WASHINGTON — Caving to a massive campaign by Internet services and their millions of users, Congress indefinitely postponed legislation Friday to stop online piracy of movies and music costing U.S. companies billions of dollars every year. Critics said the bills would result in censorship and stifle Internet innovation.
The demise, at least for the time being, of the anti-piracy bills was a clear victory for Silicon Valley over Hollywood, which has campaigned for a tougher response to online piracy. The legislation also would cover the counterfeiting of drugs and car parts.
Congress' qualms underscored how Internet users can use their collective might to block those who want to change the system.
This, to me, is the most interesting situation since the days when the leader of Panama, Manuel Noriega, was dragged out of his bed and thrown in a Florida prison for trafficking drugs.
While this is all very amusing, you have to wonder who at Megaupload wasn't playing the game right since there are overt music and video trading sites scattered around the globe. Worse yet, what about the facilities that actually manufacture DVDs and make them available throughout Asia for $2 a disc? You can walk into stores and buy the discs. Where is the abatement of this problem? It has to be worse than the inconvenience of downloading moves so you can watch them on the laptop. Yes? No?
More importantly, once in a while the average user will need to upload and download massive and legal files, but any system that can transfer files larger than 600MB, I assume, will be scrutinized. This means that the Justice Department will target Dropbox and other handy utilities.
In the meantime, everyone should look at personal alternatives to file transfer. Start by learning about FTP.
Whatever the case, the situation with the folks from Megaupload will inspire some sort of a farcical movie. All the characters were living a high life on a reported advertising and subscription income of $175 million, so apparently, Ferraris, Rolls-Royces, and hookers were abundant. I'll probably wait to watch this movie on HBO.
The demise, at least for the time being, of the anti-piracy bills was a clear victory for Silicon Valley over Hollywood, which has campaigned for a tougher response to online piracy. The legislation also would cover the counterfeiting of drugs and car parts.
Congress' qualms underscored how Internet users can use their collective might to block those who want to change the system.
This, to me, is the most interesting situation since the days when the leader of Panama, Manuel Noriega, was dragged out of his bed and thrown in a Florida prison for trafficking drugs.
While this is all very amusing, you have to wonder who at Megaupload wasn't playing the game right since there are overt music and video trading sites scattered around the globe. Worse yet, what about the facilities that actually manufacture DVDs and make them available throughout Asia for $2 a disc? You can walk into stores and buy the discs. Where is the abatement of this problem? It has to be worse than the inconvenience of downloading moves so you can watch them on the laptop. Yes? No?
More importantly, once in a while the average user will need to upload and download massive and legal files, but any system that can transfer files larger than 600MB, I assume, will be scrutinized. This means that the Justice Department will target Dropbox and other handy utilities.
In the meantime, everyone should look at personal alternatives to file transfer. Start by learning about FTP.
Whatever the case, the situation with the folks from Megaupload will inspire some sort of a farcical movie. All the characters were living a high life on a reported advertising and subscription income of $175 million, so apparently, Ferraris, Rolls-Royces, and hookers were abundant. I'll probably wait to watch this movie on HBO.
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