3 ms·

About a quarter of the way in, I realized exactly where this was going. I wrote a similar post under the more obvious title, "SOPA for Non-Techies" [1]. This is

About a quarter of the way in, I realized exactly where this was going. I wrote a similar post under the more obvious title, "SOPA for Non-Techies" [1]. This is an excellent narrative, whereas mine is in the format of a collection of two short essays. Without context for this post though, it seems only the tech community would understand the parallels being drawn (even I feel I may be overreaching in my assumptions as to his actual purpose). The problem is, we're generally not the ones who need convincing. Definitely a great article, though. [1] http://jangosteve.com/post/16074674406/sopa-for-non-techies http://jangosteve.com/post/16074674406/sopa-for-non-techies

drostie 15y ago
Well, it's kind of hard. What they're not telling you is that the police actually called the highway squad to close off the road to your building with the sign "Closed due to illegal activity." They also don't tell you that it's technically legal and cheap to get the same highway squad to build a new road to the same place, and that it only takes a day or so of waiting time -- though you cannot be sure that the same highway squad won't close it down again, and so you pay some extra to some out-of-towner with a private lot between you and the highway, to build their own exit to your place. Nuances like that are pretty specific to the cases that we're dealing with here. Also there is the problem that it's totally a mistake and is silently reversed some days later -- yet nobody compensates you for the lost business or even apologizes for the horrible stain on your reputation. People instead blame you for choosing to open the mall on the west side of the town, which is more popular for businesses but the highway department on that side is well-known for handling these sorts of requests in a generally poor fashion, caving in under a minimum of pressure and not keeping you in the loop, and so forth.

drostie 15y ago

Well, it's kind of hard. What they're not telling you is that the police actually called the highway squad to close off the road to your building with the sign "Closed due to illegal activity." They also don't tell you that it's technically legal and cheap to get the same highway squad to build a new road to the same place, and that it only takes a day or so of waiting time -- though you cannot be sure that the same highway squad won't close it down again, and so you pay some extra to some out-of-towner with a private lot between you and the highway, to build their own exit to your place. Nuances like that are pretty specific to the cases that we're dealing with here. Also there is the problem that it's totally a mistake and is silently reversed some days later -- yet nobody compensates you for the lost business or even apologizes for the horrible stain on your reputation. People instead blame you for choosing to open the mall on the west side of the town, which is more popular for businesses but the highway department on that side is well-known for handling these sorts of requests in a generally poor fashion, caving in under a minimum of pressure and not keeping you in the loop, and so forth.