PIPA/SOPA: 100% Pure Frozen Evil
PROLOGUE
*****
I am going to put myself through some emotional gymnastics by posting this. It's been an awful couple of months for anxiety and depression. They've clamped down tight on my ability to interact online and to keep up with basic human functionality. What I'm writing today is so important that I think I have to post it or despise myself forever (and probably make my anxiety worse… hooray for bitter irony!). There's not much of a window of opportunity here. There's a crucial and time-sensitive discussion going on across the net and all other forms of media right now, and if there's a piece to be said I have to say it now.
But first, an important digression...
SIDE QUESTS
*****
I have a number of sold books still in my possession for one of two reasons. I got some back from the USPS for filling out the wrong customs forms, even though I did so under USPS direction. Mine not to reason why… except bitchily and in a public forum! Some of you waiting for these books have been contacted by me already; others should hear from me very soon. If you don't, I'd appreciate an e-mail over the next week.
I have other books still here because I have not received responses to questions about addresses or desired inscriptions. My lovely black brain cloud of November and December slaughtered my ability to deal with this stuff in a more timely fashion, for which I am sorry, and I have high hopes that I can get everything squared away this coming week after returning from Michigan.
I am only as functional as I am at the moment largely because of the current presence of my girlfriend, who has done more than anyone reasonably could to soothe me and keep pushing me forward. We're scheduled to attend Epic ConFusion this weekend along with a huge pile of other authors; the list is simply crazycakes at this point. You can even see the two of us have our first ever joint reading at 8 PM Saturday. I will be feigning the demeanor of a calm, happy, sociable human being, perhaps even successfully. Come say hello if you're around.
Also, my site is temporarily in the grip of a mysterious placeholder. I wish I could say more about a couple of neat things, and soon enough I will be able to.
With that said...
MAIN QUEST
*****
Much of the internet is in a state of whole or partial shutdown today to raise awareness of a pair of truly horrendous, draconian, backwards pieces of proposed legislation, PIPA and SOPA.
These bills are an existential threat to what I'm doing at this very moment, writing this little piece and preparing to post it, along with some links, all the while NOT having to fear that my entire online presence will be blotted out in response, by someone acting on misinformation or in sheer bad faith, using extrajudicial powers that short-circuit all due process.
These bills would strangle innovation, freeze free and open political communication, and destroy every common online space currently used to exchange communication ranging from casual chat to critical, life-saving information. They would crush the internet as we know it and savage the globally uplifting online economy.
My books are published by a subsidiary of the forces currently pushing PIPA/SOPA. Any filmed adaptation of my books would be made by a subsidiary of these forces. They are my present and (hopefully) future employers, and they are cutting their own throats by supporting this nonsense. They are attacking me; they are attempting to curtail my freedom of expression, my ability to offer my work in a public medium, and your ability to get your hands on it. Hell, your ability to even discuss it.
The cruel irony is that these bills would have laughably little effect on the actual activity of "piracy." The cruelest irony is that they would devastate the very artists, creators, and entrepreneurs they are piously alleged to protect.
Imagine that you ran a cafe in which dozens of people ate and mingled each morning. Suppose that you were legally responsible for barring any patron who kept a cat. Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn't it? Well, what if you were also responsible for policing the activities of your patrons and barring any one of them that had ever spoken to anyone that owned a cat? And what if the penalties for not doing so were insane? What if you arrived at the cafe one morning to find your power cut off, your front door boarded up, your signs painted over, your listing removed from all phone and online directories? What if that could happen overnight without notice? What if you had no chance to confront your accusers and rebut their accusations before these penalties were applied?
How, in those circumstances, could anyone possibly operate a cafe? Who would ever dare open one in the first place if all the hard work of a life-sustaining business could be stomped flat in one arbitrary swoop?
What if it wasn't just cafes? What if it was any sort of business at all?
The situation would be depraved. These bills are depraved.
"Harsh penalties first, maybe discussion later, if you're lucky" is absolutely contrary to the entire tradition of Western jurisprudence.
If you disagree, you're depraved. Or you're a willing tool of the forces of fucking darkness and you honestly think that the United States really needs to further emulate the behavior of countries like Iran, China, and North Korea.
PIPA and SOPA are poison.
These bills, explicitly crafted by lobbyists and then handed over to their dutiful tools in congress (who plainly did not expect such a glorious uprising in response!), are designed by people who have no understanding of how the internet works at the behest of a tiny group of maniacs who have no interest beyond using the power of the government to burn their competition down.
They have no interest in justice, fairness, free speech, or the general welfare. They want control of things they have no moral right to. They are desperately, consistently, historically unwilling to compete in the so-called "free market." They fought back against television, against the VCR, against the home taping "scourge," against MP3s, against DVDs, against online content distribution of all sorts.
Only they didn't fight with economic innovation. Their response to every technological sea-change has been to attempt to legislate each genie back into the bottle. They have accepted only those tools and formats that they have been led to, kicking and screaming, years after other people have already figured out how to make piles of money from them.
I don't just have a horse in this race. I have all my horses in this race. I make my living from the creation and peddling of "intellectual property."
I already have a huge variety of legal tools I can deploy to protect my IP when I find it being threatened or misused. I am already granted an exclusive exploitation period for that IP that will extend beyond my death. My publishers already have legal departments that can stomp infringers through the existing legal system, with all of its safeguards and oversights.
SOPA and PIPA would give me nothing useful. They would destroy nearly everything that is right and meaningful about the internet.
That's no trade at all. These bills are madness and must be defeated.
For the clearest dissection of the substance of these bills I've found, try:
A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP
To take further action, try:
Stop the Wall.
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Stop American Censorship
*****
I am going to put myself through some emotional gymnastics by posting this. It's been an awful couple of months for anxiety and depression. They've clamped down tight on my ability to interact online and to keep up with basic human functionality. What I'm writing today is so important that I think I have to post it or despise myself forever (and probably make my anxiety worse… hooray for bitter irony!). There's not much of a window of opportunity here. There's a crucial and time-sensitive discussion going on across the net and all other forms of media right now, and if there's a piece to be said I have to say it now.
But first, an important digression...
SIDE QUESTS
*****
I have a number of sold books still in my possession for one of two reasons. I got some back from the USPS for filling out the wrong customs forms, even though I did so under USPS direction. Mine not to reason why… except bitchily and in a public forum! Some of you waiting for these books have been contacted by me already; others should hear from me very soon. If you don't, I'd appreciate an e-mail over the next week.
I have other books still here because I have not received responses to questions about addresses or desired inscriptions. My lovely black brain cloud of November and December slaughtered my ability to deal with this stuff in a more timely fashion, for which I am sorry, and I have high hopes that I can get everything squared away this coming week after returning from Michigan.
I am only as functional as I am at the moment largely because of the current presence of my girlfriend, who has done more than anyone reasonably could to soothe me and keep pushing me forward. We're scheduled to attend Epic ConFusion this weekend along with a huge pile of other authors; the list is simply crazycakes at this point. You can even see the two of us have our first ever joint reading at 8 PM Saturday. I will be feigning the demeanor of a calm, happy, sociable human being, perhaps even successfully. Come say hello if you're around.
Also, my site is temporarily in the grip of a mysterious placeholder. I wish I could say more about a couple of neat things, and soon enough I will be able to.
With that said...
MAIN QUEST
*****
Much of the internet is in a state of whole or partial shutdown today to raise awareness of a pair of truly horrendous, draconian, backwards pieces of proposed legislation, PIPA and SOPA.
These bills are an existential threat to what I'm doing at this very moment, writing this little piece and preparing to post it, along with some links, all the while NOT having to fear that my entire online presence will be blotted out in response, by someone acting on misinformation or in sheer bad faith, using extrajudicial powers that short-circuit all due process.
These bills would strangle innovation, freeze free and open political communication, and destroy every common online space currently used to exchange communication ranging from casual chat to critical, life-saving information. They would crush the internet as we know it and savage the globally uplifting online economy.
My books are published by a subsidiary of the forces currently pushing PIPA/SOPA. Any filmed adaptation of my books would be made by a subsidiary of these forces. They are my present and (hopefully) future employers, and they are cutting their own throats by supporting this nonsense. They are attacking me; they are attempting to curtail my freedom of expression, my ability to offer my work in a public medium, and your ability to get your hands on it. Hell, your ability to even discuss it.
The cruel irony is that these bills would have laughably little effect on the actual activity of "piracy." The cruelest irony is that they would devastate the very artists, creators, and entrepreneurs they are piously alleged to protect.
Imagine that you ran a cafe in which dozens of people ate and mingled each morning. Suppose that you were legally responsible for barring any patron who kept a cat. Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn't it? Well, what if you were also responsible for policing the activities of your patrons and barring any one of them that had ever spoken to anyone that owned a cat? And what if the penalties for not doing so were insane? What if you arrived at the cafe one morning to find your power cut off, your front door boarded up, your signs painted over, your listing removed from all phone and online directories? What if that could happen overnight without notice? What if you had no chance to confront your accusers and rebut their accusations before these penalties were applied?
How, in those circumstances, could anyone possibly operate a cafe? Who would ever dare open one in the first place if all the hard work of a life-sustaining business could be stomped flat in one arbitrary swoop?
What if it wasn't just cafes? What if it was any sort of business at all?
The situation would be depraved. These bills are depraved.
"Harsh penalties first, maybe discussion later, if you're lucky" is absolutely contrary to the entire tradition of Western jurisprudence.
If you disagree, you're depraved. Or you're a willing tool of the forces of fucking darkness and you honestly think that the United States really needs to further emulate the behavior of countries like Iran, China, and North Korea.
PIPA and SOPA are poison.
These bills, explicitly crafted by lobbyists and then handed over to their dutiful tools in congress (who plainly did not expect such a glorious uprising in response!), are designed by people who have no understanding of how the internet works at the behest of a tiny group of maniacs who have no interest beyond using the power of the government to burn their competition down.
They have no interest in justice, fairness, free speech, or the general welfare. They want control of things they have no moral right to. They are desperately, consistently, historically unwilling to compete in the so-called "free market." They fought back against television, against the VCR, against the home taping "scourge," against MP3s, against DVDs, against online content distribution of all sorts.
Only they didn't fight with economic innovation. Their response to every technological sea-change has been to attempt to legislate each genie back into the bottle. They have accepted only those tools and formats that they have been led to, kicking and screaming, years after other people have already figured out how to make piles of money from them.
I don't just have a horse in this race. I have all my horses in this race. I make my living from the creation and peddling of "intellectual property."
I already have a huge variety of legal tools I can deploy to protect my IP when I find it being threatened or misused. I am already granted an exclusive exploitation period for that IP that will extend beyond my death. My publishers already have legal departments that can stomp infringers through the existing legal system, with all of its safeguards and oversights.
SOPA and PIPA would give me nothing useful. They would destroy nearly everything that is right and meaningful about the internet.
That's no trade at all. These bills are madness and must be defeated.
For the clearest dissection of the substance of these bills I've found, try:
A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP
To take further action, try:
Stop the Wall.
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Stop American Censorship
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message 1:
by
Andy Cook
(new)
Jan 19, 2012 01:16AM
Fantastically said.
reply
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"Fantastically said." Seconded.
Thank you for posting about this! Very well said.
Great post, Scott. Glad to see that you haven't dropped off the face of the earth - was beginning to get a bit worried. :)
SOPA is a crime against man-kind. I sometimes wonder what the hell became of freedom of speech.Well said, Scott.
