

Ask HN: Non Americans: Do you care about SOPA? - chunkyslink

I understand that the people of the USA are having to fight this crazy battle with their tech-stupid, bribe taking government but what impact would this have on the rest of us?<p>So if SOPA passes in its current form and they start banning sites in the USA - what is to stop the rest of the world from just setting up their own new versions of websites? - free of this North Korea style censorship.<p>Is it the case that people in the rest of the world could really profit from this terrible (law) idea ?<p>Dare I say it - <i>should we even support it?</i> For non US entrepreneurs this law is potentially great news<p>Is it the case that other countries will just follow ? I really cant see a lot of European countries doing anything like this anytime soon but perhaps I'm wrong ?<p>Thoughts?
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dirkdeman
While the threat is not so severe for us Europeans, I do fear that if the bill
flies it will impact the internet as an entity. It will not just affect
Americans, it will affect the world. I'm also baffled by the complete silence
in our media about SOPA. 99,9% here is blissfully unaware of the beast...

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hugo31370
From a Portuguese citizen living in the Bay Area. The idea that SOPA can
benefit European countries is laughable to say the least.

Everyone benefits from freedom and openness. When I started my first company
in Portugal, companies like Geocities, Yahoo and Download.com enabled my
startup. Today Google, AWS and Facebook enable startups all over the world.

If you think that thwarting innovation in the US can benefit some other
country, you're not seeing the big picture. It's not about moving servers or
people, it's about destroying the most prolific tech ecosystem in the world.

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chunkyslink
I understand what you are saying and I am not trying to thwart anything. The
Americans are about to thwart themselves.

My question was based around the idea that by removing themselves from being
the (and I quote you)

> most prolific tech ecosystem in the world.

\- if there is anything to gain from being somewhere else in the world. I dont
actually live in a European country (not sure where you got that from) and I
see SOPA as potentially a way to profit and get ahead, providing replacement
services to countries cut of by the 'shoot yourself in the face' mentality
that the USA currently has.

By the way, I don't think this is good. But I'm an entrepreneur and we thrive
on opportunity and this is a place to discuss these things no ?

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puzz
"For non US entrepreneurs this law is potentially great news"

That would be true if other countries wouldn't use USA as a role model. The
way it is now, I think this is a big problem for the world...

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chunkyslink
In what way? Can you be more specific with examples ?

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damncabbage
Australia got its own version of the DMCA, thanks to the lovely Free Trade
Agreement we have with the USA.

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serge2k
It disgusts me.

I wish it was practical and possible to just dump the US from the internet
along with other countries that oppress their citizens freedom online.

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nerdfiles
All I have to say is "lol". I'm sorry. But it's great that you just made me
think of an Internet Zerg rush.

I'm an American, of course.

Dammit...

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chunkyslink
Being an successful entrepreneur is not always about having the best idea
first.

Its about the implementation. You guys seem keen to make it hard for
yourselves so we might as well do some implementing :)

We have pretty big markets over here too you know.

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nerdfiles
In a way, it'd be like the Tower of Babel.

I'm sure if DNS in its current form were to fragment like so, English
certainly would have to take a couple of steps down from the throne.

I guess the throne would have to take a step down from the altar, too.

And the altar a step down from the turtle shell.

