Their only goal is to prove the other one wrong, but the both of them are so stubborn, it turns into an angry game of tennis, where instead of winning or losing, one of them just stops playing.
To start, I do not think that pirating should be supported. Musicians, filmmakers, software designers, and etcetera make money off of what they create. And what they create is easily obtained through filesharing. And sure, they have already been paid, right? The rest is just shelling out to the record labels and producers, but if it doesn't do well enough; if the product doesn't profit them as much as it should, it hurts the people who made it.
One day at work I was sitting because there wasn't anything to do. And a person I really admire said "If you get paid for work you aren't doing, you are taking something you haven't earned. And that's called stealing, isn't it?"
I make it a point to buy the things I want to support. And it tears me up to see a friend pirating things that I enjoy. It's not that I paid for it and they didn't. It's that they don't care enough to put money in the man's pocket.
Now, like most people, when I first heard about SOPA, the only thing I heard were negative blah, blah, blah. After hearing about it so much, I decided to look into it.
After going through the bill, my impression is this: the government is, and perhaps always will be, a poor solution to our problems.
For one, the bill states that, when given a court order, service providers, advertisement services, search engines and payment service providers are to stop affiliation any website that violates the piracy act by whatever means are necessary.
For service providers (like Comcast, ClearWire, etcetera), they are to limit the websites customers can visit. They are to do this after receiving a court order.
H.R. 3261
(i) IN GENERAL- A service provider shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures designed to prevent access by its subscribers located within the United States to the foreign infringing site...
For advertisement services, they are to stop provide services to the websites that violate the piracy act.
H.R. 3261
(i) REQUIRED ACTIONS- An Internet advertising service that contracts to provide advertising to or for the foreign infringing site, or portion thereof, that is subject to the order, or that knowingly serves advertising to or for such site or such portion thereof, shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures, as expeditiously as possible, but in any case within 5 days after being served with a copy of the order, or within such time as the court may order, designed to--
(I) prevent its service from providing advertisements to or relating to the foreign infringing site that is subject to the order or a portion of such site specified in the order;
(II) cease making available advertisements for the foreign infringing site or such portion thereof, or paid or sponsored search results, links, or other placements that provide access to such foreign infringing site or such portion thereof; and
(III) cease providing or receiving any compensation for advertising or related services to, from, or in connection with such foreign infringing site or such portion thereof.
(I) prevent its service from providing advertisements to or relating to the foreign infringing site that is subject to the order or a portion of such site specified in the order;
(II) cease making available advertisements for the foreign infringing site or such portion thereof, or paid or sponsored search results, links, or other placements that provide access to such foreign infringing site or such portion thereof; and
(III) cease providing or receiving any compensation for advertising or related services to, from, or in connection with such foreign infringing site or such portion thereof.
For search engines (Google, Bing, Ask Jeeves), they are eliminate the websites that violate the piracy act from their search results.
H.R. 3261
(B) INTERNET SEARCH ENGINES- A provider of an Internet search engine shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures, as expeditiously as possible, but in any case within 5 days after being served with a copy of the order, or within such time as the court may order, designed to prevent the foreign infringing site that is subject to the order, or a portion of such site specified in the order, from being served as a direct hypertext link.
For payment service providers (PayPal), they are to stop being affiliated and to stop payment transfers to the website that violates the piracy act.
H.R. 3261
(i) PREVENTING AFFILIATION- A payment network provider shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures, as expeditiously as possible, but in any case within 5 days after being served with a copy of the order, or within such time as the court may order, designed to prevent, prohibit, or suspend its service from completing payment transactions involving customers located within the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and the payment account--
(I) which is used by the foreign infringing site, or portion thereof, that is subject to the order; and
(II) through which the payment network provider would complete such payment transactions.
(I) which is used by the foreign infringing site, or portion thereof, that is subject to the order; and
(II) through which the payment network provider would complete such payment transactions.
It's these regulations of internet-based companies that bother me. This kind of behavior is reminiscent of China, for they limit the websites their citizens can visit. It's different than just shutting down the website violator; it's cutting off as many links as possible with the modern-day computer user.
Now, I'm no historian, but if studying history can teach us anything, it's patterns in our people's culture. And things like over bearing regulation do eventually lead to a totalitarian government. It starts with something understandable (things like FDA) and then goes to things that don't entirely add up (like SOPA).
It's not the intent that bothers me, it's the direction and effort the government is taking. I don't like that the government can make Comcast, Google, and Paypal stop business with a website just because the federal government says so. That unsettles me because if we open up this door, it could lead to more dangerous ones.
I'm not trying to predict anything. I'm not saying that. But when we turn to the government in this day and age to fix our problems, it doesn't seem to promise a safe livelihood.
Whoever expects the government to take care of things like this are fools. The piracy should be stopped, but looking to our leaders is not the way to do it. I'm not suggesting any other way, because I'm just a worker bee. I just know that we need a solution, and SOPA and the federal government are not the roads to take.
Anyway, thanks for reading. I tried to make it as brief as possible, and I included quotes for reinforcement.
H.R. 3261 or SOPA can be found at this link --> Click me!
