Clay Shirky: Why SOPA & Like Bills Would Do It Worldwide!
What does a bill like PIPA/SOPA mean to our shareable world?
New York NY, USA – At the TED offices, Clay Shirky delivered a proper manifesto – “a call to defend our freedom to create, discuss, link and share, rather than passively consume”. It is a brief, less than 15 minute, powerful video explaining the background of these two pieces of failed legislation and a warning that: IT AIN’T OVER!
Like the tide, it will roll in again as the media giants propose to invert the US Legal tradition of “Presumed Innocent until proven guilty” simply because the Internet has enabled people worldwide to share their ides and sometimes more. This is an issue of importance to all, not just US citizens.
A comment posted to the TED website today said:
ACTA is an international treaty that hands over to nations and corporations the power to censor any website anywhere on demand and to terminate internet access to anyone they accuse of serial copyright violation. The treaty was signed by Obama, and was approved yesterday by 22 nations in the EU.
In Poland citizens have taken to the streets in protest. Here is a link to an OpEdNews post this morning on the possibility of this treaty coming before the US Senate as soon as this afternoon.
www.opednews.com/articles/Forget-SOPA-and-PIPA-Obam-by-Rob-Kall-120127-788.html
Craig Shirky is an adjunct professor in New York University’s graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program, there he teaches a course named “Social Weather.” He is the author of Here Comes Everybody, about the power of crowds, and the brand-new Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age.
“Shirky is one of the handful of people with justifiable claim to the digerati moniker. He’s become a consistently prescient voice on networks, social software, and technology’s effects on society.” (WIRED)
