{"id":3126,"date":"2011-12-05T13:48:17","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T18:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/?p=3126"},"modified":"2011-12-18T13:49:55","modified_gmt":"2011-12-18T18:49:55","slug":"sopa-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/sopa-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"SOPA: A Reflection of a Mighty Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We wrote previously about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).\u00a0 We try not to repeat topics, but the developments surrounding this bill have been strong and fascinating enough that a larger-view perspective of the issue is in order.<\/p>\n<p>First, let&#8217;s do a roundup.\u00a0 When we wrote about it last, there was opposition so scant to SOPA that its passage seemed like a depressing done deal.\u00a0 At some point in the last week and a half, though, what one author termed the \u201ctipping point\u201d was passed.\u00a0 Now, according to one commentator, supporters of the bill are suddenly on the defensive.\u00a0 Congress reflected this new position by allowing only a single opponent of the bill to speak (Katherine Oyama of Google), and her treatment was harsh enough to prompt one person to comment, <em>\u201cI&#8217;m surprised that nobody asked \u2026 if she was a communist.\u201d<\/em><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s clear that this is shaping up to be a major battle in the information wars.\u00a0 This prompts us to try to take a step back from it to assess what it might mean for us all long-term.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Coming to a head<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since about the mid-90s, there has been a philosophical current that has run through the development of all internet technologies, and that is this: it is the new socio-technological paradigm.\u00a0 Entire shelves could be filled with the writings of people like Ray Kurzweil, Terence McKenna and other trans-humanists, as well as classical authors like Robert Heinlein, William Gibson and Isaac Asimov, all of whom can be fairly analyzed as having seen this all coming.\u00a0 In reaction, we could fill up a shelf right below it with writings from people who say that these are dangerous trends that are spinning out of control and need to be stopped.<\/p>\n<p>Far be it from us here to think that we can single-handedly make a summary judgment on such a monumental social issue.\u00a0 Nonetheless, our job here is to talk to you about trends related to web hosting, the Internet, and other related technologies.\u00a0 We can&#8217;t do that without at some point at least addressing the underlying ideological cores for what makes it continue to run.\u00a0 After all, all of these systems are run by us humans and, if they didn&#8217;t work for us, we really could shut them all off tomorrow (stretch your brains, friends, yes we could).<\/p>\n<p>So it&#8217;s right to take a moment to try to pass some conclusions, and what we come to is this: the geeks are right.\u00a0 The governments, archaic corporations, and just about every old institution holding on to power more out of momentum than anything else, really are in the process of being phased out.\u00a0 This isn&#8217;t just psuedo-philosophical armchair rambling anymore.\u00a0 This is a clear, objectively observable conclusion; and it&#8217;s one that would do us all well for everyone to heed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Different worlds<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To even watch just for a moment the spectacle of seeing this group of dinosaurs trying to debate the proper way that the Internet should be, when on average their technical proficiency with it is likely about high enough to send an email (the real experts can add an attachment), is a sight both amusing and sad.\u00a0 It is also alarming, as these people don&#8217;t seem to have any realization of just what damage they are ready to cause.\u00a0 It&#8217;s like watching kids with guns, an analogy some would say isn&#8217;t too far off on a literal level.<\/p>\n<p>As we alluded to in our recent article about the battle between Wikipedia and Citizendium, there is the top-down approach, and there is the communal approach.\u00a0 Each of these have their own strengths, and we&#8217;re not going to go so far as to say that either of them is always the best approach.\u00a0 However, it is clear that, from just about any sober long-term analysis, the latter is what the Internet runs on, and it&#8217;s where its strengths originate from.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Getting it wrong<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This hasn&#8217;t stopped the dinosaurs from stomping away, though.\u00a0 Here are a few of the recent lowlights from the world of Internet legislation:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Thou shalt not slander! (Even if you&#8217;re not)<\/span><\/strong>: \u201cDDL Intercettazoini\u201d is an act before the Italian parliament that would require that anyone who posted anything that anyone else thought defamed them would be required to give them rebuttal space that could not be edited or responded to.\u00a0 It would not matter if the content in question were actually true.\u00a0 The Italian Wikipedia wound up blocking out their entire site in protest, as this bill would essentially render impossible the entire idea of group editing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">If you try to sit, I&#8217;ll tax your seat<\/span><\/strong>: The \u201cMain Street Fairness Act\u201d (is there some rule that a bill&#8217;s title has to be the opposite of what it actually does?) would require online retailers to setup and collect sales tax in compliance with all 50 states&#8217; individual laws, including those in which they have no online presence.\u00a0 This small-business murdering abomination, BTW, was co-authored by John Conyers, who also is one of the biggest proponents of SOPA.\u00a0 Does a man who still thinks that reparations for slavery are a great idea have any business even being on the Internet, let alone telling it how it should run?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Think of the children!<\/span><\/strong>:\u00a0 It almost goes without saying anymore that save-the-children mania is alone responsible for a gaggle of awful legislation.\u00a0 In Puerto Rico, 17-year-olds need parental permission to share interests.\u00a0 In Missouri, students and teachers couldn&#8217;t friend themselves on non-educational social networks (this one was fortunately repealed before the screenwriter for Dead Poet&#8217;s Society could go there and strangle someone).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Help!\u00a0 Help!\u00a0 I&#8217;m being distressed!<\/span><\/strong>: Tennessee passed a law making it illegal to post any pictures that might cause anyone else emotional harm.\u00a0 Seriously.\u00a0 New Jersey passed a similar bill.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Get out of the way<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That last section should make clear the complete absurdity of these attempts.\u00a0 You don&#8217;t have to be an expert on the Internet or even much of anything to know that anything could be potentially offensive to anyone.\u00a0 While these overpaid suits are running to this world yelling that they have to do something about this, everyone who actually lives in this world has been dealing with them for years and, minus a few hyperbolic examples from the unhinged among us, are dealing with it just fine.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn&#8217;t matter if a million people have said before.\u00a0 We&#8217;ll say it again: these old systems are decaying.\u00a0 They are showing their pathetic irrelevance to a world that barely even recognizes any sanity in these old ways anymore, let alone feels any need to follow them.\u00a0 SOPA or no SOPA, the Internet will go on.\u00a0 But the more that things like this come up, the more painful the evolution will be.\u00a0 SOPA&#8217;s passage will introduce a serious of fractured hacks and workarounds that will only make the internet darker and both more difficult and more dangerous to the casual user.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Evolution happens<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the point.\u00a0\u00a0 All of the ideas that make the Internet so powerful are not ever going to go away.\u00a0 Instead, they will react, just as they always have, by finding a way around, ways that will not always be pleasant depending on the circumstances they are reacting to (while, naturally, probably doing little to solve the underlying problem: how well has all of the previous anti-piracy legislation worked?).<\/p>\n<p>The geeks are right.\u00a0 The cyber world is a representation of a new set of social evolutionary ideas that will take root, one way or another.\u00a0 If you are one of the people who forcing everyone to work around you, please, accept it.\u00a0 Your systems are going to die, one way or another.\u00a0 Let them pass in peace.\u00a0 And let us all get past them in peace.\u00a0 You may not understand it, but it will benefit you in ways that surpass anything that your copyright bean counters could ever measure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We wrote previously about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).\u00a0 We try not to repeat topics, but the developments surrounding this bill have been strong and fascinating enough that 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