SOPA Killed
 

It'll never really be dead as long as people continue to pirate and steal IP.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/...-online-piracy

There will always be piracy of any proprietary material. The question is, what to do about it. The essential idea behind SOPA and all such legislation is that, "you should require paper-manufacturers to affirmatively prevent their product from being used to commit copyright violations. We'll turn to the ink-manufacturers next."

The existing body of copyright law is plenty strong enough already. But the essential market fact, that the RIAA does not want to acknowledge, is that the manufacture and distribution of music is never again going to be something that a few record-labels can dictate and control. Music is software, not a tangible product at all, and with present-day computer technology it is possible to completely cut-out a record label from the entire picture; and to do so legally.

I believe that the true intent of SOPA and its ilk is quite clear: to force ISP's out of business, or at least to force them all to buy licenses from (you guessed it...) BMI, ASCAP, or the various record labels. SOPA would permit unlimited lawsuits to be filed until the companies closed up shop and (in the starry-eyed dreams of the record company executives) nothing would be left but ... them, restored at last to their "rightful" place in the music business.

It ain't gonna happen. Labels burned bridge after bridge when they were confident that no other bridge existed or could ever exist save those upon which they had erected a toll-gate. Both the producers of music and the consumers of it never forgot that; and, never forgave.

So, I guess they'll probably pass it later ... when they have or create a distraction.

When piano rolls came out, the sheet music industry accused them of being instruments of piracy.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Copyright_law.aspx

While I dislike and disapprove of deliberately taking copyright material (when I found one of my kids running Kazaa back in the olden days, all hell broke loose), the principle motivation for SOPA is not stopping theft.

The primary motive is maintaining the studios' (not the artists') control of sales and profits (and control of the artists), and keeping the studio executives in limosines and bonuses.

Just dropping by to say that SOPA is not dead yet, read and sign:
http://a.fightforthefuture.org/sign/obama-sopa/

Might I add that, although they'll likely never use "SOPA" again due to the negative publicity, we'll see it re-named and re-phrase again and again until a bill that does, in essence, the same thing is passed, both in the US and the world.

CISPA.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/...utional-rights