And we can do something about it, too.
Life before the Internet sucked. My life as a kid growing up in suburban Michigan consisted of urban sprawl, shopping malls, and bad television (except 30 minutes of Seinfeld every Thursday). Adults told you that educated people followed the news, but most small towns had one mediocre newspaper, and local TV news had cats stuck in trees and house fires. (Thanks, adults.) To learn anything, you had to drive to a bookstore; subscribe to a stack of magazines; or schlep to a library, go through a card catalog, discover a book that someone had already checked out and was overdue, request the book back from that person or order it through interlibrary loan, and wait a few more weeks for the book to come while watching bad sitcoms (Seinfeld notwithstanding) with loud commercials. It was barbaric. Then everything changed. With the Internet, anyone could create any website or digital technology, or spread any message—without having to hire a lawyer, negotiate a deal, or beg to get an editor or TV producer’s attention. Read More!
Stop Online Piracy Act!
Even When Government Power Grabs Are Overturned – The Left Wins
The Barack Obama Administration has been overstepping its Constitutional bounds since just about five minutes after its first inauguration. They have long been practicing a regulatory-overreach overrun approach. Imposing myriad new regs in innumerable directions – oft aimed at the free market’s foundational sectors and Democrats’ political enemies. The power grab victims are forced to take it – or to waste huge sums of money...Read More!
Republicans Seen as Shifting on Copyright Policy
Republicans may be shifting away from their traditional support of Hollywood as it battles Silicon Valley in trying to influence how the Congress updates the country's copyright laws, the Los Angeles Times reported. The battle over the use of intellectual property — including images, as well as how to apply anti-piracy laws — is being hashed out as a new copyright policy is developed. Hollywood's interest is in halting the online theft of its movies. Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., said there has been a troubling "shift in public discourse about copyright away from the people who actually devote their talent to create works for the benefit of society." He said, "Free speech does not mean free stuff." The 2011 Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which was defeated over Hollywood's objections, may have pushed more Republicans to side with the Internet over Hollywood. Derek Khanna, a former staffer with the House Republican Study Committee and a free market advocate, wrote a critical report in 2012, arguing that copyright policies backed by Hollywood were little more than a form of welfare for big business.Read More!
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