[ColdAsIce]

This is not a generational issue, this same kind of political issue has existed in all times in various forms. It is an issue of power and control, power to control distribution channels and who may produce what and when.

Or framed in a better way, before the internet it was about the radio and before that it was about the telegram. The radio was not allowed to be free, pirate stations where setup all over the place and there was a movement for free radio. It was in the spirit of that time to go for the controlled option, laws where setup to prevent independent broadcasters, without the many small radio broadcasters input to the law.

The issue is not the same, it is very similar, It is not a generational issue.

Baby boomers made the internet, baby boomers where the hippies, they are not clueless about internet or freedom. Intelligent people make you think they are stupid.

[pwg]

> This is not a generational issue, this same kind of political issue has existed in all times in various forms. It is an issue of power and control, power to control distribution channels and who may produce what and when.

And note the parallels to Stallman's "The Right to Read" article: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html

SOPA/PIPA is just the latest attempt to bring about a world very much like what Stallman described.

[wladimir]

Agreed; this is not a generational issue, but a world-view issue. Centrally controlled versus free (as in freedom) and distributed. Centralized versus decentralized.

The same kind of "battles" are happening this very moment around:

- Food (organic/independent versus bio-industry)

- Radio spectrum (free-for-all versus monopolies)

- Currency (many distributed ones versus one central controlled world currency)

- Identity (pseudonymous/anonymous versus centralized identity)

- Equality (equal rights versus centralization of power)

- Wealth (equally distributed versus concentrated to a few families)

- Software (open source versus closed source)

And so on... last decades, the trend seems to be toward centralization in each of them. However, for people to go along with that requires trust in the controlling entity. For example, trust that it is guided by a fair democratic process, or by "enlightened self-interest".