SOPA

SOPA Noteably Less Stupid

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The bizarre SOPA DNS-blocking measures have apparently been pulled as the bill slowly dies the death of a thousand cuts.  PIPA also looks to be on hold.

Now, I'm all for this but I'd prefer these bills die and start over.

The first thing to be aware of: the massive amount of awareness about these bills and how tech companies, internet users, geeks, programmers, and more rallied against it.  Quite frankly I think congress and many people were caught completely by surprise at the reaction to SOPA/PIPA.  I wish I could say they learned their lessons and have a broader view of how the world works, but I'm not counting on it.

The second thing to be aware of:  Internet users and e-freedom advocates organized and got results.  What, I ask you are, they going to do in the future?  What old organizations will benefit and new ones may appear?  What kind of political  lobbying comes from here (and what will Super PACs play?).  How many people just became politically aware?

Oh, I don't know the answers, but I'm going to have fun finding them out . . .

– Steven Savage

The Movie Industry Can’t Innovate, Steve Blank Explains Why

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Teacher, Blogger, Entrepreneur and activist Steve Blank hits it out of the ball park, past Team Rocket, into space, and right into the Source Wall with this piece on why the movie industry can't innovate and why SOPA is their solution.  He also has takeaway bullet points at the end, which removes my need to write them, and further increases my respect for a fellow Steve with an awesome name.

Its a great, simple article that looks at movie and media history and shows how regulation is often a tool to avoid competition – and how our current SOPA stupidity has a lot of historical precedent.

Go read it. The money quote is "Why can't the film industry innovate like Silicon Valley?" which pretty much sums up the point that the film industry is not about innovation.

Like many things, the film industry is about making a profit, and making a profit and innovating don't necessarily go hand in hand. When you've got cash, lobbyists, and a few congresspeople on your side, it probably seems easier to just go and screw with the future of the internet than try and innovate.

So consider that – the film industry not only doesn't innovate, ask yourself if it has reached the stage where it cannot.  If it is indeed at that stage, it's only recourse is to try to resort to profit-maintaing and rent-seeking tactics.  If it cannot succeed with those, what is its future?

(Oh and you'll notice a distinct lack of SOPA coverage among SOPA-supporting outlets.)

– Steven Savage

Nintendo and Sony Give Up on SOPA

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Read about it here.

What I'm wondering about with the bill is:

  • How much support was there really?  I mean this thing (and PIPA) were pretty bad.
  • How much support that was really there happened because somebody in legal said "sounds good" and never ran it by anyone else?
  • For that matter, how far up the food chain do these bills get inside actual companies?

Someone out there who does research and writes on these things could get quite an article out of it . . .

– Steven Savage