SOPA My Back and Wash Me Down the Drain
The Guardian (UK): Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
The US attempt to control internet piracy has sparked a fierce battle between the creative industries and the free speech lobby. That was headline and opener in a John Naughton article for The Guardian's weekend edition, in which he tried to makes sense to the British for various American goings-on.
The 'creative industries' sounds pleasantly like writers, musicians and indie film-makers arguing for their financial health against those who want the internet to stay open and unrestricted. In actuality, 'creative industries' is just a user friendly moniker for the biggest of big businesses, the movie and music guys like Warner Brothers, Paramount and Sony/Columbia.
Those three alone account for half a worldwide business that generates nearly $30 billion a year in revenues. The proposed SOPA legislation was written by Hollywood and the somewhat less less centric Music Industry (with revenues of about $140 billion), all of which adds up to a h…