ManicDDaily

I have mixed feelings about SOPA, the “Stop Online Piracy Act.” 

On the one hand, the level of internet piracy is mammoth; many companies make big advertising bucks out of stolen content.    This lawlessness degrades consumers’ views of intellectual property rights, and, I believe, makes it increasingly difficult for artists to make a  living off their work.

On the other hand, the internet is about the only thing in our culture that is free.  And this freedom is not just in terms of cost.  There’s a great freedom for people to make and post art–some of which is undeniably derivative.   I, for example, make a lot of little paintings, some of which sponge images from other people. 

I sincerely believe that the types of things I do are either (i) “original” or (ii) “fair use,” and that they do not infringe copyright.   (Note that I feel a particular absence of guilt over Andy Warhol, one of the biggest appropriators of all time.)

However, interpretations of laws are always multiple, and it is awful to think that SOPA,  if drafted as broadly as everyone says, could be used not to just curtail my little elephants, but WordPress itself for letting me post them.

And here’s one of the rubs–even if government is not interested in shutting down my little elephants (or donkeys, for that matter), and I, perhaps naively, do not believe that it is–I can easily imagine a situation where access-providers could over-zealously apply the law to protect themselves. 

And, of course, government could also get into the act.

So, while I am not particularly interested in protecting the pirates–and I do think some thought needs to be given to protecting property rights– I’m very concerned about maintaining freedom for my little elephants and big elephants, and other people’s too.  SOPA seems to pose real risks.

P.S.  my elephants have no relationship to any political party or even to Babar.  (I just like elephants.)