SOPA Explained

American politicians cannot understand the internet. They are primarily old, white males who are taking literally millions of dollars from the entertainment industry to put SOPA in place and end the Internet as we know it today. In addition, the restrictions put in place are so nebulously explained and so widespread in content that it would allow the RIAA, MPAA and others to effectively control all content on the internet, internationally.

To explain why this is bad, I figure we need an analogy that these old "I'm not a nerd" politicians, who are ignoring reams and reams of data provided by those who created and who continue to innovate the Internet, can understand. Since most of them are idiots, but likely drive, I think using the roadway system in America as an example.

The internet is very like the roadways in America. There are nodes and servers equivalent to cities and towns spaced here and there, with connections between them that carry data, like the highways, freeways, and streets that connect those cities and towns to each other. Right now, without SOPA, the internet works just like the roadway system: you can travel from city to city, from state to state and from coast to coast without anyone stopping you for no reason. If they suspect you are doing something wrong, the cops have to have probable cause, get a warrant, and then pull you over as you drive along. And the cops only pull over your car; it is very rare that they have to shut down an entire street.

SOPA will change all that. SOPA makes it so that the cops can pull you over for virtually no reason. "You've been driving between this city and that city an awful lot, which is suspect behavior, so we're shutting you down and checking into everything you've done to make sure you aren't doing something wrong."

SOPA also makes it so that if someone anywhere buys a billboard and puts it up next to Interstate 10 in Los Angeles, the police have the right to shut down the entire interstate, from LA to Florida. They don't just look for the person who posted the billboard; everyone on the Interstate is assumed guilty, the interstate itself is shut down, and no one can use it.

Now, the area where my analogy falls down is this: Interstate 10 only goes from California to Florida. Imagine that it actually continues on to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, South America and then back to North America. Now you can see how shutting down the entire freeway can affect the entire world, not just Americans.

Do we need to curtail our rights, especially to freedom of speech and freedom from illegal search and seizure, among others, in order to catch a very small number who misuse the internet?

What the RIAA, MPAA, and the other companies like Disney that have signed on as proponents of this bill and are paying our Congressmen absurd amounts to pass are not realizing or are ignoring outright are:

1. Online piracy is an incredibly small percentage of overall usage. Every independent (i.e., not paid for by the entertainment industry) report states this categorically. Even those reports done by groups in the pockets of the MPAA, RIAA, and others have to be incredibly doctored in order to support their results. These reports do not consider the many who download movies and music illegally, like it, and buy the album, DVD, or whatever legally later. It does not consider much easier, simpler means of piracy, like getting a Netflix subscription and then copying the DVDs a person receives each week.
2. There are plenty of technological systems in place where these companies can legally sell and provide their data reasonably. Amazon.com and iTunes stores prove this; people are willing to pay reasonable amounts for access to the data they want. These companies choose not to use them, choose to hinder or subvert these systems if they do use them, choose not to sell them at reasonable rates, and they want Congress to allow them to continue using old technology and practices that never worked when dealing with an increasingly savvy purchasing public.
3. Technology allows individuals to bypass the MPAA and RIAA altogether, and publish directly to their audience (be it music, movies, art, etc.). Artists can no circumvent these old establishments and make money directly, one to one, with their audience. This is the real root of the problem that SOPA is designed to fix. The entertainment industry is bleeding money, cannot reconfigure itself for a new technological truth, and doesn't want to lose decades of power and influence over the public.

The last point is this: the internet is out there. The entire world uses it. If America passes SOPA it will be a huge knock and will affect the entire world. Entire websites will be shut down by SOPA agents for one or two bad apples breaking the rules. The tenuous world economy will spiral into flames.

But the people will not stand for it for long. A new, different, and once again unregulated internet will crop up, as people rebel. You cannot put the genie back in the bottle at this point. Too many people have the technology and know how to use it.

Each American (and even those who aren't) should contact their representative and state clearly, "I'm not in favor of piracy, but I'm also not in favor of SOPA." There are plenty of laws already in place that actually do what SOPA claims to intend; let's try actually using those.

Contact your representatives through: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml