January 20th, 2012
Lessons Learned from SOPA
If you haven’t heard, this week bills were halted both in the House and Senate that could potentially heavily censor the internet. As a Denver online marketing company we found this a subject of great interest. After sitting back and watching the storm of online changes we have compiled a list of lessons that can be learn from what happened this week and be applied for years to come.
Internet Users are a Majority
We could camp here for the entire post but there is more to this subject. However, the online world showed that they are a force that can persuade through majority opinions when united under a cause. It’s been a while since Internet users were in the minority but this is one of the largest movements that has been successfully organized and implemented in America. It really shows the power of the Internet currently.
Internet Users are well Informed
The majority of these pieces of legislation were meant to be passed in order to crack down on pirated music, movies, and other media. These things should be cracked down on — however Internet users quickly realized SOPA was more than that. SOPA allowed for a looser interpretation of what is deemed as copyright infringement enablement, allowing potentially any website with user comment or user-uploaded content functionality, such as ours, to be automatically liable for copyright infringement by default. Internet users, through being able to share and analyze the bill online, were able to discover and publicize this game-changing legal liability.
Internet Users are Redefining
What can be taken from this overall is that through the power of the internet, legislation can be once again swayed through the power of the people. Previously there hasn’t been an efficient way for legal information to flow to the people in order for them to be educated and follow politics properly. Now the Internet has provided that. The American government has seen how other countries have been shaped recently through online media and the most recent opposition to SOPA shows that Americans aren’t afraid to use the power of the online community either.
Conclusion
As the Internet expands there will be even more legislation regarding it. In the way the American government is shaped, we have the opportunity to voice our opinions. So we should stay informed on government proceedings in order to make sure that our liberties surrounding the Internet stay protected. If you have any questions or comments about SOPA feel free to leave them in the comments section below. Keeping the conversation open on the subject will help us further our knowledge of this situation and how to approach it in the future.
View this info graph on the SOPA movement from Google. Click the image for more information on how you can continue to support the movement.
Inbound Marketing Plays into all of this
The new power of the internet and internet users has not only changed politics, but marketing as well — companies increasingly need to focus on inbound marketing rather than outbound marketing. Come read our inbound marketing success stories and how you could benefit from our marketing services yourself.
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What I found during the weeks of SOPA building to a head was that a low % of people online did show that they read and understood the good and bad in the bill. But as it happens in any communication, the majority catch onto some descriptive phrases here or some fear mongering there, and the purpose behind the message is rhetoric. Just surface level. And in this case corporations and small businesses were even demonized. Okay, That also always happens.
When I first read the bill and the list of pro and con supporters it looked like the first shot over the bow of a much longer battle. It looked like a bill that would bring attention to the fight IP creators had to deal with to protect their work on the internet. It looked like the solution carried a big stick.
So it is my hope going forward that webside stakeholders and lawmakers put in realistic mechanisms to cut down or eliminate IP piracy. time will tell.
Comment by David — January 20, 2012 @ 10:15 am
I agree — I think this is definitely just the first instance of a much longer debate on protecting intellectual property online. I can certainly understand the viewpoint of the content creators — I’m sure that my own content has been used in violation of copyright online before. The most concerning thing about this bill, to me, was the shift in liability that seemed to say that any website with user feedback or user upload functionality — such as this comment thread that I’m writing right now — could be considered guilty of encouraging copyright infringement by default. It’s certainly a tough issue, and we’ll definitely see more legal permutations of this in the future, but hopefully future legislation won’t be quite so ham-handed in its attempted enforcement measures.
Comment by admin — January 20, 2012 @ 10:43 am