There are the two extremes.

One, a person who makes an invention, should be able to make money off his idea, and not have it stolen out from under him, by someone else…

Two, we have a right to our own thoughts and since all thoughts are incorporations of other people’s thoughts, for free speech to occur, we cannot hold everyone liable for everything borrowed they say….

Where do we draw the line?

“The Congress shall have power…To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;”

Limited time.

So if I was talking to Nancy, and said, hey did you hear the new Radiohead Song about Christine O’Donnell and she said no, and I sang it to her (rather well I might add), then I would have violated the Constitution by violating the exclusive right of Radiohead to be the first one to let Nancy in on that song….

But, if pursued, I would be safe under the Free Speech clause of the Constitution…

So if I was talking to Liberal Geek, and had these great Pink Floyd lyrics that just fit a current event and repeated them to him, I would be violating the Constitution by not allowing Pink Floyd the exclusive right to be the first to let him on that correlation.

But, if pursued, I would be safe under the Free Speech clause of the Constitution.

And so, if using the Internet, I were to take a YouTube clip of a campaigner, say sucking on a corndog, and say this is what campaigning has boiled down to, why aren’t we discussing issues anymore”.. I would be violating the Constitution by not allowing that person, whomever it might be, the right to be the first to make that correlation….

Bit if pursued. I would be protected under my first amendment rights…. My right to free speech…

Now, lets say, I did post a corndog picture. or one of Obama smoking a cigarette, or one of Obama with a hole in his head… and got arrested….

I would say I was protected under the Freedom of Speech clause of the Constitution. Right?

No, not if the SOPA bill currently supported by Chris Coons, John Carney, or Tom Carper, gets voted on and passed…

Also, 99% of YouTubes videos will be yanked, if this bill becomes law.

Also, 99% of Googles information, will be pulled, or hidden, if this bill becomes law.

Also 99% of Yahoo’s and the other search engines, will have to scrub a majority of their files… if this bill becomes law…

This is a dumb law.. Really, really, really dumb…

Just like the last dumb law pushed by the entertainment lobby. To make VCR’s illegal.

“We are going to bleed and bleed and hemorrhage, unless this Congress at least protects one industry that is able to retrieve a surplus balance of trade and whose total future depends on its protection from the savagery and the ravages of this machine. … I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.”
Jack Valenti before Congress April 12 1982.

The VCR business made millions for the entertainment industry.

I just used that without their permission.

I could be shut down, and so, could Wikipedia…

Without which, what’s the point of having internet?

Correct me if I’m wrong. But today, I speak more on the internet than I do with real people. How about you? True or False?

We the people have the right, based on precedence and common sense, to have our own thoughts without having to worry about them being monitored, stored, and used against us at a later date.

It needs to be clear. The Internet is free. Copying a song and sending it, is the exact same thing as humming a tune to another person. Under no circumstances is if allowable for a government to shut down a site, that is involved with the dissemination of information. Information is not open for discussion. It is everything on the internet.

This bill is too loose and like the Patriot Act, too invasive. The entertainment industry already makes billions. None of that, or only a tiny fraction, goes to the personnel who created the object.

The fact that we should all never again speak freely, should always temper what we say, so they can make another $10,000… is absolutely obscene…

You need to let them know.