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by snowwrestler
5281 days ago
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> Internet companies have made billions of dollars in an unregulated market but have not paid off Congressmen/Senators through campaign contributions, lobbyists, creation of significant PACs, 527 committees -- things which all appeal to a politician's self-interest. This is completely false; Internet companies are regulated by the DMCA, which provides them safe harbor from private lawsuits related to copyright infringement. If the DMCA did not exist, they would have been sued into oblivion by the content companies long ago. There are a lot of reasons to oppose SOPA but let's not pretend that the Internet is unregulated. |
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Look, I don't want to get in an argument but the DMCA is a joke. You know it and I know it. If it really worked, do you really think these idiot music/film companies would try to pass SOPA? The DMCA is supposed to protect IP and it doesn't work.
The internet is one of the least-regulated industries in the United States. Pardon me for saying "unregulated" - but ti basically is. Also, sales taxes are the exception to the rule right now. Last time I checked -- that's a whole lot of freedom.
I pride myself on seeing things the way they are and I know -- Congress is like a legal protection racket. If you actually want to do something, the big players need to pay the protection money. Hollywood execs paid $91M in lobbying for SOPA. How much more was paid in other methods of political support as well?
Our (consumer internet) industry needs to step to the plate. We make a lot of money but want to pretend we're somehow immune from the idiocy of Washington -- we're not. Reid Hoffman, Jack Dorsey and Sergey Brin need to wake up and realize that writing a letter to Congress isn't going to change anything...
Money is the only form of communication that matters in politics.
Let's stand together and fight SOPA now.