Originally Posted by bronco67

On theflip side of that argument, this guy's post from another site makes a pretty decent point, concerning the true possible interests of companies who are anti_SOPA.

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Disclaimer - I work for NBCUniversal. While I have a mind and opinions of my own, I realize that it is highly relevant to note my employer given the topic. Take it for what its worth.

Appreciate you synthesizing the facts here. I agree that its very important for people to understand SOPA.

Using your Family Guy scenario as an example, YouTube really has no incentive to do anything more than take down videos that violate copyright on a one-off, per request basis as mandated by DMCA.

This puts the burden on copyright holders/content creators (in this case Fox) to scour YouTube's platform for videos posted without their authorization, while Youtube continues to financially benefit (via advertising) from content who's creation they have not supported in any meaningful/financial way.

While I agree SOPA, as currently written, will not be an effective solution, I am curious at what you think can be done to improve upon DMCA and better protect intellectual property?

Again, while I don't agree with the SOPA, many of companies railing against it have a financial stake in the free distribution of other people?s intellectual property continuing unabated. Therefore, its hard to see them solely as the noble protectors of free speech. They say that SOPA will 'break the internet' but it?s also true that they stand to make billions of dollars from the Internet staying just the way it is.

Let's not be too quick to tout these technology companies as saviors. While I happen to agree with them in principal, we can't forget that they represent a wealthy special interest (with, as you put it, huge pockets). I realize that's not a popular position to take, but that doesn't make it not true.