Online Piracy

There has been a lot in the news lately about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) which is an anti piracy bill put before the USA House of Representative.  The Senate equivalent is Pipa (Protect Intellectual Property Act).  Read more about it in this article: Q &A: Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

What seemed assured a safe passage bill has seen US senators walking away from the bill (Senators Back Down on Online Piracy) after considerable online opposition particularly by Wikipedia and Google.

It has become an argument about Internet freedoms versus protecting intellectual property (IP) rights, which is backed and supported by Hollywood – old media vs new media (Google, Facebook). IP rights should be respected and protected, however, applying this kind of legislation means that those who claim their IP rights have been infringed could request a court order to stop payment facilities (i.e PayPal) from conducting business with websites who are infringing among other things.  The powers would be sweeping, potentially with considerable collateral damage.

 However, is the argument that simple?  Anyone who knows anything about the Internet knows that it can’t be compared to offline media.  It is so fundamentally different, vast and interconnected with a multiple of information changing constantly.  The issue to me seems to be that the ‘old media’ business model that is being applied to the Internet does not work.  A new business model is needed for the Internet that balances IP rights but also protects Internet freedoms and allows innovation to thrive and prosper.  The world no longer exists in a small economy but a vast online environment where anyone can be connected to anyone.  Media companies need to understand this and adapt instead of trying to control.  If they continue to force the issue, they will also loose.

Any thoughts?

Tags: Illegal Downloads • Internet Freedoms • IP rights • Piracy