I remember back in the 1970s when a friend asked me if I'd heard the new Fleetwood Mac album. (Yes, I'll wait while you snicker.) I said I had and that I'd gladly make him a tape of it. Little did I know I had, in so doing, become a pirate, depriving Stevie Nicks and friends of one sale's worth of royalties. In fact, I had a Panasonic stereo that allowed me to tape directly from records, so I made quite a few tapes for my friends, for FREE, thus earning myself a peg leg, eyepatch, and stuffed parrot.
Fast forward a few years, and you have bands like Metallica, who owe their entire fame to fans who made and zealously distributed illegal home-made recordings of the band's live performances. Ironically, of course, Metallica turned out just a few years later (after getting rich) to be among the most vocal opponents of bootlegging.
Then, of course, there's Napster... and with it the realization that people were sharing music (gasp!) for FREE, and on a global scale, not just at headbanger parking lot keggers. But we all know what happened to Napster.
Now, with the advance of technology, we have users sharing, swapping, Wiki-ing, and blipping copyrighted content all over the place. And in response we have SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) as the latest attempt, through über-strict control of all online media, to stop royalty-free sharing of, basically, anything. The only problem is: such control would cripple the Internet. (For a concise review of SOPA issues and FAQs, check out this link.)
The closest analogy that comes to mind is the attitude sheep ranchers have taken toward wolves. Rather than accept that a few head of sheep will be lost to wolves annually, ranchers propose the irradication of the wolf (by gun, by trap, by bomb if necessary), regardless of any other effects that irradication might have on the delicate balance of the ecosystem. Seems (to me) that a far more rational response would be acceptance. You're going to lose a few sheep (and yes, a few dollars) and I'm sorry. But extinction of a valuable predator species, and the shockwaves that event would produce, are no answer.
Same with online media sharing, piracy, whatever. I know that royalty-free sharing hurts smaller artists, and I am truly sorry. I know musicians who are struggling to make a buck. But crippling the Internet is not the answer. Lawmakers, go back to the drawing board and come up with something else. Now I understand that SOPA's creator is from Texas, and that Texans have a history of, shall we say, overreaction. I believe the state motto is: If you can't sell it, fuck it, or turn it into oil, then kill it. (It's on the state flag. In small print.) But this may be one time that restraint is a better answer.
Either devise a more targeted approach to online piracy or accept that it is part of a global society that freely enchanges information. So email your Rep in Congress, email your Senator, and tell them SOPA is not the answer.
Mr. O'Hay, the state motto for Texas is actually, "Friendship."
Posted by: Fred | January 19, 2012 at 10:54 AM
Wow, that's ironic. Tho I s'pose no more so than Philly's being "The City of Brotherly Love." Tho in our defense, we at least believe the world is round.
Posted by: Charlie | January 19, 2012 at 12:14 PM
-Irony is fun...
"Seems (to me) that a far more rational response would be acceptance. You're going to lose a few sheep (and yes, a few dollars) and I'm sorry."
"I reject the GOP's view that the existence of dire poverty in America is somehow proof that capitalism is working as it should."
Posted by: Fred | January 19, 2012 at 01:54 PM
You're seriously equating a few lost head of SHEEP and artist's royalties with starving American FAMILIES? And saying that we should accept, in the wealthiest nation on earth, that nearly half our families are at or below the poverty line?
I shouldn't in a rational discourse even have to say this, but those are two MONUMENTALLY different things. Well, YOU may be willing to accept a nation that turns its back on its poorest members as a natural side-effect of a thriving capitalist economy, but I am not.
Posted by: Charlie | January 19, 2012 at 02:49 PM
No... no, I'm not equating SHEEP with FAMILIES. I'm also not saying that we should accept the poverty situation in this country.
-I didn't like the shot you took at Texas in your post OR the one you needlessly fired back after my original comment, Mr. O'Hay, so I thought I'd rattle your cage a little.
I've read you long enough to know that your idea of "rational discourse" begins with the notion that a great majority of the world is not as enlightened or righteous as yourself. And that you strongly distrust "the establishment" and see yourself as the soulful loser... holding true and shining light onto the atrocities that the rest of us just don't get.
But I think, more than anything else, that you're an artist, Sir. So, maybe you shouldn't be assuming the high-ground and fashioning comebacks for silly arguments that NO ONE is making. It makes you sound common and your voice is not made for that kind of shouting...
As always, that is just what I think... This Texan is wrong about at least one thing every day.
Posted by: Fred | January 19, 2012 at 03:58 PM
Very relieved you weren't making that argument. I now return you to our regularly scheduled poetry and other musings.
Posted by: Charlie | January 19, 2012 at 04:27 PM