[TL:DR version- SOPA is a sledgehammer approach to a problem that would respond infinitely better to a complex and creative solution.]
There used to be an attitude in America, that old "innocent until proven guilty" one, that went along with, "Better a dozen guilty men should escape justice than one innocent man be condemned."
No more. Being accused of being a terrorist now carries a possible lifetime in prison with no due process, no trial, no method of appeal.
And as for the crime of possible harming the holiest of holies, $$$ CORPORATE PROFIT $$$? Well, now we will have complete and faceless removal, blocking, and revoking of the most common way of communicating in the modern world... no due process, no trial, no method of appeal.
It just seems in keeping with the change in attitude about citizens (Who are now more often labeled "consumers", BTW.) from the people to be served by government to the people to be controlled by government.
I agree that advocates for both sides seem to be utter assholes but that's what you see in the media. What the media presents to you... but remember that the media is all about drama and conflict, not fairness or truth. I don't like the entitled attitude of the people who want everything to be free but the arguments from the companies that claim that piracy will put them out of business are completely ridiculous.*
The real solution to piracy is simple:** Innovative products and services such as iTunes*** have shown that the vast majority of people would rather pay for their entertainment when there is an easy and reasonably-priced way to do so.
SOPA, however, is just the latest in a long line of "solutions" that take a lazy, all-out, scorched-earth approach to a problem that is better addressed by thoughtful, multi-pronged combinations of regulation and innovation.
------ * I'm old enough to remember when the music industry claimed that cassette tapes and, later, MP3 players would put them out of business and the movie industry claimed that cable TV and, later, VHS recorders would destroy them. Just a few years showed their doom-saying to be utterly, laughably false.
** Simple in its philosophy, complex and subtle in its execution... but people are clever monkeys and there are a lot of them out there with a gazzillion good ideas.
*** Just an example. I, personally, just can't deal with the malware aspects of iTunes but there are many alternatives to that 800 pound gorilla.
no subject
There used to be an attitude in America, that old "innocent until proven guilty" one, that went along with, "Better a dozen guilty men should escape justice than one innocent man be condemned."
No more. Being accused of being a terrorist now carries a possible lifetime in prison with no due process, no trial, no method of appeal.
And as for the crime of possible harming the holiest of holies, $$$ CORPORATE PROFIT $$$? Well, now we will have complete and faceless removal, blocking, and revoking of the most common way of communicating in the modern world... no due process, no trial, no method of appeal.
It just seems in keeping with the change in attitude about citizens (Who are now more often labeled "consumers", BTW.) from the people to be served by government to the people to be controlled by government.
I agree that advocates for both sides seem to be utter assholes but that's what you see in the media. What the media presents to you... but remember that the media is all about drama and conflict, not fairness or truth. I don't like the entitled attitude of the people who want everything to be free but the arguments from the companies that claim that piracy will put them out of business are completely ridiculous.*
The real solution to piracy is simple:** Innovative products and services such as iTunes*** have shown that the vast majority of people would rather pay for their entertainment when there is an easy and reasonably-priced way to do so.
SOPA, however, is just the latest in a long line of "solutions" that take a lazy, all-out, scorched-earth approach to a problem that is better addressed by thoughtful, multi-pronged combinations of regulation and innovation.
------
* I'm old enough to remember when the music industry claimed that cassette tapes and, later, MP3 players would put them out of business and the movie industry claimed that cable TV and, later, VHS recorders would destroy them. Just a few years showed their doom-saying to be utterly, laughably false.
** Simple in its philosophy, complex and subtle in its execution... but people are clever monkeys and there are a lot of them out there with a gazzillion good ideas.
*** Just an example. I, personally, just can't deal with the malware aspects of iTunes but there are many alternatives to that 800 pound gorilla.