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This Internet Spring could lead to an Internet Awakening
People have asked me about the whole SOPA thing, how bad a law it could be.
Sure, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) are
really destructive, potentially damaging U.S competitiveness and
genuinely killing jobs. However, there's some good news associated with
the reaction to the bad law, news that we're missing.
As an industry, we've been able to rationalize that bad laws and
politics don't matter, but now we're waking up. More importantly, this
has also gotten the attention of "the Internet," meaning a lot of the
people who use the World Wide Web. That includes some really smart Hill
staffers who believe in the democratic potential of the 'Net.
It's taken some really bad potential laws, but it's roused the sleeping giant — both the people who build the Internet, and people in general who comprise the Internet community.
May be a mixed metaphor, but this might be a genie that can't be put back into the bottle. I'm hoping that we're seeing an Internet Spring leading to an Internet Awakening.
"Benjamin Franklin is said to have once described democracy as two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty, he went on to point out, is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."
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