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Sopa Would DESTROY Jobs and the Economy … So Why are Unions Supporting It?
The promoters of the Stop Online Privacy Act (Sopa) are pretending that it would save jobs and help the economy.
But it would actually destroy jobs and hurt the economy.
No one is going to invest in the next Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Reddit, or YouTube if they know that websites can be shut down after a single unsubstantiated copyright complaint.
The only sector of our economy that’s in good shape is web technology (for example, Google is hiring like crazy right now). Sopa would put a huge dent in the web sector and destroy jobs.
Venture capitalist Fred Wilson notes:
Big companies . . . can afford to defend themselves from litigious content companies. But three person startups cannot. And Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were three person startups not so long ago. If they had not had the protection of the safe harbors of the DMCA, they could have been litigated out of business before they even had a chance to grow and develop into the powerhouses they have become. And venture capitalists will think more than twice about putting $3mm of early stage capital into startups if they know that the vast majority of the funds will go to pay lawyers to defend the companies instead of to hire engineers to create and build product.
A group of well-known law professors say:
SOPA is a dangerous bill. It threatens the most vibrant sector of our economy – Internet commerce. It is directly at odds with the United States’ foreign policy of Internet openness, a fact that repressive regimes will seize upon to justify their censorship of the Internet. And it violates the First Amendment.
Vice President Joe Biden admits:
The digital marketplace of ideas that welcomes every blog and tweet is the same one that inspires the next generation of innovators to fuel our economies. And when businesses consider investing in a country with a poor record on Internet freedom, and they know that their website could be shut down suddenly, their transactions monitored, their staffs harassed, they’ll look for opportunities elsewhere.
The Hill points out:
SOPA is the equivalent of curing a headache with a guillotine. It ... would shut down our economy and unconstitutionally erode our most basic freedoms in the process.
Edward J. Black – President and CEO of the Computer and Communications Industry Association – says:
The … legislation will also threaten the growth of the most economically dynamic and technologically innovative sector of the U.S. economy.
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From an economic standpoint, the proposed legislation promises to saddle one of the U.S.’s most internationally competitive economic sectors with significant legal risk and a massive number of lawsuits — seriously hampering growth of and investment.
TechFreedom argues:
SOPA, regrettably, represents a big step backward in Washington’s efforts to support the digital revolution, one of the only sectors of the economy that continues to grow.
A group of high-powered Internet leaders note:
We are concerned that these measures pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job-creation, as well as to our Nation’s cybersecurity.
David Ulevitch – CEO of OpenDNS – points out:
If passed, they will be devastating to the growth of the Internet economy in the United States, will take jobs overseas and will have a chilling effect on innovation.
Andrew Lee – CEO of ESET North America – writes:
This legislation, if passed as currently written, would have a chilling effect on the economy of the United States.
The San Jose Mercury News editorializes:
There are times when Silicon Valley really can help you understand the complexities of legislation that will affect the tech industry – and the world economy. The raging debate over the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act is one of those times. . . . It’s not just the future of the industry that’s at stake here. It’s national security.
The Atlantic argues:
Congress is considering sweeping Internet legislation that purports to target “rogue websites” with the intent of cracking down on the theft of everything from movies to songs to designer handbags. While the goal is laudable, too many innocent websites would wind up in the crosshairs. These bills (the PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, in the House) would do more harm than good to cybersecurity, the Internet economy, and online free expression.
The Daily Caller writes:
The Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) — a bill currently before the House Judiciary Committee — is a threat to America’s ability to lead the Internet, and must be defeated before it has a chance to damage America’s ability to generate jobs and economic growth online.
TechDirt notes:
SOPA & PIPA don’t attack the real problem, do nothing to build up the services that do solve the problem, and won’t work from a technological standpoint. And that’s just if we look at the what these bills are supposed to do.
The real fear is the massive collateral damage these bills will have to jobs, the economy and innovation.
WHY ARE UNIONS SUPPORTING IT?
The AFL-CIO, Teamsters Union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and some other unions are supporting Sopa. Their uneducated position gives cover to the other knuckleheads still supporting the bill.
Given that Sopa would destroy jobs and the economy – and is contrary to their members’ and the nation’s interest – everyone should immediately educate the unions and pressure them to withdraw their support.
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Online and the Internet is the next cash cow for the corporations and governments.
Let's see, they can kill small start-ups and small businesses while limiting free speech and communication among the masses.
So...of course they need to squash it and choke it and make it into yet another media funnel of tripe and drivel!
TPTB will not rest until the Internet and online media are dumbed down to bi-polar MSNBC/Fox I.Q. = 75 status.
It would be incredibly easy to shut down any and all competitors that allow any kind of user interaction (such as comments or blog posts).
Just load up sites with accounts filled with "offending links" to "rogue websites" and you have put the nail in their coffin. Site shut down.
Once sites realize this, they will shut down ALL commenting. Any sites that allow user generated content = gone. Facebook = gone. Twitter = gone.
Even email can be used for this purpose, so any site that allows email, provides email or even provides access to email may be shut down. It is amazing how stupid these people are. You would see the law of unintended consequences taken to the furthese extreme it could go to. Rogue websites can pop up overnight. Links spammed to them, then re-opened again and again and again. In the meantime, any site caught with links to them is gone forever. You cannot re-create a Twitter or Facebook overnight.
Death of the MEME :(
I like "Stop Online PRIVACY Act." Great idea. Let's see what everybody is doing online, especially the wankers at the SEC . . .
LOL.
easy, the unions are part of the machine
George doesn't believe in "the machine." Instead he believes in the fallacy of the benevolent dictator, gussied up as "we the people."
Why? Because it's the path of least resistance in fostering the numbing mental state of cognitive dissonance. Never mind the fact that it could never be implemented. What's important is that we "Do Something!!!!"
Self-destructionism, FTW!
Huh?
Huh? ^
"... and is contrary to their members’ and the nation’s interest ..."
Really "George", a conspiracy nut like you can't figure this out? Union leadership supports SOPA because they don't care about jobs. I guess it was too obvious.
Exactly.
The Union Bosses have probably been instructed by WH to support this legislation since the lobbyists for the Hollywood Studios & MPAA wrote it. We all know that the Studios are important democratic supporters.
Hell, just let the kids know and have them boycott all movies. This shit will end in one week-end. Milestones
The above sentence is wrong: It is true that it would shut down the economy, erode freedoms and all other kinds of nasty things would happen but the only thing it would ceratinly NOT do is to stop piracy.
First of all, great stuff here, GW.
And I agree - it wouldn't stop piracy. It would only ENHANCE it and create more hackers and piracy groups/forums that will be harder to encrypt and more easier to obtain material. Plus, not all hackers will have the interest of the people. Just as the War on Drugs strengthened inner city gangs and created more booty for them to plunder for the black market, so will this bill.
The reason why the unions support it? Two fold:
A) Unions (SAG, Grip Guild, etc) get jobs all over the country from MPAA/Hollywood when they film/produce stuff (hence why the MA legislature gave the Hollywood studios and their unions a tax break to film movies here), so it is only natural for them to not bite the hand that feeds them. Hell, I rememeber when Sears spammed my company (a vendor for Sears) pleading people like us to email the Illnois politicans to NOT cut their tax break for next year (they said it would cost them stores/jobs...lol).
B) Unions also like promised job creation. This bill will create a demand by a new govt agency, or contracted IT agencies, for a cyber-Stasi to hunt, notify, and destroy all sites that fit in the bill's cannon of wrath.
So it WOULD create jobs....but just for the unions+corporations who have contracts with the govt.
Good conversation on the piracy tip with Stefan Molyneux and some dude from the Mises Institute http://t.co/eZEnxX55
spot on, shizzmoney
You have the right idea.
The movie industry is unionized. The tech industry isn't. Tech workers are notoriously anti-union.
If the bill supports the unionized industry then unions will be for it.
UNIONS destroy jobs and the economy. It's a perfect fit.
Ya know, this Union/Nonunion debate is only distraction,I admit, union leadership,to put it mildly, are a bit misdirected, christ, they're still thinking more debt is the answer,its really tough bringing them around, pretty thick heads, ya know! We got 1% taking everything, we got another 1% knowing everything's getting took, between are the 98%! The difference between union/nonunion is no greater than the difference between democrats/republicans. Not many of my union brothers understand this, not many of my nonunion brothers get it either, these are the 98%, if your here, and you get it, it is important to take time to explain to all who don't, not just label then trash
Your ignorance is what made the US the new sweatshop centre of the world. No unions, no association of workers balancing the power of the owners, and you got a power elite doing whatever they want with you. And one day, your children will become, again, the canary in the coal mines.
Unions should have no right to force people to join them and therefore should not exist. If you don't like where you are working, fucking leave and go find a new job. I did.. at least twice.. from unionized places. A hospital was one of them. FUCK THE MOBIONS!!!
"centre" of the world ?
That's right, lecture about ignorance, you stupid douchebag overseas socialist interloper.
but union leadership, like everything else in the modern "eCONomy", has been coopted and corrupted... I agree that the corrporate control of the country must be fought, but the unions have be neutered from the inside.
You cannot fix corrupted intentions, with ideas, institutions and machines. Simply because "purpose" is not part of the tool - it's decided by the user of the tool.
People love to battle over which tool will fix everything. Sorry, but no tool will "fix everything" - neither the stuff that "collectivists" like, nor the stuff that "individualists" like - as long as the users of the tools have questionable intentions, and their actions are tolerated.
Parasites thrive until they kill the host, Achtung. Been to Detroit recently?