Did you know that a majority of new laws passed on our books in this country get passed via the efforts of special interest groups and lobbyists? What does that mean? It means a small majority of people are making their voice heard in order to have their needs or demands met. In very many cases the majority would not sympathize with the views of these groups or want any of the subsequent laws or legislation past.

Realistically most of us have better and more important (like earning a living) things to do than examine every law or bill that gets passed. We only pay attention to the items which have “special interest” to ourselves and our lives. So let us look at this from the perspective of SOPA and PIPA.

Who has the special interest? Fortunately, almost anyone who uses the internet. Of course it probably starts with big film production companies and record producers. They are losing a lot of money ever since people figured out how to share music and movies. These are not the only people but it’s a good strait forward example. Almost everything can be pirated (sold or exchanged without paying royalties to the inventor or artist) over the internet.

The other end of the special interest are the people who use the internet and enjoy the privacy and freedom of viewing content without the fear of invasion and persecution. Copyright infringement can occur just about anywhere on the web (or elsewhere for that matter). Every web page would be shut down and we would all be tied up in some sort of litigation! Stupid!

As a country we should strive to get a handle on this thing in a manner that doesn’t punish the masses and benefit the few, as we have often done in the past. There is no simple solution to the online piracy problem and anyone who thinks there is, is simply out of touch with reality or merely concerned with amassing wealth.