First off, I've neglected this blog for the last year, and I really shouldn't have, but water down the gutter and all that... Anyways, I've felt the need to write about some things, and I'm doing so. Thus...
I won't go into the minutiae of every detail about the bills, as there are plenty of blogs, articles, and other material that will cover it if you want a point by point analysis of them. I know, because I've read and watched much of said material myself. I want people to be aware of these bills, because they will NOT actually stop piracy or copyright infringement. What they WILL do is stifle online communities, and make the last 'free' domain a thing of the past. Virtually any community website where a user can upload digital material of just about any sort will be in danger. This blog, entertainment fan sites, youtube, facebook, flicker, and literally thousands of other websites could be targeted by these bills, if passed. Any forum you visit on the internet could be taken out, fan websites where entertainment enthusiast gather could be a thing of the past, and sites like facebook that allow friends and family to stay connected could be gone.
Just some harsh truths to consider. I'm a Stargate fan, and currently MGM is doing nothing with the franchise, at all. During the height of popularity, MGM did have a fan community site, but it has since been taken down because they no longer were interested in keeping the stargate community running. On the other hand, fan created websites, such as gateworld.net are still alive and kicking because the fans are STILL interested enough to keep it alive, even though the francise owner currently has no plans to produce more Stargate TV or movies. Such sites give those fans a continued place to rub shoulders, discuss topics related to the show or not, and to find others with similar interests and views. Well such sites often have pictures, video clips, and other things that MGM or even other non-stargate related companies could point at with SOPA and/or PIPA and have them shut down, essentially ignoring the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, allowing reasonable usage of such materials. In fact, MGM itself encouraged fans to make fan videos and other things using said materials..! Why? They felt it was in their best interest to allow fans to express their love for the show. With these bills however, a company exec only worried about money and copyright laws could easily shut down fan sites because they were using stills and clips from a currently defunct franchise. I'm not saying they WOULD, but they COULD.
The reality is that fan sites actually generate interests in entertainment materials, ultimately generating revenue for the creators, more than they lose. However, not all entertainment producers are so enlightened. Fans were creating and streaming subbed anime long before the industry caught up, and simply began to do it themselves, because they realized they had a large following overseas, and that by offering the shows for free themselves, they were only helping themselves when they finally got around to distributing it on DVD for sale. They realized that by allowing a fan base to grow, they would have more consumers of hard copies of the materials in the form of DVD sales and other products, such as toys and clothing.
Truly, if Hollywood is so worried about their copyrights, why don't they just offer to stream new movies into people homes with their OWN websites, for a price, such as Netflix, and other such sites. They could charge more for newer movies, and even have a library of films they've produced to be streamed at a price, so that they continue to generate income on their older movies, outside of DVD sales. Many people download movies and such because they simply have no other access to it, because they live in conditions that don't allow acquisition any other way. Some because of where they live, and others because of conditions that prohibit visits to a movie theater. True, that isn't all the cases, at all, but those cases are part of it. The point being, that the movie industry (and other) are using the government to protect their investments instead of better business practices, that reflect the state of technology and the times. It really is NO different than companies begging Congress for a bail out for their own bad business choices. Except in this case, it gives them MORE power, and hurts a lot of innocent people. Why don't they just try enforcing laws that are already on the books, instead of creating new laws that still won't get the job done, and create problems besides.
Having said that, I hope you let your Senator and Congressman know how you feel about it.
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