Well this has been a wild week for legislative policy making! It was just a month ago that I thought SOPA and PIPA would eventually become law. But in just a few weeks, they were quickly defeated by tech companies and angry internet users that quickly learned about the bills and rallied to defeat them. Not sure what comes next in this whole battle, but here are my thoughts on this subject.
1. The internet has become the new Social Security. It has it’s own broad-based constituency and much like Social Security, people will become politically active if they believe politicians will try to get rid of it.
2. Most people in Congress still don’t get the internet, and I’m not going to be a partisan because the Democrats were arguably worse on this issue than the Republicans. Honestly, I still think most people in the political establishment still see the internet as just another mechanism for raising money. They still don’t realize that the internet has become an incredible tool for grassroots activism despite the success of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall street.
3. This is pretty much the end of the content industry (including Hollywood). The internet has nearly destroyed their tried and true business models for content, and they still haven’t figure out a way to adjust to this new digital environment. The political system was the last tool they had to stop or delayed the internet’s growing power. But if they can’t even rely on the politicians to save them, then they’re really screwed in the long run.
Note: Check out my personal blog at http://2moneythoughts.wordpress.com/