Where I stand on SOPA

(The following is a very cut-down version of what will be a much longer "But I Digress" in an upcoming issue of "Comic Buyer's Guide.)

The denizens of the Internet are, for the most part, screaming foul and bloody murder and (of course) shouting for boycotts of any and all who are in support of SOPA and PIPA. Because when you want to show that you're a firm advocate of free expression and unimpeded distribution of information, naturally the best way to do that is to try and financially punish and shun anyone who disagrees with you.

Now I don't pretend to understand all the ramifications of SOPA. I've read a lot about it. Read position papers on both sides. I'm fairly convinced that, yes, SOPA goes too far in its current language. It should not be passed in its present form, and–if it does go forward–will likely be scaled down to something more manageable.

But oddly enough, I can't find it within me to work up much outrage over it. I suppose I should. I'm a freedom of expression guy.

And yet, here's what I keep coming back to…

And I address this not to the corporations on either side, fighting for their personal interests. And not to the congressmen who are punting SOPA around like a political hacky sack.

No, I'm talking to the owners of the various pirate sites who decided it was fine to post my novels for free downloads.

I'm talking to the guy in Florida who decided that he was going to unilaterally create his own online library and was blithely offering copyrighted comic book material to millions of people before the Feds nailed him.

I'm talking to the denizens of a website whose cavalier disregard for restrictions on how much of a comic book one could reproduce caused their entire site to be shut down and their response was—with a complete inability to accept the results of their own actions—to blame me for it.

I'm talking to everyone on the Internet who is the first to download the latest anti-virus ware to protect their own computers and digital property, but have zero trouble feeling a sense of misplaced entitlement that enables them to rationalize swiping other people's intellectual property or enjoying it at no cost.

And if you're not among those people…if you are, for instance, one of the fans who writes to me to inform me about pirate sites because you understand that theft is theft…then you're off the hook, and you can kick back and watch me talk to everyone else.

Ladies…gentlemen…guys…gals…

What the hell did you think was going to happen?

All you have to do is look at the recent history of advancing technology when it comes to copyrighted material. Every single time something comes along that involves reproduction of intellectual property, the owners of that property seek legal relief.

Now it's easy to say that IP corporations are simply clueless. Sure, they screamed over, for instance, videotaping programs off televisions…and then they found ways to cash in on it. So what are they whining about now? They should just find ways to make money off the complete disregard for their copyrights, and all will be well.

Here's the problem with that: they shouldn't have to. The IP holders are being victimized here. They are in the right, and the pirates are in the wrong, which is what pirates typically are because if they were in the right, they wouldn't be called pirates, they'd be called the navy.

There are plenty of Internet users who, while screaming loudly in protest, also endorsed the piracy, supported the piracy, enabled the piracy, felt their own actions weren't piracy, and now refuse to accept the consequences of their own actions. Again.

If Newton's Third Law of Motion is that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, then David's Third Law of Commotion is that, for every Internet action, there is an unequal and opposition reaction. Which is why Bill Maher can make a fairly mild joke on Twitter about Tim Tebow and the result is that the opposition declares him today's public enemy number one and starts shouting it's time to boycott HBO.

All people had to do in order to prevent anything like SOPA from ever coming into existence was respect copyright laws. You don't bitch that copyright law is outdated. You don't declare that the rise of the Internet means that everyone, everywhere should have free access to everything. If you felt that strongly that copyright law should be changed, then you do what you're supposed to do: you go to your elected officials and seek redress of grievances. You don't just sit on your ass in front of your computer screen, announce that you can do whatever you want, and declare that anyone who disagrees with you is clueless and should just piss off. Because you know what? Maybe they are clueless. But they've also got high-powered lawyers who are going to seek redress of grievances, and suddenly you're staring down the double cannon of SOPA and PIPA and wondering how it all went wrong.

Here's how it went wrong: you let it happen. You made it happen. The Internet presented a wonderful power of communication that is unprecedented in the history of mankind. But with that great power comes great responsibility. And you just stood there and watched the bad guys go running past you, and you smiled under your mask of Internet anonymity and said, "Not my problem." And suddenly Uncle Ben is worm food and you're bellowing, "Hey! Not fair!" Well, "fair" and "unfair" can be, and often is, disputed. What is indisputable is that it was avoidable. All you had to do was condemn piracy. Instead you supported piracy (and probably still do) and declared that everyone else with a vested interest in copyright, who didn't appreciate their material being stolen and never seeing any compensation for it, was just a dipshit.

You all think you're John Connor in Terminator 2, fighting the good fight for the future. No, you're not. John Connor is the copyright holder, confident in his rightness. The Terminator is his lawyer. And you're one of the swaggering jocks getting the crap kicked out of him while John stands there smugly, his arms folded, saying, "Are you calling moi a dipshit?"

How can Internet denizens avoid the government trying to clamp down on piracy and, in doing so, threatening the freedom of the Internet? I'm reminded of the moment in the film Liar, Liar, where Jim Carrey's lawyer character—compelled by his son's birthday wish always to tell the truth—is informed that a recidivist client is on the phone. The client's been arrested (this time for knocking over an ATM), and is asking for legal advice. Carrey grabs the receiver and shouts, "Stop breaking the law, asshole!"

One has to admire the common sense brevity of that advice.

PAD