Sadly that is the last thing we can afford right now. It is great policy but lousy debate: don't concede anything to the enemy, we need to run not walk away from their position -- that way (and only that way)can we drag them further towards the position we want them to take.
If we come up with a reasonable proposal based on their concerns then the best we can hope for is for them to drag us closer to them.
Now if we could get Congress to propose this then we could get angry, throw some (metaphorical) chairs etc then slowly agree to it. Then, may be, we could have a compromise.
Never ever be reasonable in a debate -- it will only hurt your position -- but always appear to be, that way they can't hurt you with it.
Not really sure why this comment got down-voted. The CEO is up-front and specific about exactly what he dislikes about SOPA. That is a lot more than can be said for many members of the technorati.
Last week, I traveled to Washington to meet with key members of Congress and their aides, urging them to slow down, take the time to understand the basics of the industry that they propose to regulate, and get this legislation right.
In my eyes, that line proves that Rackspace isn't just trying to mollify its customers. These guys are actually trying to make a difference. To me, that's a net plus.
"In its current form" is just legalese for saying "I'm for anti-piracy legislation, but specifically against how SOPA wants to deal with it." Companies can't come out and say they're against SOPA without saying they don't like piracy.
If there were anti-piracy legislation introduced which in your eyes was better than SOPA, would you support it or are you against regulating the Internet in any form?
"Better than SOPA" => A lot of things are better than SOPA. But we have done this dance a lot of times before. These 'better things' are a lot of different things to different people. I know that 'people in Europe' would be satisfied if they could get content in an easy manner and directly. The fact that you buy a book/movie/game on Amazon/apple/whatever and it says 'not available in your region' is prehistoric and simply invites illegal copying. No-one cares about the copyright laws involved with regions; it's inconvenient, so people copy and (a lot of people) buy when it comes out in their region (finally, if it ever does...). But the whole region concept is so out of date that even the notion of it makes all 'piracy' claims laughable in the eyes of most people 'over here'.
The claim that if 'companies would make legal buying as easy as copying people would buy more' I think holds a lot of truth. Sure you have people who copy always (they just don't want to pay), but SOPA won't stop that at all, not even a bit. It doesn't stop these people and pisses off people who actually are not opposed to paying but cannot (at the time). There might be other groups, I don't know them.
Currently there definitely is nothing 'better' than SOPA in the eyes of the publishers besides what there currently is, and both don't prevent what they want to prevent, but SOPA does cripple the internet, which makes it very wrong. Everyone with a brain SHOULD oppose it.
If you know of a 'better' solution, please enlighten me; the 'solutions' so far are based on a lot of work on the side of providers and such and none on the side of publishers while just providing the same content for the same price at the same time all over the world would prevent significantly more than any laws, punishment or filters can (but I know they are trying to postpone that eventuality because they want to make more money artificially (without doing any work) which is exactly the reason they are dinosaurs).
1) In the place of the world where you are: Is "piracy" legal or do you already have laws against it?
2) The internet is regulated. I'm not totally sure about future changes in that regard. So far, all the 'ohhhh my god, we're killing jobs/innocent children' arguments fail to explain why a new way to regulate the internet is needed. I'm not allowed to download the latest movies, period. If I'd do that, I'm gambling. If I (since this tends to be conflated with theft a lot) go to my local video shop (yep, these still exist) and manage to steal a dvd, I'll be punished if you catch me. Just like - with the current anti-piracy legislation.
Writing this down I realize that I'd be hard-pressed to support this kind of legislation, really. This is coming from someone that buys a metric ton of things 'to support' people (currently I'm hunting for a decent site that lets me buy the remake of Another World, after the flashback I got from the discussion on HN).
1) Software and music piracy isn't legal anywhere in the world as far as I'm aware. If it is legal where you are then your country needs to step up and fix the laws.
That is an unfair question -- you present only two options while leaving (at least) the third -- "we have already done (at least) as much as we need to".
There is so a fourth: "the internet is too precious to destroy to get a few more CDs/books/etc.".
On your first third point, I agree if we can all agree that SOPA is simply not needed. If there is no self entitled thinking 17 year old college student no where in the world right now copying music or software illegally then SOPA is probably unnecessary.
On your second point, no home, street, city, county, state, province or country can survive without laws, laws do not break the preciousness of anything in life and if they do then they should be opposed. I've read nothing that shows how SOPA breaks the Internet and as far as the Internet being precious, that sounds like emotional arm waving.
I think much more good can be done by a company if they go to the legislature to help them get it right than by just saying "We don't support SOPA." I believe that eventually (for better or worse) some bill is going to pass Congress in some form and it's for the best if companies I trust have a big hand in writing it.
Indeed, I do wish some company would have the courage to go out and say that "We support piracy because we believe that it helps the industry and artists move forward".
