I'm completely at a loss as to why a bunch of mostly old farts who don't know how to use Microsoft Word, let alone navigate the internet, are deciding its future, oh wait, it's big lobbying groups that are deciding the fate of the internet...
To be honest, piracy is an issue, but it won't go away, it forces better business models. These lobbying groups are the same ones who said CD's, MP3 players, and VCR/BetaMax would ruin the media industry, and look what happened; they didn't. Piracy is clearly offering a better service than content creators, so this should tell business they need to update and win their customers back. Trying to shut down the internet will only hurt them and give consumers less access to their goods in an already hurting economy. Big companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook, who let's be honest, dominate the internet industry right now, have all come out against SOPA and have even threatened to completely shut down their services in protest. Companies that understand piracy is an issue that should be dealt with by companies, not by overreaching laws that would stifle competition and free access to information, know that this is the wrong move, and yet because they are more honorable (not completely off the hook) than these greedy businessman running other media industries, and aren't throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars at the election campaigns of various congressmen, they are being ignored.
If ever you wanted proof that money controls politics this issue would be one. It's sad to see this happening, and I'm terribly afraid of what the internet will look like if this passes. Not only will this effect America, but every country who access any content hosted in America will also suffer the consequences of a country that cares less about progress and freedom and more about wealth and greed.
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Senior Member
