Piracy On The Internet
SOPA and PIPA, from my limited understanding, will allow courts to order ISPs to block copyright infringing websites. Or order advertisers and search engines to stop doing business with and cataloguing infringing websites.
Like many others, I can see how this power would be abused and also cause a lot of collateral damage for sites that accidentally infringe a minor amount of material. So should the bill pass? My opinion is irrelevant as I'm not American, I'm not terribly well informed and no-one will be influenced by what I think. But I will make some observations...
Large music labels have for a long time been corrupting our young with anti-social and self-destructive messages. I find it a delightful irony that these same labels are crying fowl at widespread music piracy which is the result of poor moral standards among individuals.
The root of many problems on the Internet in my opinion is the lack of accountability. I'd guess the majority of Internet users go about their activities confident that they cannot be traced. Of course, the Internet's popularity is at least in part a result of this 'anonymity'. An Internet with 'number plates' like a vehicle seems incomprehensible to me; where all computers can be indirectly identified via a central authority.
This lack of accountability is a genie that has been released from a bottle. People are used to the benefits and law makers who try to put the genie back in face a very, very difficult if not impossible task. Without some more accountability laws will start to lose their significance.
And there is another ironic note on which to conclude this post. Law systems, that have for a long time become overly complex and slow to react, are now threatened by the Internet. Which is the new 'wild west' because law makers could not keep up.
Like many others, I can see how this power would be abused and also cause a lot of collateral damage for sites that accidentally infringe a minor amount of material. So should the bill pass? My opinion is irrelevant as I'm not American, I'm not terribly well informed and no-one will be influenced by what I think. But I will make some observations...
Large music labels have for a long time been corrupting our young with anti-social and self-destructive messages. I find it a delightful irony that these same labels are crying fowl at widespread music piracy which is the result of poor moral standards among individuals.
The root of many problems on the Internet in my opinion is the lack of accountability. I'd guess the majority of Internet users go about their activities confident that they cannot be traced. Of course, the Internet's popularity is at least in part a result of this 'anonymity'. An Internet with 'number plates' like a vehicle seems incomprehensible to me; where all computers can be indirectly identified via a central authority.
This lack of accountability is a genie that has been released from a bottle. People are used to the benefits and law makers who try to put the genie back in face a very, very difficult if not impossible task. Without some more accountability laws will start to lose their significance.
And there is another ironic note on which to conclude this post. Law systems, that have for a long time become overly complex and slow to react, are now threatened by the Internet. Which is the new 'wild west' because law makers could not keep up.
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