Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Challenges of the SOPA Discussion

What a day yesterday has been in this curious world that has whipped content makers, technologists and the US House of Representatives into a frenzy of passionate conflict.

At KIT digital, we’re a bit stuck in the middle. On the one hand, many of our clients invest tens of millions of dollars into creating and distributing the worlds best content, and their investment ought to be protected by laws that stop and punish those who steal that content. Because make no mistake, stealing is what it is.

Of course, on the other hand, anyone can see that the SOPA/PIPA bill suffers from a lack of technical insight from the US Congress as well as a more basic disregard for many principles inherent in this lofty idea that all of us believe in, the “free internet”.

In a nutshell, this is a bill that was created in the name of ‘prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation.’ SOPA grants the U.S government and various corporations the power to censor sites that share unauthorized copyrighted material – whether it is the site itself, or users of the site. To the outrage of people around the world – this includes sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The Congressional Budget Office claims that the bill would cost $47 million annually, and would save thousands of jobs because of a reduction in pirate websites. On the flip side, David Kravets of Wired.com states “the open nature of the internet has created millions of jobs… millions of people pay for content online… copyright and trademark holders already have the legal tools to fight infringement.”

There are many corporations in the entertainment and video industries that support this bill, because they see advantages in combatting copyright infringement, piracy, and IP being lost to fraudulent foreign websites. There are also other corporations who feel that it just may not be worth it in the long run, because it would censor/disrupt the Internet, limit innovation, and limit freedom of speech…thereby putting a major dent in the creativity that they are trying to preserve.

Our view is, admittedly, on the fence, but also pretty simple. Companies that produce content that inspires, makes us laugh and cry, and informs millions of people about the world around them should be fully protected by the law. But unfortunately SOPA/PIPA isn’t the law that will provide that protection. We need congress to work hand in hand with leading content producers and technology companies on legislative reform that will work. We need to protect content producers while simultaneously preserving the free and open internet which is unquestionably one of the greatest forces for good in the world today.

Where do you stand?