Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP ACT (PIPA)

Today, January 18, 2012, major online “entities” such as Wikipedia, Mozilla, Google, have brought a political fight to the Internet. While organizations like Wikipedia have elected to go dark, other organizations like Mozilla and Google are using black banners to catch the public eye. Wired is giving it’s visitors a choice of whither to be censored or not to be censored. Without a doubt Wired’s approach is to get people to see what censorship could do to the Internet.

Why would these organizations choose to protest you might ask? Well it’s because Congress has drafted two bills, one in the Senate and one in Congress, that would extend copyright infringement rights to the internet. By doing so, holders of copyright could shut down, sue, or force ISP’s to take down any material they claim is copyrighted. All with out a court order of course.

But who would think this is a good idea? Well the media companies and record labels do of course. We all know how voraciously record labels love to sue college kids for their MP3 trading. Remember Napster? God forbid if media companies can’t make huge swaths of money. Anyway, these media organizations are shelling out lots of money on the “hill” to lobby for these bills under the cloak of protecting American intellectual rights. Uh ya…ok.

Since the day the Internet went mainstream, people have screamed about the Internet taking money from their businesses, state and local municipalities crying over lost tax revenue, record labels losing money, and the Internet is corrupting our youth with violence and pornography. 10 years ago the lost revenue was going to destroy America. This is a new assault in an old war. So why take the time to comment on it?

Well, for the first time I can remember the Internet as a collective is fighting back. The Internet has found a voice……well, a coherent collective voice anyway. It’s a milestone I think. The idea behind the Internet was to be a free source of information, which it has become. Of course, there are also a zillion ways to make money from the Internet as well, but overall, content is mostly posted freely.

It seems to me that if record labels and media outlets are so worried about losing revenue, maybe they should adapt to the times and figure out a solution on their own. What really disturbs me, is Congress thinks nothing of running right out to draft legislation to benefit a small portion of the populace. The real kicker is, what makes Congress think they own, or can control, the Internet? It’s like claiming the Moon as sovereign US territory just because we stuck a flag up and left a bunch of crap on the surface. How do you control an idea? Because lets face it….the Internet isn’t a tangible asset now is it?

Thankfully Chris Dodd is out of the Senate, but it still blows my mind how a former Senator can utter stupidity like this regarding previously mentioned “entities” making a statement on legislation that affects them:

“It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today. It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.”

Did I miss something? Can people and organizations not choose to make a statement if they want? Did the Constitution just up and disappear? Oh wait…..Dodd is the CEO for Motion Picture Assn. of America. He was quoted as saying he wouldn’t be a lobbyist when he left DC. What an effin hypocrite.

So if the bill(s) become law, how do you enforce this? What becomes of the sharing of ideas? What happens when somebody comes up with a way to improve a copyrighted/patented idea? Wasn’t this country founded on innovation? How do you innovate when it innovation becomes a crime?