
I'm being interviewed on Dianne Sawyer's show tonight. What should I mention? - jjcm
Myself and a friend run sopablackout.org, and we've been contacted by ABC to be interviewed. I'll likely have less than two minutes to mention what sopa is, why it's bad, and what we should be doing instead. What key points should I hit?<p>Right now I'm going to try to mention:<p>-MPAA/RIAA support of senators/reps<p>-SOPA/PIPA not actually stopping piracy<p>-Loss of jobs/business/startups due to bill<p>-How promoters of the bill have said that if china can do it, we can too.<p>Other thoughts?
======
sounds
You may want to read the comments on
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3467550> where Alexis Ohanion went on NBC
to debate SOPA.

~~~
pasbesoin
Well! Reading the summary comment by inmygarage, that's kind of heartening.
I'll view the segment later today for a full impression. Thanks for pointing
this out!

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pasbesoin
The action was "bottom-up", not top down. Pressure came from users, not
(solely, principally?) from sites' management. This has been totally mis-
represented in the "mainstream media".

Here's a comment I submitted to some friends after seeing and hearing some of
the "mainstream" broadcast press coverage, last night:

 _Caught some of the "mainstream media" reporting on the SOPA/PIPA blackout
(including public radio and TV). Universally terrible. Minimally reported,
with most of the language making it sound as if the sites are supporting
piracy. They aren't defending piracy; they're opposing horribly formulated
legislation that lends itself to abuse and censorship, places enormous legal
and management burdens on them, and undermines the technical infrastructure
and attendant security of the Internet._

 _(And, to boot, cogent analysis makes good arguments that the legislation
won't even accomplish what it ostensibly sets out to do.)_

Finally, I'd say that the "tech community" has been seeking dialog and
participation. They've found a cold-shoulder. In the face of this -- being
ignored and disrespected -- escalation to the "blackout" protest became their
one avenue to attempting to gain a seat at the table.

Also, if there's any investigative journalism left at ABC and the like, they
should spend some time really looking into the financial claims and mis-
representations that have been made.

Tim O'Reilly is owner/CEO of a major publishing house that has a different
perspective. He's eloquent and quite tied into the "progressive" technical
community. They should talk to him (if they can reach a format he's
comfortable with, e.g. not editing his words into a mis-representation --
that's my take on what the mainstream media often do, these days).

------
rst
"Policing" requirements on links that are unsustainable for small businesses.
Something that might have hit home on an NPR interview I heard earlier today:
how many people do you have to police your own blog comment section? The usual
response from shills is to say that the bill doesn't target those sites. But
the point is that it's so poorly drafted that it's likely to sweep them in
anyway, by abuse of process.

Speaking of which: Prior abuse of DMCA process against sites like veoh, which
got painted as pirates, and subjected to legal or government action, when they
weren't. Including at least one fraudulent takedown which was used to censor a
news story about a prior fraudulent takedown:
[http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/14/2636680/universal-has-
tec...](http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/14/2636680/universal-has-tech-news-
today-episode-yanked-from-youtube-for)

------
jjcm
Just got word that the segment was canceled. Sad days :(

~~~
pasbesoin
I'm already fairly cynical. Nonetheless, I've been shocked at what I can only
interpret as outright repression and slanting of the story particularly on
U.S. broadcast media ( _including_ public radio and television).

When BBC America came on to that same PBS TV station late last night, it was
like a breath of fresh air when they rain a several minute and at least
somewhat balanced report on the blackout day.

For me, personally, this is pretty much the "stick a fork in it, it's done"
moment for U.S. mainstream broadcast media concerns. Domestic press isn't
altogether there, yet -- though that's in part a matter of relatively greater
diversity ("relatively", I said).

I'll "watch the news" for the weather and the occasional breaking local story.
For the rest, I'll get my information elsewhere.

Not that the TV shows had much substance anymore, anyway, but yesterday
reinforced for me just how wholly owned they've become.

Public television and public radio's performances were particularly troubling,
though. I've been worried about the trend I've observed with them;
nonetheless, I'd hoped for better.

------
nextparadigms
Watch Salman Khan's video. It can probably give you a few good ideas. And also
this Clay Shirky one:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h2dF-IsH0I>

~~~
jjcm
Watched, took notes. Gracias.

------
mark-r
I think ultimately the worst thing will be the unintended consequences, but
those are hard to predict before they happen - and don't fit conveniently into
a sound bite.

