It's not Piracy they're against, it's distribution for Independents they fear!

[Jeff Kilgroe]

IBM->Microsoft->Apple.

Sony Walkman->Apple iPod.

TRW->Google.

If you think that somehow it's now different, that "the people" are going to somehow rise up and claim power, you need to look at history, especially economic and business history.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

And none of those above-referenced shifts were made through heavy-handed legislation and government intervention in the way supportive industries carry out their business. So I'm not sure what you're saying is the same?

EDIT> Never mind... I read that out of context somehow.

 

[Tom Lowe]

As I said, Mike, the US congress is a complete joke and an utter disgrace. Their approval rating with US citizens is something like 5%. Murderers are more popular than congressmen. Do you really want these people -- corrupted by the highest bidder -- controlling our internet? I can promise you one thing: once we give the government control over the internet, we will NEVER get it back.

 

[J Davis]

User generated content on sites like dvxuser and reduser will be affected by this as well. Fence sitting is for those without cojones.

 

[M Most]

As I said, Mike, the US congress is a complete joke and an utter disgrace. Their approval rating with US citizens is something like 5%. Murderers are more popular than congressmen. Do you really want these people -- corrupted by the highest bidder -- controlling our internet? I can promise you one thing: once we give the government control over the internet, we will NEVER get it back.

I don't disagree about congress, but as I pointed out earlier, there wouldn't BE an Internet if not for the government. Keep that in mind when statements like "the government can't do anything" are made.

Besides, I don't really see a huge difference between the US government controlling the Internet, and a combination of Google and Apple controlling it, as they basically do now, whether one wants to admit that or not. I don't personally trust any of those entities and neither should anyone else.

 

[J Davis]

IGoogle and Apple controlling it, as they basically do now

lol ... thats preposterous

 

[M Most]

And none of those above-referenced shifts were made through heavy-handed legislation and government intervention in the way supportive industries carry out their business. So I'm not sure what you're saying is the same?

The statement I was responding to inferred that large corporate or government entities are going to be "beaten" by some mass movement of "the people", thus eroding giant corporate power and putting it in the hands of the general population. The chances of that happening are probably <1%. On the other hand, the chances of new giant corporate powers arising and assuming the power of their predecessors - sometimes even with the same people at the helm - thus recreating the same situation for "the people" as before, are about 99.9%.

 

[David Battistella]

Mike,

This is a great reference.

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/publica...a-and-the-united-states-the-digital-challenge

David

 

[Mike P.]

I'm sorry, but no one is responsible or unbiased enough to filter the internet objectively. Never mind a group of people. And forget a government and/or government agency dedicated to doing such. This has "1984" written all over it; anyone who thinks this power wouldn't inadvertently be abused (intentionally or unintentionally) is living in denial and is being entirely naive/ignorant. Because of that (massive) opportunity for misuse, there is absolutely no way any logical person (other than those at the top that would benefit directly - e.g. studios, moneyhat congressmen, etc) would want something like this.

 

[conrad gaunt]

Nobody wants to "keep you stupid." You, like the folks at Wikipedia, are making this out to be a philosophical issue and some kind of threat to the concept of freedom and free speech..... to operate. That's it.

unfortunately the corporations and government are already too powerful, and the individual is becoming increasingly trodden down. Freedom of expression in the uk is a joke. Nobody is protecting human rights in our country, in fact we have our politicians arguing we have too many.. were under represented, and taxed into oblivion (unless your rich, or a failed bank) so I'd defend ANYTHING at the expense of corporation or goverment (pronounced "gangsters"), that is a further threat. They make the rules with all there psychotic, political and philosophical money driven resource draining bullshit and I say "**** 'em".. and then also add that young musicians and film makers should fund themselves and step aside from the nannies in all their forms and do something interesting outside of the system and take charge of all their own strategies in life

I'm not giving ground for Madonna, or anyone else!

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Nobody wants to "keep you stupid." You, like the folks at Wikipedia, are making this out to be a philosophical issue and some kind of threat to the concept of freedom and free speech. It is none of those things. It is business.

This is a contradiction.

Regarding a "philosophical issue"...
you are welcome to dispute the corelation between "business" and mental state of its "consumers".

We can always check history and philosophers on this subject to provide some reference.
Although this isn't a philosophical issue.

It's an attempt to let a particular business continue to operate. That's it.

Optimism is good. Depending on its direction.

Short-term memory, especially the one regarding recent "acts" isn't.

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

IBM->Microsoft->Apple.

Sony Walkman->Apple iPod.

TRW->Google.

If you think that somehow it's now different, that "the people" are going to somehow rise up and claim power, you need to look at history, especially economic and business history.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Agreed. But the time that it took Apple to get where IBM was is what we have and enjoy!!!:thumbsup:

 

[Terry VerHaar]

I am trying to figure out one thing: are there folks here who would actually like this legislation to pass?

 

[Bill Anderson]

If there is one thing that makes American citizens a little cynical at this point in their history, it is that so much good has been destroyed in the name of rooting out so little "evil".

Captain Ahab hunts the great white whale. Only thing is, this ocean is infinite.

 

[Tehben Dean]

It's time the recording and entertainment industries stop acting like spoiled crybabies and adjust their business model to modern times.

+ 1

 

[Doug Beatty]

Raising awareness is part of what this whole thing is about. I doubt SOPA will pass, but the threat of it has opened a lot of people's eyes to the piracy problem.

What I would like to see are independent studies on piracy that would weight the pirate that never buys anything vs. the pirate that uses a torrents to demo things and then turns around and pays for the full version where they likely would have never bought in the first place.

Corporations that are sponsoring SOPA are not losing money hand over fist like they claim. I researched the available financial reports on-line and saw an interesting trend.

RIAA (music revenue +1.8% 2011)
MPAA (2011 Blu-ray sales +45%, box office -3.1%)
News Corp (+2%)
Time Warner (+ 5.6% 2010)
Walmart (+5.84% 2011)
Nike (+9.7% 2011)
Tiffany (+12.4% 2010)
Sony (+12.2% 2011)
VISA (+14% 2011)
Mastercard (+8.6% 2010)
Comcast (+6% 2010)

Again, no definitive independent study exists that can put a dollar amount on the cost of piracy, but these corporations are making money and are still saying "Do not steal from us or we will throw the baby out with the bath water."

What makes me angry is that they are threatening the people rather than changing their model. Embrace the internet and its potential. Yes, awful people will steal and will continue to steal until the end of time because that's what awful people do. Also, things will break because that's what things do, but that's why you have a ledger in your books so you can account for these things. Companies are making money, but they believe they are entitled to even more. Like people stealing, this will always be the case.

Why not sponsor torrents? Try a freemium model on for size. Evolve with the market. Don't be that lame kid on the block that takes the ball home with him in the middle of the game because they are tired. Everyone loses that way.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

I don't disagree about congress, but as I pointed out earlier, there wouldn't BE an Internet if not for the government.

Sure there would be. The idea for the "Internet" predates DARPAs involvement. Maybe the government sped things up, but then again maybe not. I've heard it argued that had the government not been involved it would have actually sped up development and public adoption.

 

[Ameer Azari]

Those who turn it into some personal or human rights struggle are doing what politicians do, which is to take an issue and turn it into something it's not in an attempt to solicit support. Until there was an Internet (which was brought to you largely by the US military, BTW), goods were made and sold.

And where did the US Military get the funds to develop the internet?

(US taxes paid by the public).

Paid for by the public, therefore owned by the public. If this is a democracy, the public should have the final word on censorship of this level.

 

[Maxi Claudio]

Governments never handle regulating social behavior well. All that will happen is the same gray area users will get their stuff on private bulletin boards. Its not possible to put the genie back in the bottle. But the government can sneak in the ability to censor sites without due process, or have to explain why. If there is a copyright issue, there already exists legal avenues. But avenues that require due process.

 

[Steve Sherrick]

We all signed a deal with the devil a long time ago. Now we're locked in. Now we have to try and sort things out, but we're so entangled in it, the sorting out part is difficult. We can't even get off the grid, even if we want to. Who's running the country? Corporations or politicians? I'd say it's corporate politicians. And I'm an optimist. My worldview has been so tarnished at this point that I don't trust anyone anymore. I see people going into congress to make a career of it, rather than making an impact in a shorter period of time. I see so much corporate greed infesting Washington. Hollywood, yes the Hollywood that I work for sometimes ,is desperate to control piracy yet I have no idea if they have any idea on how to actually fix it. I feel like we're all swimming in a murky swamp where you really can't see what's in the water but you just sense it's bad and yet there's really nowhere else to go, so you make the best of it until whatever it is that's living in there with you decides to eat you one day. As a society, we can't even solve hunger. We have many people that go without food in this country, admittedly some of them because of their own doing, yet we have so many Wal-Marts lined with food. The problem isn't that there is hungry people, it's the why.

Why do people steal? Why does the government cheat and steal? Why do our relatives (good people) download movies illegally, steal music? Why do we vote the same people into office year after year? Why do people support a political party when they don't even agree with the party's positions? Why, why, why, why? There are many issues like this that we just can't seem to solve the why part of it. And therefore, we can't seem to fix it.

The optimist in me says the US Government must be doing something right because on average, Americans live a pretty good life compared to other parts of the world. The pessimist in me asks, at what cost? When you're in the murky swamp, it's only at that moment that you get eaten that you realize that all you had been doing was biding your time. The danger was always there.

 

[J Davis]