The net effect would be an inefficient internet.
People who steal intellectual property don’t care who created it.
If you make dinner, a movie, write a song or a blog, should someone be able to take from you what you have worked to create and give it to someone else?
iTunes sells songs. Pirate Bay steals songs.
There’s no doubt that something has to be done and Congress believes that SOPA and PIPA are the answer.
Artists or anyone who creates something that’s original has a right to expect to be compensated or at the very least be able to give it away themselves.
It’s easy to cast a net to catch one type of fish when the net is so big that it catches every fish in the ocean. But what happens to the fish you’re not after? Should they be left to die on the deck?
Today regular visitors to more than 7000 websites will experience some sort of “blackout” in protest of SOPA.
Wikipedia, who claims to receive more than one billion visitors each month, has truly blacked out access to the more than 3 million articles in it’s English language encyclopedia.
Google has decided to take a much less dramatic approach by merely “blacking out” their logo.
In fairness, Google would have much more to lose than Wikipedia because any disruption in service would affect more than just their bottom line as its users drive more than 60% of all search engine results to every mom-and-pop shop, publisher and small business who rely on its AdSense and AdWords programs for traffic and revenue.
On the flip side the artists, writers and small businesses essentially provide Google and Wikipedia with free content in an effort to gain attention to their work and monetary value from it. And without the free content there is no business model for anyone — including the pirates.
There’s no denying that the problem is a big one. And little doubt that these bills will achieve the intended result.
Casting a bill to stop online piracy or protect intellectual property will break the internet into inefficient pieces. And once the net is hauled up to the deck and they pick through the fish to get the ones they want SOPA and PIPA will spit out the bones but the pirates will have already filled their bellies and left nothing for anyone else to eat.
And critics of SOPA and PIPA believe that’s exactly what will happen if the proposed bills become law in the United States.