Underpinnings of dead legislation still alive
As you’ve probably heard by now, SOPA, the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, has been taken off the table after people spoke out about Internet censorship and unruly government interference. However, people are buzzing about a, debatably, more harmful bill that has been underway the entire time, named ACTA, or the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.
Apparently the bill was fleshed out under private executive orders, meaning it was not available for public view, and only surfaced when sources close to the agreement leaked information onto the Internet.
ACTA is similar to SOPA in that it allows the shutting down of websites but, in certain ways, makes the process of censorship even simpler. One of the most controversial ideas proposed in ACTA is a nonmandatory universal internet identification system, where the user is issued an Internet ID that can be tracked and monitored.
Though the concept is horrifically invasive and reminiscent of some Orwell-type “big brother” situation, I can easily see why lobbyists would push so hard for a measure, as its effectiveness would likely be high.
An invasion of privacy is inevitable, as illegally downloading or purchasing counterfeit merchandise is virtually impossible to monitor otherwise. America has raised the penalty for pirating over and over again, but to no avail. Currently, the chances of being caught pirating material is so low and the consequences so impractical that the fear is not really there.
Rights to privacy make a naturally dense barrier between Internet pirates and authority. Besides, the majority of the blame is expected to rest on the distributor, rather than the arbitrary customer.
Estimates for financial losses resulting directly from pirating are varied and widely speculative. One study by the FBI in 2002 estimated a loss of nearly $200 billion annually due to piracy, but a 32-page report published in 2010 by the Government Accountability Office concluded that, while piracy is still bad, no one can really figure out how bad. Obviously, no one is dying to self-report the total dollar amount of merchandise he or she has pirated over the past year.
Though it’s cute to think that the people’s voice has saved us from the big, bad, anti-counterfeiting legislation, the harsh reality is that a handful of private investors own more capital than all of us teenagers, sitting at home watching illegally downloaded episodes of “How I Met Your Mother,” combined. Money pays the bills. Come on — you know that. Whether it’s called SOPA, PIPA, ACTA or some other tacky acronym, some bill in some form will bring the age of piracy to an end.
In an ideal world, we could just run a PSA featuring sad celebrities asking for money and looking all teary-eyed and everyone would feel really bad and stop stealing movies and music. But that commercial already exists, only with sad dogs and a Sarah McLachlan voice-over, and it still doesn’t work.
In the end, some form of this bill will pass, and, for practical purposes, the bill will be severely intrusive.
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