A midst this whole SOPA debacle I can't help but think that everyone has an angle. Who you ask? The government, Google and all online search engines and websites, individuals, and artists/ corporations.
The government - easy way to limit freedom of speech masked as a way to protect others. Political campaign to sound supportive of creativity and intellect. Taking control over what the free market and capitalism should be monitoring. Basically - its seems like another push for control. Also, another way to keep foreign entities from competing with America.
Google/ search engines and websites - this is a great platform for themselves. Acting as the gateway to freedom and knowledge. Problem? They still have control over what you see online and do not. Guess what everyone, there are tricks to ENSURE your website is viewed first with certain cue words in the text. Google masks itself without showing that with all this control and information, they can push their own biases. Who is to stop them?
Individuals - we want everything for free. We want movies and we don't want to pay. We want knowledge and don't want to give those credit who have provided it. It's in our nature. We steal, lie, and cheat. We want and we don't want any obstacles to get in the way of obtaining those wants.
Artists/ Corporations/ Manufacturers of the information and intellectual property - money. They want to get paid. They don't want to be cheated. But sometimes they also want to get paid for things that have no dollar value. They also want a monopoly or control over what we consume and how. Google, although opposing the
bill, wants control over what we consume and how (just to a different capacity).
So what do I think? Everyone has an angle. Everyone WANTS something from this or opposes this because they don't want to lose something. Yes, intellectual property should be protected. Yes, foreign entities should not be able to pirate our citizens' intellectual property and give it for free. BUT...I also believe it is the responsibility of those who produce this material to protect what they create and take these matters to court just as everyone else does. Capitalism works and their are thousands of businesses who pay employees to monitor this.
Well, there is my soap box. I could go on and on, but truly...I just want to read the bill myself and make my on judgement call!
yeah, the point is clear though. your background and pictures of your blog would cause for immediate shut down of the blog because it could be copyrighted and you don't have the rights to use it.
ReplyDeletethe benefits, more or most people would have to be creative internet producers instead of consumers. downside, not everyone can be a producer. i like the point you made that they are trying to assign a dollar value on something that has no value.
the whole thing seems kind of odd because as people, we share ideas. that's how we get better. to say that Webster owns the dictionary is ludicrous because its our words! we should be able to share encyclopedia information because the more people who contribute will provide a broader perspective.