Where do you go from here? Because, believe that it's NOT over. SOPA and PIPA are both up for votes by the house and senate - and both are dangerously encroaching on your ability to interact, write, learn, share and even be certain of obtaining multiple viewpoints on any issue.
I suggest that you make a concerted effort to both complain ( loudly and often ) and make your voice heard.
Because, I look at it like this. No one, that is NO ONE should stand for copyright infringement. You should always credit work that isn't your own; I have been known to credit the germination of an idea with the work that spurred it. Perhaps overkill, but I think it makes the experience I am trying to explain clearer.
But - when the whole of us are punished because one person is unable to live by the standards of both legalities and common courtesy, in a forum that tends to promote and popularize the anonymity of it all -then how do you manage to exert the very real influence of peer pressure?
Do you not see that this proposal can engender a series of self-appointed vigilantes who could then cry FOUL with not only the instances of poached content - but even to those who are expressing an interest that is vastly divergent from their own?
And - for those of you who think that cannot happen - what fairyland utopia are you living in for it isn't this US of A that I see. It is happening daily - from the news readers who only present a sound byte to build a story - to the talking heads that do little but shout down opposing voices while promulgating their own skewed take on 'how it should be'. And sadly - more and more - it is ALL becoming like that.
From the "patriot zones" created around the Bush and McCain speaking engagements, meant simply to remove citizens from voicing their outrage with policies and platform, to the 'guarded public events' held by Romney, and the 'staged' questions from the audience at other candidate's events ... you are being managed and presented with a package that is edited, revised and polished for television stories of 90 seconds or less. And you have accepted it as "the norm".
Well - quoting Tom Petty, I won't back down. You need to be cajoled into making a stink about SOPA and PIPA to your senators and congressmen - to actually be heard by the people YOU elected to represent YOUR wishes. I can do that. I can and will take every piece of the law - explain it, define it, push you to see why it's bad.
And together - perhaps - We the People can create enough noise for They that are Elected to Represent to hear.
This is my answer to "what do we do now".
Go here to see the Bill as written: SOPA Bill HR 3261
Go here to find your Congressman: Congressional Directory
Go here to join the Movement: Stop the Wall
Of course living in Canada, we don't hear as much about it, but my understanding is that not even the Republicans are backing it even though they're the ones who started all this hullablaoo in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe idea behind it seems good, like all isms do, but it's the putting it to practice that makes it a difficult thing. If people would learn to act like responsible adults, we wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place.
But it's not sensible ..not in any way. What it will do, essentially is minimize any sort of sharing - even the innocent - Look at this - that so many of the social sites ( and bloggers ) rely on.
ReplyDeleteAnd, like all things in the US - they are looking to legislate and regulate international content and contributors as well.
It is so amazing to me that a group of people who insist they want smaller government are always coming up with ways in which to expand government.
ReplyDeleteIn many ways, this bill is almost like asking me to peek into your home each night to search for things you 'may' be doing. Or risk being pulled out of my own home because I once had tea at your place. Simplistic, yes, but very much at the heart of the whole issue.
Exactly! @ Bubbles ... Or, as Harry Reid put it "we really aren't understanding the scope here apparently - so it's time to get the "geeks" in to explain it.
ReplyDeleteFar simpler to just ask any one of the pages wandering about since they are all aware of, and hopefully as concerned about the issue as most of us are.