I am not in favor of SOPA and PIPA. Yet, the online theft of intellectual property, including mine, has got to stop. I don't have the answer. Wish I did. I want the net to remain free, but right now it offers the unscrupulous a license to steal. From me and others.
Here is why I feel this way. 
Yesterday, I Tweeted, "SOPA? If you create stolen content you're for it. If you access stolen content you're not."
A little harsh, perhaps? You see, I published a book and I'll tell you from personal experience that it is being stolen every day. My intellectual property is being used to provide income for criminals, and there is nothing I can do about it. That book represents six months work, years or expertise, experience, and knowledge gained from writing for the Web and for print publications.
Further, I teach writing for the Web and social networking. I'm published in:
- the World Future Society
- The Society for Technical Communication
- Fate Magazine
- and other prestigious works.
And for all this effort I can only watch the fruits of my labor stolen because there is nothing that can be done. to give the devil his due, I do make content available totally free of charge and obligation, not even requiring an email address to download it. That will change later this year when I do begin requiring an email address to download my work.
Believe me, those of us who want the theft to stop love the net as much as anyone, but if you want the content to continue, the theft has got to stop.
Now lets scale up a bit, to the movie Avatar 
. (I did not "steal" the image of Avatar you see here, I linked to it.) Avatar claims to be the highest grossing movie of all time with 601.1 million dollars as of February 3, 2010. Can you imagine what a stolen 5, 10, or 30 percent means in lost revenue?
They can afford it you say? Very nice of you to decide who can afford what.
Theft is theft. Would you walk into Walmart, pile your cart high, and expect to be granted leave from the store without paying? Of course not. That's theft. That's illegal.
No one wants your digital rights reduced. People just like us, who create content only want to be be paid a reasonable fee for our work.
We heard a news item yesterday (Thursday, January 19, 2012) that said SOPA and PIPA pitted Silicon Valley against Hollywood. Interesting, I don't see Silicon Valley allowing their products and services to be stolen. What? Hollywood is not the bad guy here because they expect to get paid. how long would Silicon Valley stand still for having their products stolen and shipped the world over? Not long I expect.
You likely don't agree. Tell me why.
