SOPA/PIPA Blackout day.
You do realize, I hope, that I would not be able to stand the legal/financial risk of writing this blog if SOPA/PIPA passed, don’t you? That I would not, as a small business, be able to resell hosting to my clients, because I would be liable for whatever materials they might post? I hope you do. Those who say “oh, we can just trust the government on SOPA/PIPA” should look again at what’s happened with the Patriot Act. Look at how little children and grannies are stripsearched at airports.
No, SOPA/PIPA need to be bodily thrown out of Congress. There are plenty of laws to deal with the problems it purports to cover - the issue is, the laws have not been fully tested in court, and the entertainment industry wants a ‘sure thing.’ They will destroy the internet in their zeal for every last penny of profit.
Don’t let them.
I suspect going black today is preaching to the choir (while fervently hoping it is not) ... I have been taking the step of educating my clients and friends about the issue over the past month. I would suggest that is a better use of today - talking to those who are not reached by internet means, letting them know this legislation stinks to high heaven, and carefully explaining to them why they should care.
You’ll see everyone doing *something* for SOPA/PIPA. I saw the widely-distributed video on rc3.org first. Fark has gone white - see why. Wired has cleverly self-censored. BoingBoing’s 503. Of course you know Wikipedia is black, except for the SOPA/PIPA entry. Even internet giant Google chimes in.
This entry sat at the top of DM! throughout the 18th. Back to normal programming flow.
Comments:
What I’d like to see is a grassroots movement to force the movie and music outfits to transfer a universal license on sale of album/video. I’m tired of re-buying stuff I had on vinyl, on VHS. Sure, the new format costs something, but shouldn’t we get a discount for already owning the intellectual property? Shouldn’t that confer some RIGHTS?
Can’t we whistle the theme to “Indiana Jones” in public without having to give ‘em a nickel every time we do it?
Excuse the mindless rant.
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Movies were being pirated with VHS smuggled into theaters.
So they then watched the game industry get raped by piracy.
And THEN the movie industry decided to go digital?
I don’t support piracy, but dumb is dumb.