[marshray]

if people treated their internet with more respect we wouldn’t be ending up here

No this is not clear thinking, here's why: it only takes one person to upload the prerelease movie. Any system where a 99% "respectful" rate of content-consumers is insufficient is unworkable under any scheme. Perhaps downloading is rampant among certain demographics, but there are open questions there (e.g. about the degree to which that may simply represent a pricing failure in an artificial monopoly-supply market).

Sorry to tell you this but, no, most people don't have a shred of respect for the handful of media conglomerates or their business model. They're notorious for ripping off the artists they supposedly "represent".

iPhones jailbroken so apps can be ripped off

I'm sorry to ask this, but are you just trolling? Everyone I know jailbreaks their iPhones and none of them are ripping off apps.

SOPA/PIPA represent a choice we have to make. Are we better off as a civilization with a happy entertainment industry and censorship-happy government or with a well-functioning and free Internet where an entrepreneur can start a website (and maybe even make a buck) without an army of lawyers?

It's pretty obvious to me it's the latter.