SOPA & PIPA
No, those are not sisters of Kate; nor are they foods, Italian acrobats, prized dogs or special names for grandparents….
They are the acronyms for two ill-fated and possibly ill-conceived pieces of legislation that were in front of the Unites States Congress:
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
The Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA)
Ill-fated because a wildfire online social swell caused its backers to back off.
Ill-conceived because I don’t believe it was handled right.
Look, at the end of the day it’s all about freedom – the right to free speech and the fear of stifling innovation.
On the other hand, creators of unique content and IP have the freedom to own and protect their creations and you and I have the freedom to share or not share our own digital selves.
And there is the sticking point – the conflict – the tension.
There are a lot of freedoms at stake here and at some point either we trust companies and people to be honest brokers and protect and defend our rights as much as their own, or we legislate and force the issue.
Now, I have written a lot about how I feel regarding anonymous posters – posters of good and posters of bad – as well as my worries about the lack of protection for those who create the kind of content and innovation that lasts through the ages.
However, there is a balance. There are places where people can’t speak out for fear of imprisonment or death; there are people who are reticent to ask questions or seek help under their own names; there are people who create and develop and innovate using other’s ideas as platforms and catapults….
Overriding all, however, is the fear of censorship and government interference.
So there you have it. On Sunday I heard Viviane Reding, the EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, discuss the issue and present the EU’s position and direction at DLD in Munich.
I also heard Dean Hachamovitch, a Microsoft Corporate VP, discuss the issue and demonstrate its complexities – for example, by landing on just one news site you might be tracked by 15 or more separate sources, all feeding into that one site – a privacy nightmare….
Also, Jack Dorsey of Twitter and a bunch of others all swirling around the same issue – but no one really wanting to admit that a Wild West solution is acceptable.
The lone dissenter was Andrew Keen whose book Digital Vertigo is set for June publishing, who believes that we need to take back our privacy – now.
But here is the thing – we make out as if the whole issue has been created by the digital world – as if it never existed before – as if during the age of audio tape companies didn’t worry about piracy – as if in the fashion and watch worlds people don’t worry about piracy – as if in the old-fashioned mail order world of 100-plus years ago people didn’t worry about privacy and data protection.
Listen:
“The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.”
And there you have it.
The U.S. Congress needed to discuss the underlying issues – not the digital veneer – and they needed to enlist all of the digital channels as well.
All of these issues existed before – but the efficiency and ubiquity of digital exacerbates the issue. So as old Albert said – it is now urgent.
We need protection and we need openness – we can’t trample one person’s freedoms for another’s – but the problem isn’t new – only getting worse….
What do you think?
Yes, this issue needs to be addressed, but PLEASE, not by the U.S. Congress. Issues of privacy and the intellectual property are not only American issues, they are global issues. God forbid that the same idoits that harnessed us with Sarbnes Oxley get to dictate how things run in the online world!
I heard all of the hubbub regarding this and wondered why, since we already have international and domestic laws to protect and defend against copyright infringement, do we need to give the keys to the greatest information and commerce facilitation machine of the modern era to the entertainment industry and their government minions? Is it simply because they want to sell a few more CD’s and DVD’s?
In the end this can’t be about companies trying to move product, and probably has way more to do with controlling the flow of information. They aren’t attempting to do this solely because some kid is downloading music and movies in his basement, so much as to be able to go after and limit access to others, many who have gained notoriety on-line using clips from the same in their effort to make their point on some video they’ll post regarding the current state of the world, some political opinion they’d like to express, or a “How-To tutorial”.
How many movie clips from the series The Matrix were used by people to discuss their theories on why the world is the way it is or by those who show tutorials on how to use After Effects to create your own movies? These too will likely be the targets of the machines that will scour Internet content making sure the surfs stay in line.
Sure they’ll hang a company with a salacious name like megaupload out there for you all to see something that they can use to make the common person yell “Something must be done” at the TV screen, but mark my words, the system ultimately wants you licensed to even get on the Internet, let alone contribute to it.
SOPA/PIPA were to be a big step in that direction.
Note also that megaupload’s site was shut down without due process. What does that tell us other than that the system is content to shoot first and ask questions later. Is that what we can expect more of should something of this nature pass into law?
PS, There’s a whole zip code of businesses on the southern tip of Manhattan that aren’t operating in international waters that have been involved in copyright infringement and the distribution for profit of someone else’s intellectual property for the last 60 plus years and I see nobody interested in shutting their doors.
Mow many millions of dollars worth of counterfeit clothing, pocket books, watches, movies and music related items, perfumes and other goods are sold annually right here and no-one is lifting a finger, but on the internet it has to stop!
Hmmm, makes ya wonder, if you’re prone to such wondering…
I’m with you David in that this is not a new cut in need of a new solution, it’s more like an old wound that has yet to be addressed.
Joel Spolsky has raised a few interesting idea’s on the topic
https://plus.google.com/117114202722218150209/posts/4GgaRiSyaTf
Could it be that the real issues are: copyright/patent law itself, US political funding/lobbying, corporate greed
sidenote: It took me +5 tries to figure out this CAPTCHA.
I can recommend http://disqus.com/ as alternative for the comment system.
And while we’re watching and debating what they’re up to with the left hand, they’re punching us with the right.
SOPA, PIPA, ACTA? More like duck, duck, goose, same mo.
Most Americans never heard ACTA was even on the table, yet the President signed it. The EU Leaders did the same. You might think something like this would be news…
Sure the news outlets reported on the EU signings but where is our press showing our President signing the treaty? To say the coverage was scant is putting it lightly. In fact, you have to go to independent news sources to get any real information on this signing.
He went and did this on his own too which is a violation of our constitution as the President does not have the power to enter into treaties without authorization from the senate. Our country is therefore legally not bound to it, but watch and see how much that matters.
More on that can be found here:
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/eu-signs-acta-global-internet.html
and here:
http://www.infowars.com/obama-signs-global-internet-treaty-worse-than-sopa/
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