The President’s challenge http://t.co/g4LQL9Ss was to the tech community to “solve” the “piracy problem” in the White House’s rejection of the current form of SOPA.
But it misses the point and Nat Torkington nailed it brilliantly. I’d post the whole thing but that would not be right. It’s short, go read it.
He brilliantly juxtaposes a story about a farmer who’s property is flooding and house being inundated and yet he rejects help from a neighbor in a truck before the waters rise, a boat when it’s above floor level, and a helicopter when he’s on the roof. In each case he rejects the help claiming he’s praying and “relying on God”.
Well, Bob drowns. He goes to Heaven and finally gets to meet God. “God, what was that about? I prayed and put my faith in you, and I drowned!”
God says, “I sent you a truck, a boat, and a helicopter! What the hell more did you want from me?”
And that is *exactly* the point. In speaking to the proponents of SOPA/PROTECT IP (MPAA/RIAA) he nails it so completely it should be published far and wide:
All I can think is: we gave you the Internet. We gave you the Web. We gave you MP3 and MP4. We gave you e-commerce, micropayments, PayPal, Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, the iPad, the iPhone, the laptop, 3G, wifi–hell, you can even get online while you’re on an AIRPLANE. What the hell more do you want from us?
Take the truck, the boat, the helicopter, that we’ve sent you. Don’t wait for the time machine, because we’re never going to invent something that returns you to 1965 when copying was hard and you could treat the customer’s convenience with contempt.
Don’t wait for the time machine. Business models *always* change and if you don’t adapt, you die. Sometimes you can use your influence and money to buy a few more years by buying a few votes in Congress while distributing completely inaccurate information (less politely called lies).
There’s not going to be a time machine. Any legislative bailout you get will only delay the inevitable: business models for entertainment funding and distribution have already changed, it’s just some people haven’t realized it yet.
And Nat, sorry I still managed to quote way more than I should of your article, but since I couldn’t say it better, what was I to do?