The Day the Music Died
In case you haven't been over to Wikipedia today, or Reddit or, well, Cute Overload, you might not know about the big fight taking place in DC over the future of the Internet. I know, I know, it seems terribly inside-baseball and more than a touch geeky, but it's potentially devastating to those of us who create, and take pleasure in other's creations, online.
I'm not saying there isn't a need to combat online piracy. I have more than a few friends who work in the entertainment industry whose livelihoods have been negatively impacted by theft of creative material and I will be the first to agree that some kind of change in policy needs to be created to address that. But I don't think this is that law. People who are smarter than I am tell me this is a badly, vaguely written law, capable of being used by any large corporation against any company they view as a threat, including potential competitors who might be bringing something truly interesting to the marketplace. The only people who will win will be the kind of people who measure their self-worth in billable hours.
Give this four minutes. You might decide it's so much balloon juice and that you think the law should pass. Having gained the information freely, that's your right as a citizen. Just remember, this law could infringe on some future you's ability to get information that easily.
I'm not saying there isn't a need to combat online piracy. I have more than a few friends who work in the entertainment industry whose livelihoods have been negatively impacted by theft of creative material and I will be the first to agree that some kind of change in policy needs to be created to address that. But I don't think this is that law. People who are smarter than I am tell me this is a badly, vaguely written law, capable of being used by any large corporation against any company they view as a threat, including potential competitors who might be bringing something truly interesting to the marketplace. The only people who will win will be the kind of people who measure their self-worth in billable hours.
Give this four minutes. You might decide it's so much balloon juice and that you think the law should pass. Having gained the information freely, that's your right as a citizen. Just remember, this law could infringe on some future you's ability to get information that easily.
posted by Unknown at 3:04 PM
4 Comments:
My present me always messes over my future me, why should this be any different.
That's one of the best explanations I've seen yet. Thanks for posting the link.
Thanks for this post. SOPA is so horrible. Great explanation link as well.
Well said.
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