On The Eve of The SOPA Blackout.

On the eve of the US SOPA blackout campaign, maybe it’s worth reflecting on our own situation in NZ with respect to our equivalent legislation.

Most will recall the social media blackout campaign here well over a year ago, which initially caught the attention of politicians, and resulted in the bill being abruptly shelved, pending review. Then, a few months later, out of the blue, it was back on the books, this time under urgency.

Sneaked in shortly after Christchurch, New Zealand’s 2nd largest city, was destroyed by a massive earthquake, riding the coat tails of an urgent bill giving birth to the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, an organisation with pretty much the power to do anything and more or less unaccountable to anyone.

The Copyright Amendment Act was passed into law after the most disgusting display of wilful ignorance I’ve ever witnessed. A simply horrific display of total ineptness from most all of our elected representatives, a failure to grasp the concepts of which they are creating laws around. That night was surely a low point in this country’s parliamentry history.

So in my view, the SOPA blackout will change little. The bill will be passed more or less unchanged. Piracy will still occur. Media companies will keep trying to manage content in their old school, piracy incentivising ways. They will continue to make more money than they ever have, while still failing to truly maximise their profit. They’ll continue to piss off consumers by trying to dictate, when, where and how they should consume their content.

Cynical, I know, but these idiots will never get it.

Layton