Is anyone else looking at this whole thing through a warped looking-glass wondering how long they've been sleeping?
Having read some articles analysing PIPA and SOPA, they are so comedically draconian I can't believe people are taking this so seriously! I'm really cynical about this kind of thing and to me a looks like a setup to make Google, Facebook, Twitter et al look like the heroes of the free world again. The US State Department has been doing this for months (years?) now, most notably with the "Arab Spring" which was nothing more than a thinly veiled ad campaign to get as many people to sign up to Facebook as possible because, you know, Facebook servers are in the US *cough*policingprotestsfromadeskwithdonutscoffeeandalaptop*cough*.
Actually, following the events of last year, I read some article where political analysts were worried that the State Department had over-politicised social media thus running the risk of undermining their own policy in that area. The current situation seems like the perfect antidote to that - stage a mock struggle for internet freedom in congress, have the internet win and credibility is restored. There are so many positive repercussions that would stem from this scenario, not least increased awareness of "political freedom of the West" in countries like China and Iran that are firmly in the crosshairs of the US.
I will be quite red in the face if the bill passes.
edit - I thought I'd try to back this up with evidence, and miraculously found the article from an old Foreign Policy magazine (don't worry, B12, I cancelled my subscription) ...
here it is. The key sentence I was thinking of is, "
By aligning themselves with Internet companies and organizations, Clinton's digital diplomats have convinced their enemies abroad that Internet freedom is another Trojan horse for American imperialism."
This whole thing is, for me, interesting on another level, because here we have two of America's biggest "soft powers", Hollywood and the internet, ostensibly fighting it out. Whichever way it goes, the result will be telling of where US foreign policy lies.