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Besides the fact that this article looks like a troll's comment on a forum, his assumptions are simply wrong. Those who want to target their local or foreign ma

by zalew 15y ago

Besides the fact that this article looks like a troll's comment on a forum, his assumptions are simply wrong. Those who want to target their local or foreign markets except US, do it anyway. The problem of SOPA is not that you're website is excluded from US upfront and you count that in your business plan, it's the fact that you never know if your multi-million users base haven't disappeared when you were on your way home. > Over here in Europe, we’ll be happily file sharing till the cows come home, allowing all you Yanks hungry for pirated to content to download or stream all the latest movies via other means you’ll be forced to dream up to get around your dumb lawmakers. Yeah, and we have pink unicorns puking rainbows. For a guy who lives in the UK and writes about piracy, he's totally clueless about the latest news on piracy in the UK or Europe in general. Little hints: UK: A judge has ruled that Richard O'Dwyer, the 23-year-old creator of sharing site TVShack, can be extradited to the United States. There he would be tried for copyright infringement and could face a five to ten year jail term in America. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087135/Richard-ODwyer-US-extradition-pact-misused-says-Sir-Menzies-Campbell.html?ito=feeds-newsxml http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087135/Richard-ODwy... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-16544335 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-1654433... http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/16/tvshack-guy-can-be-extradited http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/16/tvshack-guy-c... Finland: Customers of the Elisa and Saunalahti internet service providers can no longer use those internet connections to visit The Pirate Bay website. Helsinki District Court ordered the ISPs to block the Pirate Bay last October, but the block went into effect on Monday. http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2012/01/pirate_bay_block_comes_into_force_in_finland_3160454.html http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2012/01/pirate_bay_block_comes_in... http://news.yahoo.com/anonymous-targets-finland-over-anti-piracy-efforts-152334252.html http://news.yahoo.com/anonymous-targets-finland-over-anti-pi... Spain: Spain's Sinde law echoes SOPA, takes pirate sites offline after commission review http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/4/2681818/spain-approves-sinde-law-anti-piracy http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/4/2681818/spain-approves-sind...

m0nty 15y ago
The Google SOPA protest as channeled via an [sic] satirical alternative reality
- zalew 15y ago
  So Techcrunch is a humor website now? He should have said upfront that it is funny, I would know I have to laugh. Seriously, I don't assume they all lost their minds there and I know it's supposed to be somehow a satire, but it's dull as a fart joke. Another example how Techcrunch's quality went down the drain.
fab1an 15y ago
It is true that the UK would be the last country in Europe to "benefit" from SOPA/PIPA, given its current legislation and its general preference to rather not alienate the US. On the other hand, there might be some significant opportunities for countries like Sweden or even Germany, particularly if the German Pirate Party (that originated in Sweden) should make it into the Bundestag/Parliament in 2013, which is entirely possible. I do not know nearly enough about the deep technical and worldwide ramifications of SOPA/PIPA, but I can see how a bold legislative re-branding of said countries might make them a very attractive place to build consumer-facing web companies. Consider how Berlin has become a mecca for artists: it's not because it's cheap (it is, but there are plenty of cheaper big cities in the world), but because it's by far the most liberal large city in the west right now. ('Socially Liberal', that is.) If SOPA/PIPA or future versions of those should actually pass, places such as Berlin could "brand" themselves as the world's last safe havens for b2c web startups (excluding eCommerce, which would probably benefit of SOPA). Ironically, this might just be the best argument to convince American die-hard SOPA-advocates that their plans are nuts: imagine a future where "socialist" countries like Sweden host the next Googles and Reddits.

by zalew 15y ago

m0nty 15y ago

The Google SOPA protest as channeled via an [sic] satirical alternative reality

zalew 15y ago
So Techcrunch is a humor website now? He should have said upfront that it is funny, I would know I have to laugh. Seriously, I don't assume they all lost their minds there and I know it's supposed to be somehow a satire, but it's dull as a fart joke. Another example how Techcrunch's quality went down the drain.

fab1an 15y ago

It is true that the UK would be the last country in Europe to "benefit" from SOPA/PIPA, given its current legislation and its general preference to rather not alienate the US. On the other hand, there might be some significant opportunities for countries like Sweden or even Germany, particularly if the German Pirate Party (that originated in Sweden) should make it into the Bundestag/Parliament in 2013, which is entirely possible. I do not know nearly enough about the deep technical and worldwide ramifications of SOPA/PIPA, but I can see how a bold legislative re-branding of said countries might make them a very attractive place to build consumer-facing web companies. Consider how Berlin has become a mecca for artists: it's not because it's cheap (it is, but there are plenty of cheaper big cities in the world), but because it's by far the most liberal large city in the west right now. ('Socially Liberal', that is.) If SOPA/PIPA or future versions of those should actually pass, places such as Berlin could "brand" themselves as the world's last safe havens for b2c web startups (excluding eCommerce, which would probably benefit of SOPA). Ironically, this might just be the best argument to convince American die-hard SOPA-advocates that their plans are nuts: imagine a future where "socialist" countries like Sweden host the next Googles and Reddits.