The SOPA/PIPA debacle revealed a few interesting things. 1. The public can be roused to fight bills like this... at least once. What about the next ten times

The SOPA/PIPA debacle revealed a few interesting things. 1. The public can be roused to fight bills like this... at least once. What about the next ten times these bills, or parts of them, are reintroduced under different names or tacked onto other bills? Sherman is probably right when he says that lobbyists will win in the long term. 2. Hollywood's economic importance is literally dwarfed by that of internet companies like Google. Even ignoring the rights of citizens, the mere cost of implementing SOPA/PIPA would cause far more harm to the U.S. economy than it could possibly prevent. SOPA/PIPA was like shooting your horse in the head in order to thwart horse-thiefs you only think you saw. 3. Why does Hollywood get preferential treatment? A long history of lobbying. When Hollywood was threatened with federal content regulation laws in the 20's they responded by adopting a self-imposed production code (half-heartedly at first) and also by lobbying. Although the code is long dead, Hollywood has never slackened their lobbying efforts. 4. Hollywood has been getting a free ride. While Hollywood was once happy just to avoid falling under federal regulation, now they seek (and have gained) regulatory capture. Copyright life seems to be forever tied to the age of Mickey Mouse. Laws like DMCA have forced taxpayers to pay for protection of Hollywood content. Tax laws are written so that wildly successful movies that earn far more than they cost can be losses on paper, while the profits are siphoned off through tax loopholes without a penny going to the government except as campaign donations. If Apple was run by Hollywood, they'd be reporting a loss every quarter and laughing all the way to the Cayman islands. The big conclusion: Net companies are bigger than Hollywood and have a lot more capital to spend lobbying. SOPA/PIPA was a declaration of war by Hollywood on internet companies. The MPAA tried to have legislature passed that would shore up their own interests at the expense of Google, Yahoo, etc. while doing more harm to the U.S. economy than good. Even if the grass roots movement that stopped PIPA/SOPA was a one time thing, it likely will not be necessary the next time. Big Net money is rolling into Washington as we speak.