Repost This ArticleThe Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) claims that SOPA and PIPA are aimed at stopping online piracy. But as this infographic demonstrates, it’s really about fighting innovation.
Piracy sucks, but the Internet doesn’t. We need to throw PIPA out with SOPA and start over with legislation created with guidance from technology experts that aims to control piracy – not our freedom to create and innovate online. 
Infographic by Anne Rhodes
Michelle Schusterman
Michelle is a musician, writer, and teacher just trying to see the world while doing what she loves for a living. She's taught ESL in Salvador, Brazil and kindergarten in Suwon, Korea, and now she's a full-time freelance writer living in Seattle (just to keep the city alliteration going). She'll try pretty much any food once and believes coffee is its own food group.
Is this graphic available in black and white? I would love to print out several dozen and post them around Hollywood.
This infographic left out my favorite piece of this puzzle:
In 1907, Thomas Edison wins patents
over equipment in filming and the camera = Virtually every single camera in use was in violation of Thomas Edison’s
patents.
As reported in the NY Times: ”Los Angeles’s distance from New York was also comforting to independent
[pirate] film producers, making it easier for them to avoid being harassed or
sued by the Motion Picture Patents Company, a k a the Trust, which Thomas Edison
helped create in 1909.”
This industry was born of theft. That does not make stealing what is rightfully theirs ok, but I would like to also revise what they consider their domain (if I can make my laptop play DVDs for my own enjoyment, they should have no say – just as Craft cannot stop me from making my own mac n cheese).
The rest of the world should take a leaf out of Switzerland’s book:
http://boingboing.net/2011/12/03/swiss-govt-study-downloadin.html
Piracy is not the problem. Never-ending copyright is the problem. Support a five-year non-extendable copyright law. SOPA is only the beginning, it’s the OPEN Act that’s going to be the main event.
http://www.unhelpful.org/2012/01/29/sopa-the-open-act-and-copyright-a-five-year-plan/
I disagree with the bit about DVRs. Even though viewership has increased, those viewers aren’t watching the commercial breaks, so advertising time is a harder sell for TV stations. If stations’ advertising revenue goes down, they spend less on shows.
The analogy about the store is specious. It is more like: if someone steals something and then sells it in your consignment store, the government can shut your store down. Whatever you think about that, it’s a better analogy.
piracy like capitalism has powerful negatve connotations. when you throw them around in a discussion about revamping copyrite and patent regulations. you expose your self as greedy and ignorant.
Why not just distribute software, music, movie online for free….These corporations would spend a lot less money trying to stop piracy. Google makes billions just on ads alone…
they haven’t forgotten the blacklist, they just don’t have new plot ideas.
this is just another remake.
Have you heard about CISPA? CISPA is a lot worse! http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/cispa-controversy-surrounding-might-affect-173913974.html