Internet Freedom v. Copyright protection

[CosmicBob]

[Note: I split this off from the election thread - VtF]

... the fact that SOPA and PIPA, thought to be inevitable, were stopped dead; ...

I hate to be a wet blanket, but I don't think that SOPA and PIPA are gone for good. I think they are just waiting for some time to pass them when the nation's (and world's) very short attention span is thoroughly engaged elsewhere. They're diabolical that way.

[Primula Baggins]

They're going to be disappointed, I think; they're being watched by some very, very attentive people now. People who are skilled at using the Web to get the word out and rally outrage.

Come to think of it, that may be one reason the media corporations wanted the bills in the first place, with the broad powers for censorship.

[Griffon64]

You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. And like Prim says, the wake-up call have gone out now. Not everybody has a short attention span. I think they'll run into trouble again if they try to ram it through again.

[Dave_LF]

Despite my cynism about humanity, I believe that this method will become ineffective in the relatively near future ( let's say, fifteen years. Nice round number. ) Reason being: I suspect younger generations are not generally led as easily by the mass media, having grown up with exposure to the internet where you don't just trust what you read or what a talking head from a "trusted" media company recites at you.

They will still be persuadable in some fashion, though, and whoever has the most money will still be able to generate the largest number of persuasive messages.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

... the fact that SOPA and PIPA, thought to be inevitable, were stopped dead; ...

I hate to be a wet blanket, but I don't think that SOPA and PIPA are gone for good. I think they are just waiting for some time to pass them when the nation's (and world's) very short attention span is thoroughly engaged elsewhere. They're diabolical that way.

I agree that something will pass, and what's more, I think something should pass. Just not anything like the bills that were being rushed through congress. Something that genuinely addresses the problem of copyright infringement on the internet without unduly interfering with the free flow of information will need to be devised. My understanding is that the administration is working with both two main groups on both sides of the issue (roughly speaking, Hollywood and Silicon Valley, both of which are strong supporters of the president) to come up with a compromise that both can live with. I don't that the result will satisfy outliers like the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) but it will be a rusult that most give live with.

[Griffon64]

V - working for a media company myself, I agree that something needs to be passed. The thieves that gleefully steal stuff that others produce, basically expecting others to work for free, needs to be addressed somehow. I wonder how legislation will do that - it almost seems like a societal issue, or a moral issue, where people - people like a coworker, a spouse, a best friend, not just hypothetical "we're not all like that" people out there - steals without thinking, or steals because they can get away with it so easily, or worst of all, steals because they feel entitled to do so. I wonder if that really means that people would happily steal physical objects, too, and only the thought of real life jail keeps them from it? Scary thought.

Anyway. Bit of rambling there, all done now.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

If we get enough rambling, we'll have enough to split off and have a separate thread.

[Primula Baggins]