Wednesday, January 18, 2012

SOPA Will Take Us Back to the Dark Ages

SOPA Will Take Us Back to the Dark Ages

Or not, because the President - in his good judgment - has threatened to veto anything that unnecessarily undermines the freedom of the internet.
Anti-piracy legislation can be crafted that is not as onerous and potentially censoring of free speech in America and on the net.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

To Whom It May Concern:

Mr. Lance Ulanoff makes some interesting points in his S.O.P.A. article. The main one being that any regulation of the internet copyright laws will bring us back to the dark ages of fear of retribution of sanctions on piracy - and the conglomeration of wealth in the hands of some.

This may or may not be true. The fact remains that in the "dark ages," the artist had a chance at being re-numerated for his or her work. Creativity was not just a muse but a means to bring home the bacon.

The unanswered question in Lance's article is: Why bother creating anything if one does not have even the slightest chance of being paid for it?

(I wish Lance had elaborated on how Steve Jobs helped this situation.)

Anyways, S.O.P.A. or no S.O.P.A. there will always be piracy and conglomeration of wealth. At the least, with some sort of regulation, there will be some hope for the muse and for creativity.

Some may argue that any kind of regulation makes freedom an impossible dream. This may or may not be true. But when we all reach a collective point where we all practice responsibility with freedom, then regulation will not be necessary. For some reason, human nature for one, I don't see this time arriving soon.

S.O.P.A. may or may not be the answer. I haven't read it like I haven't read the Patriot Act - like many other elected and unelected folks. But in the case of copyright laws, I think something is better than nothing.

Take care faithful readers.

CanuckBuck weighs in.

Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012

Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012
I've been thinking some about the Winter Solstice, the Mayan end of the 30,000-year-cycle on 12/21/12.

What if in fact the world did end? Even though this probably will not happen, to live consciously it is honest for us to take a bit of an inventory.

Am I happy with how I've lived my life? (Yesterday, I thought mostly yes, with some areas for improvement, as below.) Are there changes I would make?
Would I have tried to forgive those that were hostile or disappointing to me?
Would I spend more time with those I loved the most, telling them that, feeling that more?
Would I be happier, grateful for what I have, what I've experienced, the joy, the beauty in this world?

Maybe the answer is yes to all of the above.
So this time can serve as a point of rebirth for all of us. If we think about it.

Because somewhere along the line I realized I think maybe mankind deserves it. !
The way we are killing each other, killing the planet.
How selfish we are, and snotty to those around us. Petty, competitive. Why is this? Do we have to behave this way? (I say no, it greatly detracts and misdirects energy from the full-time celebration in which we could engage, the great multi-cultural, multi-rhythmic dance we can sustain here.)

Maybe God or the Great Universe is fed up, and will pull the rug out from under us.
Don't think I can say we could blame Him/Her/It.

But it probably won't happen. (Probably not! This time.)

Still we are finite on this ride.

It is a time to think, am I happy with how I've lived my life?
Hopefully most of us can say yes.

For the part of us that have a little worry, a little sadness....
This is the time to be present.
This is the time to be the person you want to be, that can die at peace, that can hope to every day be able to look yourself and the Universe in the eye and say, how beautiful, smiling, and thank you. Let's do that.

Antidotes to Violence, a.k.a., Take Charge of Where Your Head's At - here

Tell Congress to Strengthen Gun Control Laws NOW - here

Good News & Brain Food News -
Christians & Muslims Gather, for Peace here
Good News - Top RIO+20 Summit Posts here
The 'Busy' Trap - NYTimes.com
here