Thursday, February 09, 2012

We simply do not need more gigantic, ill conceived, poorly written, and power distributive laws. We really don't.

Two things are missing from the current conversation. First, the recent debate all but ignores the broad arsenal of responses to copyright infringement already available to rights-holders, without SOPA. Second, the public has not been informed on how America's free trade negotiations have been used to circumvent the democratic process, accomplishing much of what SOPA was meant to do.

This administration, like its predecessors, negotiates free trade agreements without public input or transparency. These agreements quietly ratchet up the international scope of copyright protection and the harshness of penalties for infringement, without public discussion of how these changes impact companies or users at home. One of these agreements was just signed in the EU, where it is belatedly raising political havoc, and another was negotiated last week- in Hollywood.

Of course the entertainment lawyers would stand to gain the most, and are leading the charges on Capitol Hill.

Look - I LOVE IP Attorneys. They save our bacon many times. But there is a difference between an IP attorney and a corporate bureaucrat with a law degree and marching orders to MAKE MONEY.

Sorry for my jaded approach, but lately I have met too many arrogant, angry and selfish "supporters" of SOPA - and it has left a very bad taste in my mouth for the whole thing.

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