Amanda Peyton on Pipa

And let’s not forget SOPA’s Senatorial brother, PIPA. Says Amanda Peyton:

It was my impression that PIPA was mostly written by well-funded lobbyists and that there aren’t that many Joe Six-Packs who truly support it. But surely they must be out there!

Amanda’s entire post is distressing and worth reading, but I’d like to address this one point.

They’re not “Joe Six-Packs,” but I do have a number of friends in the music industry. They feed their families with the music they write. I think it’s safe to say that they are all in favor of SOPA and PIPA.

My music friends believe (as I do) that there is a problem with piracy that needs to be solved. Where we appear to differ, however, is in believing that even an imperfect bill is preferable to no bill. Here I simply cannot agree. The SOPA and PIPA aren’t imperfect; they’re dangerous. Further, it’s unclear that any legislation will truly “fix” piracy; certainly the DMCA didn’t. Try as I might to convince them otherwise, I think my friends are fairly stuck in thinking that “something needs to be done.” From the congressional perspective, if you couple the mentality of “something needs to be done” with “lobbyists are lining my pockets,” it’s easy to see why these bills are likely to pass.