Congress drops the SOPA

If you went to look up an answer for Trivia night yesterday on Wikipedia, you were sorely disappointed to encounter the screenshot to the left here. What you found yourself upon was a full-on blackout by Wikipedia’s US homepage, the first in the company’s history. For 24 hours, you were unable to access any information from the site, merely an explanation as to why they were shutdown. Why were they shutdown? Wikipedia, Reddit, Boing Boing, and many other internet sites banded together to protest Congress’ efforts to pass two internet-related pieces of Legislation, SOPA and PIPA. For those looking to understand what the fuss was about, I’ll direct you to this article from the HBR’s Tech Blog from the fall (the names used in the article are from before the legislation was renamed to SOPA and PIPA).

Essentially, the legislation’s overall aim was to attack online piracy and copyright infringement by providing for amped up punishment and confinement tactics against sites alleged to be using protected materials.  The key here, however, is the word alleged, and this is where the majority of the controversy derives from. Currently, one company can accuse another of infringement, and they can duke it out in the courts. Under this legislation, however, financial service companies would be forced to freeze any and all payments to companies accused of such infringement. This more recent article from HBR contributor James Allworth describes the battle on this legislation as essentially a battle of “Innovators v. Goliath”. Entrenched, older media companies would have all the incentive in the world to accuse potential up-start rivals of piracy, thus choking off their revenue streams.

As of this morning, it appears that the efforts of these companies has potentially paid off, as several co-sponsors of the bills have withdrawn their support. This does not mean that the legislation is dead, and you can be sure that those large companies and their lobbyists who originally wrote supported the bills will not let them die without a fight.

Personally, I feel that while the arguments pitched by these companies is slightly exaggerated (the same arguments were made when the original internet anti-piracy legislation was written in the ’90s, yet the internet has surely endured), I am glad to see this legislation halted for now. Why? Because, as Jon Stewart so amazingly pointed out last night in his telecast, this legislation was just one more example of Congress attempting to pass laws that they didn’t really understand! Congress has become so dependent on lobbying houses to bring them already crafted legislation to simply slap their names upon, that Congressmen and women are no longer required to actually understand every detail of what they’re doing. As we get into real areas of science and technology, it becomes even worse. Congress can debate their beliefs on climate change without ever having read an actual scientific study or paper. They will attempt to pass laws effecting the flow of commerce and development in the internet era without understanding what an IP address is. Congress’ motto should become “Don’t explain it to us; just let us make it law!”

Betty White – The Symbol of our love of Television

Monday night, there was a GOP debate held in the great state of South Carolina. As many of you know, I pretty much can not turn away when one of those is on the air. However, this particular Monday night, I found another distraction: The Betty White 90th Birthday Celebration on NBC. Once I saw that this was going to be on, my DVR alerts were set! However, as I started watching it with Hol, I wondered to myself, “Why do I love her so much?” I mean, honestly, why do we as America love Betty White so much? Especially my generation, who are slightly too old to have really been Golden Girls fans, her last sitcom. We watched it as kids, but you don’t see the same generational attachment to Rue McClanahan. Yes, White has done several guest roles in movies over the last decade.

However, as I watched the special unfold, a theory came to me. You see, Betty White’s first television role was in “Life with Elizabeth” in 1953, a competitor with “I Love Lucy”, which premiered in 1951. White has been on our television sets essentially since the birth of television, rarely leaving it for to long. As her sitcoms left the air, she remained a presence through guest spots and appearances on different game shows. Because of this, we as a society feel like we aren’t just familiar with Betty, we feel like we know Betty. We love her charm, her humor, the graceful way that she has embraced her age and not gone the route of plastic surgery that so many other older actresses follow. She is our societal grandmother, and we all wish we could just hang out with her (those gentleman that go further and say they find her “sexy” and that they would “totally bang Betty White” . . . I can’t say what really drives those comments). Betty White, I’m a fan. Thank you for being my third grandmother.

Thoughts at the closing bell:

• I was working on the top ten accounts in my pipeline yesterday, and followed it up with an on-campus meeting here with a local university. With all the other activity I’ve also seen here in January, I gotta say – I’m pretty freaking stoked for 2012.
• The Tiger’s season hasn’t even seen pitchers or catchers report yet, and already our chances at a repeat of the AL Central Crown have taken a huge hit. This also has a very severe impact on my fantasy baseball team, the Martian Rockstars. Sigh.
• “Justified” had its season 3 premiere Tuesday night. Seriously, if you haven’t given this show a chance yet, you’re probably just a communist and I hate you. Ok, that was very extreme, I apologize.Seriously, though, check it out if you have FX and like westerns, rednecks, and/or crime dramas.
• Hol and I went to our second baby class last night. I’m pretty confident I could administer the epidural if needed. Also, here is the baby’s new crib. She will now sleep better than us.
• Speaking of television, “Mad Men” season 5 promo posters have been released. I want. Now. Gimme. (UPDATE: I sent a link to these posters yesterday on Twitter. At the time, I did not realize that they were not officially from AMC, but were self-initiated by a South African design firm, Radio. Apparently, the official AMC promo poster is garnering a lot more controversy).

That’s all for now, kids. One love to you all.

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