[d_r]

Is anyone else irked by Forbes' need to use a "revenge of the nerds" picture there? I feel like the SOPA argument is inherently skewed for most Americans, and it is bitterly unfair.

Pro side: "we're stopping evil foreign counterfeiters, we're helping save American jobs, we're looking out for your safety."

Con side: "complicated sounding tech mumbo jumbo, this will break the internet, and some references to Libya"

Which side would you support if you didn't know any better?

SOPA affects more than just the "nerds." How can the messaging be improved? How can it be made more compelling to resonate more with laypeople?

Why aren't the "influential" people focusing on the message?

[kn0thing]

I agree. This is why I'll be dressed more like a businessman than a nerd, like the last time: https://plus.google.com/113164038788726940319/posts/ab9eFgmo...

[invalidOrTaken]

Would you consider open-sourcing the preparation of your address? You'd still retain full control of what you actually say (how would anyone stop you?) but you could potentially have a lot of very sharp researchers/designers/copywriters (hilariously enough, I suspect pure programming skills would be the least useful here) going over every inch of it and providing statistics, infographics, drawings, suggestions, etc. Between HN and /r/SOPA, it could very well be helpful.

[kn0thing]

I tried this with a Google doc on /r/technology before my last trip to DC and it failed miserably, but I'd love to try again. http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/meg8w/im_hoping_...

[Natsu]

Well, we can at least arm you with all the helpful information we can dig up. Personally, I would hammer on a few main points: SOPA is ineffective, expensive and dangerous. Build from there. Lead with your best arguments, cull the weak ones, hammer on them with the points they're least able to refute.

* Ineffective

Australia had a bill like this (which is dead... for now), but also did some trials. Read the reports to see how big a failure that was (scroll down to "Live filtering trials"):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Austral...

Even if you have full control of a network, it's not so easy to keep pirates off of it. Why else would there be pirates on the RIAA's own network?

https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-someone-else-is-pirating-throu...

And there are already countermeasures, so the law has been rendered obsolete even before being passed:

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/285170,firefox-add-on-circumve...

* Expensive

As you of all people know, these new requirements would be incredibly taxing for startups, preventing new jobs from being created. This would require every site to implement filters, slowing everything, raising costs and blocking innocent things by mistake. The CATO institute has shown, using the MPAA's own research, that it won't even save one job all told:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120104/04545217274/cato-i...

Their numbers are overblown:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100801/17431810439.shtml

http://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/playing-numbers-why-sopa...

How much will this cost? I could make up a number. Indeed, a lot of numbers have been made up in support of SOPA already. We've already established that it will be ineffective, so the benefits are approximately zero, making it difficult to justify any cost. So rather than inventing numbers, I will point instead to what I do know, that these are the people who will be paying the price:

https://www.cdt.org/report/growing-chorus-opposition-stop-on...

* Dangerous

Whether they're trying to hijack DNS requests or web pages, censoring firewalls are bad for security, because if you control the device doing the hijacking, you can use it for whatever. Incidentally, existing products like SmartFilter already perform MITM attacks every time you try to visit an https page. In theory, the organization is supposed to add their key to everyone's computer and then they sign a bunch of fake sites with the firewall. When they don't bother doing that, you see it attempting to hack your connection all the time.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111214/18075617093/former...

Or you can refer to these:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120109/10413817347/co-cha...

http://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/managers-amendment-sopa-...

Also, it undermines our own State Department's efforts to promote freedom & democracy abroad.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120105/13282317290/us-sta...

Anyhow, I hope this is enough. Please make any use of this you can. Good luck!

[kn0thing]

Wow! Very nicely done. Thank you.

[Natsu]

You're welcome. I've been following this news for a lot longer than most, so if there's ever anything I can help with, feel free to ask.

Ars & TorrentFreak probably have the most complete original coverage of this stuff if you're ever looking things up or want to find more meat to add to an argument.

Good luck!

[pvarangot]

I know your personal convictions in crowdsourcing this kind of stuff may be completely opposed to my recommendations... but please consider contacting specialists who you may know by their contribution to social sites instead of relying on crowdsourcing. It's my belief that the true power of online social communities rely on the kind of people that wouldn't interact with each other if it not where because of the internet.

I particularly think that for example tptacek or trotsky (the HN user, however she/he has himself called as in meatspace eludes me) would be interesting people, where I in your position, to discuss this with at least briefly. I myself have certain first hand experience with internet protocols, information security, and left leaning politics, and my arguments would look like crayon written babbling compared to what they may come up with in a discussion about SOPA.

[rst]

Possible topic: bogus take-down requests from the entertainment industry. Some examples:

* Phony copyright claim suppressing a news report (about this very issue): http://boingboing.net/2011/12/15/universal-music-uses-false-...

* A blog that got seized for a year (under the current DHS program) for putting up four clips that had been given to it _by the record company_ for promotional purposes: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57339569-281/dhs-abruptly-...

There's plenty more; EFF probably has a more complete list on file someplace...

[invalidOrTaken]

What happened with the Google doc? Did it just get inundated with memes or something?

A GDoc might not be the answer here (my mind is actually drawn to Google Wave for some reason---something with a short feedback loop), and there may be no technological answer(someone smart [who may even end up being me]: this is a pain point worth pursuing), but I do know that without a core basic skeleton and background info (if all you've got so far is a list of points you want to hit, that's the "source" of your address), there's nothing the community can do.

I'm not trying to be pushy, just realistic. Good luck!

[niels_olson]

Well, since he can do whatever he wants, why not just see if the internets can do it for him regardless?

https://www.stypi.com/niels/kn0thingComments

update after 30 minutes: 12 people have visited to stare and possibly replay my one abandoned attempt. No one has done anything. Anyone care to help?

[zemo]

on Bloomberg you called us [tech nerds] job creators, and said "more government isn't the solution". Please, for the love of god, run for office.

[abstractbill]

Please, for the love of god, run for office.

He could. Alexis is one of the few people I've met and within minutes thought "oh, so this is what charisma looks like" (and as pg has observed, charisma is ultimately what gets people elected).

[kn0thing]

LOL. Thanks. But I'm 100% unelectable.

[redthrowaway]

Wait, on that point (less government, not running for office), you might want to hammer on why tech entrepreneurs believe that. Say something like:

"We look at a problem like piracy and we don't see the need for more government, we see the opportunity for more business. In the 90s and early 2000s, the music industry was being hammered by things like Napster. Now, they're finally starting to get past piracy. But it wasn't Government that saved them, it was iTunes. It was Spotify and rdio and a bunch of smart entrepreneurs finding better ways to get content to consumers. iTunes didn't beat Napster and its successors because of the Government, and it certainly didn't beat them because it was cheaper. It beat them because it was better.

That's what we tech entrepreneurs strive to do: fix problems. Companies like Netflix are trying to solve movie piracy by getting consumers the content they want, how they want it. They're not there yet, but there's massive opportunity awaiting whoever finds the solution. SOPA won't get us closer to the solution; it will take us further away. It won't stop piracy, but it will stop innovation. It will bury entrepreneurs like myself under a cloud of uncertainty and legal costs.

Right now, sitting in a class at Stanford or MIT, there's a nerd who will figure out a way to solve piracy and get filthy rich and create thousands of jobs in the process. Don't stop him; get out of his way and let him do what government can't."

[kn0thing]

Awesomesauce. Thanks. Good points here that echoed stuff I've already got in this testimony but with punch.

[niels_olson]

Why? I'm confused. You'd win the internet vote in a landslide.

[zerostar07]

Teens don t vote

[Raphael]

Awww. ;_;

[chernevik]

That look doesn't work any better than would Mitt Romney in a hoodie.

You don't look comfortable in your own clothes.

[chunkyslink]

Dude, you look like a Nerd dressed as a businessman. All good tho'.

[nextparadigms]

I have to agree. He should try to smile less, and look more serious. It's serious stuff we're talking about after all. You won't see Lamar Smith look that happy.

[rythie]

Yes. This is not about some geeks with a minor website, it's about a multi-trillion dollar [1] industry being sabotaged by some old school media companies that can't adapt to the new world. What's more, what they want to do won't even solve their problem.

[1] Ok, I don't know how big the internet industry, but no-one else seems to know either, and worldwide it's probably in that ballpark - and most likely everyone will be affected.

[jhancock]

This is not just about media companies. SOPA is part of a barrier to blockade anything that may violate any Intellectual Property. This includes selling pharmaceuticals from Canada, edge case property violations like a handbag that looks similar to Gucci's latest model, but doesn't use the brand name, electronics that may violate a patent in the manufacturing process but the end product is not similar to anything else on the market.

If you think its just the RIAA/MPAA pushing this agenda, look no further than the money flow and you see its the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that is the largest supporter. Downloading bittorrents is just the poster boy for this campaign.

[Newgy]

You cannot trademark or copyright a handbag, or other fashion design, in the United States. Your edge case doesn't exist.

[khafra]

Not legally. But with SOPA, Gucci could certainly get a website selling such handbags shut down for a long time, with a minimum of fuss or risk.

[jhancock]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent If SOPA goes through as some intend it, it won't matter if the "plaintiff" is correct or not about infringement of design or any other form of IP, there will be no plaintiff in the traditional sense, just a complaint and a web site that disappears.

[astrodust]

I've heard piracy costs the world economy 18 billion jobs and $200 trillion in lost revenue, so you're probably in the right ball-park.

[PakG1]

The usual way for calculating those numbers has faulty assumptions. It assumes that price of software pirated equals amount of revenue lost. It also assumes that if piracy were absolutely not possible, the customer would be willing and able to pay full price for the software. Both assumptions rest on shaky foundations.

[henrikschroder]

The most important point is that the money people "save" by not spending it on software or music or movies, gets spent somewhere else in the economy. For the media industry to get a few billion dollars more of revenue, other industries have to get a few billion dollars less of revenue, which in turn leads to a loss of jobs.

The amount of disposable income in a country doesn't magically increase whenever some actors on the market want it to.

[teyc]

The issue at hand isn't businesses being sabotaged, but rather , nobody wants the world to go back to ironcurtains being drawn and government has the monopoly on truth.

[fiesycal]

I'm just curious how bankers and the like value industries. Do they value them by the total sum of all company valuations, total sum of all company revenues or total sum of all company profits? Or something entirely different? If anyone in the industry knows could you enlighten me?

[daeken]

Whichever gets you the figure you want at the time. There's no real standard that's followed. The figures really only matter in context anyway; they mean nothing in a vacuum.

[rythie]

I think governments care about the amount of tax they generate, which is mostly the salary bill and the profit.

[jkeel]

The usage of "nerds" by several of the US Representatives bothers me a lot. It's already putting up a wall and does invoke the "revenge of the nerds" picture. My wife (who is not in tech.) even said, "at least we know where all the jocks and bullies went after graduation, they became senators and congressmen". While her statement was mainly joking, I feel she does hit on a point. That point is that they are further portraying the negativity to education that we see a lot in the US.

[celoyd]

How can the messaging be improved? How can it be made more compelling to resonate more with laypeople?

Explain SOPA as (1) censorship and (2) a heavy burden on legitimate business. These are honest ways of describing it in everyday terms, and at least one of those points should resonate with almost any American, whatever their political identity.

Given the time to lay out a clearer case, explain that even if you agree with some of the intentions behind SOPA, it’s unlikely to be effective at stopping piracy. If passed, it would probably have to be at least partly rolled back.

And explain that the kind of highly creative, small-time artists whom people instinctively want to defend are, in general, hurt by draconian IP policy.

I think this is realistic and counteracts the impression that people who object to SOPA are all Professor Frink.

[ericb]

Censorship is the wrong approach. Our current regime is anti-civil liberty (free speech included). You need to use the right language against them.

SOPA regulations will increase the size of our government, cost millions of jobs, and billions of dollars in market value, while destroying America's technological edge. The legislation hurts small businesses(how can they have blog comments without being sued under SOPA). Also, you need to find a way to call the bill a tax increase.

[evolve2k]

SOPA 'Technology Tax' will push innovation offshore.

[zemo]

How can the messaging be improved? How can it be made more compelling to resonate more with laypeople?

The major social networks could protest by temporarily disabling the profiles of politicians that support SOPA. Might be a good precursor to a larger voluntary blackout.

edit: hmm, downvotes. Would anyone care to elaborate on why such a protest would be a bad idea?

[khafra]

Put yourself in the shoes of a politician. You're an elderly alpha male; you don't understand the internet but you feel vaguely threatened by it.

Now, the internet attacks you. You personally. It shuts down some "profile" thing your staffers set up.

How do you react?

[urza]

I would start the message by stressing that the SOPA WONT stop piracy. A 13 y old kid can bypass the name-to-IP problem in just about two minutes.

[biff]

While true, I'd worry that arguing this point carries the risk of shifting the discussion away from "Should the U.S. begin censoring the Internet?" to "How can the U.S. effectively censor the Internet?"

[pilif]

Tell them that if SOPA passes, there might very well be no more YouTube, no more Facebook, no more Tumblr.

[TheSOB88]

I think that is what they want.

[zerostar07]

Tell them that if SOPA passes, socialist European countries will be more free than America.

[chunkyslink]

They are already. They dont care about that.

[zerostar07]

With euro bashing in the agenda* I thought it would be a popular argument

*: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,808044,00.h...