By Keith Nelson Jr.
The internet functions as a community of faceless consumers able to operate under the anonymity of IP addresses, creating an almost ungovernable playground of information sharing. This usually develops a symbiotic, as well as anarchic, relationship between online music consumers and the government. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a polarizing bill written by House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith aimed at crippling overseas “rouge sites” from illegally distributing American intellectual property by granting the U.S. attorney general jurisdiction to attain court orders to essentially shut down these sites. This would be accomplished by the U.S. attorney general informing Internet service providers, Domain Name Systems, search engines, online advertising companies, and revenue systems (e.g. Paypal) of illegal activity engaged by one of their users and mandating they make those sites inaccessible to the public. When a bill proposes that unauthorized streaming of licensed intellectual property (domestic or international) should become a felony, people start to look at the internet differently.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) publicly supporting a bill with language general enough to make YouTube picture collages with a person’s favorite artist’s song in the background (not-for-profit copyright infringements) prosecutable is detrimental to their already strained relationship with the music consumer. From 2006-2008, the RIAA spent over $64 million to recover under $1.5 million from Internet piracy suits against hospitalized teenagers and middle-aged woman who do not “even know where to go to download” amongst others. In addition, after the RIAA announced it would no longer prosecute individuals downloading under 5,000 songs, it subpoenaed cloud service Box.net for user information for pre-investigation on users allegedly infringing sound copyrights. While the RIAA has yet to disclose what it has done with the subpoenaed Box.net information, SOPA could establish a precedent for widespread personal file monitoring by companies. With SOPA extending the government’s jurisdiction to services as fundamental as search engines, consumers may become jaded by the government’s military-like occupation of beloved internet staples (Google, YouTube, Tumblr).
Multi-talented vocalist and internet darling, Frank Ocean achieved a Billboard Top 50 single, had two show stealing performances on Jay-Z and Kanye’s world-stopping “Watch The Throne” and toured around the world, in a year solely off the popularity of a mixtape that SOPA would try to make sure never got heard. Mr. Ocean’s Nostalgia, Ultra sampled music heavyweights (The Eagles, Coldplay, Radiohead, MGMT) and was self-released against his record label’s authorization on his personal Tumblr. However, this method of internet self-release is becoming the norm as artists are beginning to develop an autonomous relationship to record labels with the internet giving them full creative freedom to deliver their desired content at their discretion and still accumulate a fanbase. SOPA threatens to complicate this for amateur artists without the financial means to afford original instrumentation or promotion looking to generate a buzz. The increased legal scrutnity of SOPA could severly impede the ascension of aspiring amateur artists. Even the runaway success of Justin Bieber, who could be the next $60 million revenue generator, would have been hampered by a bill like SOPA.
The compromising reality of this issue is that while those “rogue sites” provide pirated music, SOPA’s opponents don’t address their major flaw: their propensity for viruses. Thepiratebay.org, a torrent hosting site, is one of the top 100 visited sites in America and provides no virus scan for the content uploaded by its members, leaving millions of daily visitors at risk of cyberterrorism. With SOPA, the government can help decrease the number of these sites and, as restrictive as it may sound, deliver a more centralized music marketplace with security regulations. SOPA could also help give more people employment with the Institute for Policy Innovation reporting in 2007 that over 70,000 jobs are lost annually due to music piracy.
Essentially, SOPA is a byproduct of a government admittedly years behind technologically attempting to keep up with the modern day tech-savvy consumer and alter entertainment as well as human communication to maximize profits. The question is, are rogue sites enough threat to a music industry shifting to a digital production system whose digital sales increased from $763.4 million to $828.8 million for the RIAA to support such a drastic piece of legislation? Better Question: What will happen to those digital sales if people have to start scanning their surroundings for copyrighted intellectual property before they put up a video on YouTube? With a counter bill by bipartisan House members (The Online Protection and Enforcement Act) being rejected by SOPA supporters, the Internet may become a confusing place for the common man.
Keith Nelson Jr. is a music appreciator bordering on elitist trying to connect all the dots. He graduated from Syracuse University in 2010 with a B.A. in English & Textual Studies. Tweet at him at @JusAire.
SOPA: A Universal Division
0By Keith Nelson Jr.
The internet functions as a community of faceless consumers able to operate under the anonymity of IP addresses, creating an almost ungovernable playground of information sharing. This usually develops a symbiotic, as well as anarchic, relationship between online music consumers and the government. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a polarizing bill written by House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith aimed at crippling overseas “rouge sites” from illegally distributing American intellectual property by granting the U.S. attorney general jurisdiction to attain court orders to essentially shut down these sites. This would be accomplished by the U.S. attorney general informing Internet service providers, Domain Name Systems, search engines, online advertising companies, and revenue systems (e.g. Paypal) of illegal activity engaged by one of their users and mandating they make those sites inaccessible to the public. When a bill proposes that unauthorized streaming of licensed intellectual property (domestic or international) should become a felony, people start to look at the internet differently.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) publicly supporting a bill with language general enough to make YouTube picture collages with a person’s favorite artist’s song in the background (not-for-profit copyright infringements) prosecutable is detrimental to their already strained relationship with the music consumer. From 2006-2008, the RIAA spent over $64 million to recover under $1.5 million from Internet piracy suits against hospitalized teenagers and middle-aged woman who do not “even know where to go to download” amongst others. In addition, after the RIAA announced it would no longer prosecute individuals downloading under 5,000 songs, it subpoenaed cloud service Box.net for user information for pre-investigation on users allegedly infringing sound copyrights. While the RIAA has yet to disclose what it has done with the subpoenaed Box.net information, SOPA could establish a precedent for widespread personal file monitoring by companies. With SOPA extending the government’s jurisdiction to services as fundamental as search engines, consumers may become jaded by the government’s military-like occupation of beloved internet staples (Google, YouTube, Tumblr).
Multi-talented vocalist and internet darling, Frank Ocean achieved a Billboard Top 50 single, had two show stealing performances on Jay-Z and Kanye’s world-stopping “Watch The Throne” and toured around the world, in a year solely off the popularity of a mixtape that SOPA would try to make sure never got heard. Mr. Ocean’s Nostalgia, Ultra sampled music heavyweights (The Eagles, Coldplay, Radiohead, MGMT) and was self-released against his record label’s authorization on his personal Tumblr. However, this method of internet self-release is becoming the norm as artists are beginning to develop an autonomous relationship to record labels with the internet giving them full creative freedom to deliver their desired content at their discretion and still accumulate a fanbase. SOPA threatens to complicate this for amateur artists without the financial means to afford original instrumentation or promotion looking to generate a buzz. The increased legal scrutnity of SOPA could severly impede the ascension of aspiring amateur artists. Even the runaway success of Justin Bieber, who could be the next $60 million revenue generator, would have been hampered by a bill like SOPA.
The compromising reality of this issue is that while those “rogue sites” provide pirated music, SOPA’s opponents don’t address their major flaw: their propensity for viruses. Thepiratebay.org, a torrent hosting site, is one of the top 100 visited sites in America and provides no virus scan for the content uploaded by its members, leaving millions of daily visitors at risk of cyberterrorism. With SOPA, the government can help decrease the number of these sites and, as restrictive as it may sound, deliver a more centralized music marketplace with security regulations. SOPA could also help give more people employment with the Institute for Policy Innovation reporting in 2007 that over 70,000 jobs are lost annually due to music piracy.
Essentially, SOPA is a byproduct of a government admittedly years behind technologically attempting to keep up with the modern day tech-savvy consumer and alter entertainment as well as human communication to maximize profits. The question is, are rogue sites enough threat to a music industry shifting to a digital production system whose digital sales increased from $763.4 million to $828.8 million for the RIAA to support such a drastic piece of legislation? Better Question: What will happen to those digital sales if people have to start scanning their surroundings for copyrighted intellectual property before they put up a video on YouTube? With a counter bill by bipartisan House members (The Online Protection and Enforcement Act) being rejected by SOPA supporters, the Internet may become a confusing place for the common man.
Keith Nelson Jr. is a music appreciator bordering on elitist trying to connect all the dots. He graduated from Syracuse University in 2010 with a B.A. in English & Textual Studies. Tweet at him at @JusAire.
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