On this day where various websites are shutting down in an effort to protest SOPA and PIPA it seems a little like I shouldn’t be writing a blog so that I might stand in partial solidarity with those websites. But somehow on a day where free internet speech is being supported via protests against the very bills that would take it down seems like a day where it’s all the more important to blog and put my free voice to work.
Now I realize first and foremost that I don’t know everything behind these bills but I do know that their intention is not to necessarily hinder free speech on the internet, but to prevent and shut down any copywright infringement. But here’s the thing – the end doesn’t always justify the means.
So while the passing of a bill like SOPA or PIPA may protect those who have intellectual property being stolen (Film/TV producers, musicians etc) is it worth it to step on everyone else’s free speech – and thus hinder their intellectual property from ever reaching the world – in order to safe guard the others? No. Is that the only way to protect copy wrights? I’m sure it’s not.
That’s not to say I have the answers to stop piracy and infringement and honestly I’m not sure that something like plagiarism can ever be truly killed. Not that I want to look on the negative side of society, but we’re a broken people and we’ve got a lot of flaws. Copying and stealing are just one of them. No matter how much you fight something like that, there’s no guarantee you could ever completely stop it. But the last thing you want to do is stop it by also hindering others who are univolved.
Kids have copied each others homework since they’ve had homework assignments. People have taken credit for other people’s inventions. There are means (especially now) to document proper creators and help maintain a database in the event their ownership is challenged. But to go as far as suggesting a blackballing of websites who may have been involved…just because a drug deal goes down behind a building doesn’t mean everyone in the building was in cahoots. Then again, sometimes it does. This is more of a case by case sort of thing.
That’s just my two cents. Two cents that are in fact just that – mine. Mine to do with as I please, to post on the internet or to scribble on my own wall. With freedom of speech I can throw my cents anywhere I please, because I own them and no one else is in control of what I do with my money…or you know, opinions and ideas.
