There’s a lot of buzz about SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act. You may already be aware of my anti-copyright views, so I’ll skip that and get right to the SOPA concerns.
Lobby money: The person in the video above seems to be under the impression that congress members will (watch a 15-minute YouTube video) value information more than money. The right amount of money could get a “100 Puppy Sacrifices Daily For Jesus” bill passed, no matter how many cute puppy pictures the American people send to congress.
More control for power holders: As state and business lucratively merge, it will be harder to retain paperwork-derived rights for individuals. Conservatives will make it easier for large entities like corporations and the military (see: National Defense Authorization Act) to do as they please, while liberals will use monetary redistribution techniques to provide the appearance of a government that cares about the little guy. Such great teamwork!
SOPA is only one of many options: It doesn’t matter if SOPA passes or not; the next control-the-Internet paperwork is probably being written as you read this, if it hasn’t been already. If I had to guess, something similar to the controlled-monopoly of electricity providers will show up, to “eliminate redundant Internet cables”, which would guarantee incomes for ISPs, which would in turn be able to more effectively trace “suspicious activities“.
We’ve already started losing the Internet. In order for something to be truly free, oppressing it has to be too costly for governments or other control-based entities to value investing in taking over. This could be possible in a few years when wireless technology allows individuals to create their own broad networks, which would grow into the people’s Internet, which can’t be turned off anywhere other than on an individual level.
