As was the DMCA
As was The Patriot Act
As was The NDAA.
And so it will be for SOPA/PIPA.
When I say "our" fault, I am not talking about those of us in the tech field, although we have a major part to play in defeating it. I am talking about everyone. I'm talking about the grocery checkout guy, the lady who rents you a car or the policeman who pulls you over for speeding.
And let me first clarify that the normal political infighting here is verboten. This isn't a left vs right thing....it's a right vs wrong thing. Those of us who still insist on putting our toes firmly on a party line need to re-evaluate our allegiances.
Those comments won't even be considered for publication. It's sickening how party politics have almost destroyed our government.
Did you Bush voters ever think that he could ever sign a bill into law such as the Patriot Act?
Did you Obama voters ever, in your wildest GD dreams, think that he would be capable of penning his name to the NDAA? And Gitmo is closed now....right?
The answer most of us would give is...No.
So screw the divisive Democrat vs Republican artificial lines of contention here, at least for a while and let's come to an understanding of what we are dealing with.
The most naive, idealistic freshman politicians are ultimately corrupted by The Beltway. Something happens to them in that environment that makes them think they are insulated from public scrutiny and constituent opinion.
Inevitably you have people like
Lamar Smith and Patrick Leahy accepting a combined figure of a half of a million dollars in campaign funds from Hollywood, to push laws through like
SOPA and
PIPA.
And Therein lies the problem.
One industry, trying to protect it's broken business model, if successful, will change the landscape of the Internet for a decade or more. If they have their way, the Internet will become just another venue for paywalled cable television. Once entrenched, these laws will take years to undo, if they are ever undone at all. And through it all, the majority of Americans will go on with their lives, watching Dancing with the Stars and gossiping about the latest TMZ garbage.
and that will be largely our fault.
There is little point in "contacting your representative" via snail mail or email. The best you will receive is a canned response from some low-level staffer, explaining why the politician is in favor of this bill. (S)He will wave the flag, talk about how piracy costs jobs and directly affects the US economy.
If the music and movie industry is holding ANY economy up, they were in trouble long before now.
Email is probably the most easily ignored medium for communications. It can be filtered and deleted with no effort what so ever. A persistent phone call or a physical appearance however is a different story.
There is too much insulation between the voter and the politician. We don't need letters or emails. We need fingers pointed personally and directly at those politicians, calling them out on their votes and actions. We need fingers stuck in the chests of these clowns, demanding the truth.
How a congressman can enter office with a net worth of less than 50 thousand dollars and in two years be worth
over 2 million is in itself amazing. What is even more amazing is that the American people shrug it off as they turn the channel to watch Jersey Shore.
So as it is with most things, a few will instigate change for the many. And if we're lucky, it won't take a generation for us to undo it.
SOPA or PIPA is going to pass.
Many websites (to include mine) plan a "darkout" here in the next few days to educate their readers as to the dangers of SOPA/PIPA. While these actions have the potential to educate millions of people, I fear that in reality, it will just be another instance of performance art.
The politician casting his vote isn't directly affected by this unless people call them or visit them en mass. He or she probably won't know about it until some staffer brings it up in a meeting a week later.
No. It takes direct intervention to affect change, but I'm afraid in this case, it may even be too late for that. To much cash has flowed into the pockets of decision makers now. The die is cast. They've received payment to do a job and now they will do it.
and through it all, us "Republicans" and "Democrats" will savage each other like wild pack dogs, each blaming the other in order to assign blame.
When it is the fault of all of us for not doing the right thing.
A good friend of mine brings the whole thing into perspective with one question.
"The Second Amendment? Pish. What good is having all these guns if we're not willing to use them to protect our rights?"
Will it ever come to that? Should it ever come to that? We probably will only know when they come
knocking on OUR doors, telling us we have to give up our Second Amendment rights.
And when it comes right down to it, SOPA or PIPA isn't going to stop me from gaining access to sites that give me what I want. I don't watch much TV but I do follow a few programs on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it's usually 3 in the morning and a full 24 hours after they aired that I am able to watch them.
Does the network or producer offer these shows on their websites after the initial viewing? Some of them do but none for what I watch. Is there any where I can go to pay a bit of money and watch them legitimately when I am ready to watch them.
No.
So I will simply type in the numerical representation of that
"rogue" website that does offer links to them and go on about my business. That's all it will take to bypass SOPA. Smart website owners will move their domains to places the US cannot or will not reach and life will be good...for those who know how to access it anyway. Does that make me a criminal? Probably, but then again, I don't personally care.
So, you want to bring my actions of watching "pirated" TV shows with those of someone accessing child pornography? Lots of luck with that.
"You can't stop the signal, Lamar".
Catch me if you can. I'm not downloading anything, I am not sharing anything, and I am not "stealing" anything. I am watching something on my computer that is accessible to anybody with the know-how to access it. Give me an option to pay for it on demand at my terminal and I will not do it any more.
If anything, that's what the politicians running this country need to learn. The consumer is king and the consumer will have what they want. Regardless of how hard they try to keep it from them.
All-righty Then....
I was not happy at first.
