that's not how we Americans operate! (Well, I take that back, the way we don't care about our liberties nowadays, I'm not holding my breath that we all care as much about keeping the internet free, as they do about figuring out every way possible to try to control it. Sadly, Google may be our only hope.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.