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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Remember Back Before?
No, this isn't about life before D&D, I am talking about life before the internet and how much it sucked. Remember what it used to be like back in the days before you could Google something or look it up on Wikipedia in seconds? You had to travel to a library or seek out an expert in the subject matter you had a question about. Encyclopedias helped a little, but became outdated pretty much as soon as they were printed. SOPA and it's little brother PIPA will kill the internet. I am not sure why the US congress has decided that they need internet censorship laws that rival those in China, Iran or Syria; just for different reasons, but some members of congress have the misguided notion that these bills are a good idea. This post here is my formal protest against them.
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Worst thing is that I *HATE* mailing lists and if SOPA passes it will kill OSR and mailing lists will become again the only one way to contact all OSR guys across the world...
ReplyDeleteLife sucks and then you die :/
I got a form letter email back from my congressman and he is a cosponsor of SOPA. I am not against what it claims to be it in principle, I suppose, because he states that it is, more or less, just an extension of an already existing 1948 law that prevents foreign companies from making cheap knock offs of American goods for sale here, or presumably elsewhere if we can enforce our will. The problem is the poorly planned implementation of the proposed law and the fact that online piracy is not the same thing as a foreign company trying to make a quick buck stealing your label and selling an inferior product; an mp3 from i-Tunes is exactly the same as an mp3 from Pirate Bay (or maybe not as good). Furthermore, and what keeps getting forgotten in the piracy arguments is the fact the the US Supreme Court decided quite some time ago that it was legal to A. Make archival copies of things you purchased and B. Freely, that is without making a profit, share things you have purchased legally with others. File sharing should be legal in the US at least according to rules established by the US Supreme Court back when the trading media of choice was cassette tapes.
ReplyDeleteI'm certainly no supporter of SOPA or PIPA, and am relieved that legislative support is seemingly eroding. However, something does need to be done. What is considered 'normal use' in modern society has far outpaced law and certainly the understanding of lawmakers and industry heads. You point out a shortcoming in the law- the free sharing. To use your example, that 1948 law really just covers lending or giving someone the original tape that you purchased, not duplicating it and redistributing it to numerous people simultaneously, which is what file sharing amounts to- there is a very big difference between those two behaviors. Copyright law is very clear on this. The real problem is not in law, it's in industry and their outmoded business models. A great example of a company that is with the times is gog.com: DRM free, freely redistributable games.
ReplyDelete"I am not sure why the US congress has decided that they need internet censorship laws that rival those in China, Iran or Syria;"
ReplyDeleteTo further instill the police state begun long ago and strengthened first by PATRIOT ACT then DODA. There is an ever decreasing degree of liberty in the Land of the Free.