Anti-SOPA and anti-IP post by Chris Besescheck at Every Day Liberty:

Yesterday was national block SOPA day. Websites all across the Internet “blocked” out their pages in order to protest. Of course we took down everydayliberty.com in order to protest the idea of someone controlling and regulating something that is not tangible. For those of you who are unaware SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act (House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261) that was before congress today. The bill aimed at further regulations over copyright and counterfeit goods over the Internet. Introduced in October, the SOPA bill would be detrimental to society and knowledge as a whole. In order to examine SOPA let’s break down a few points.

Let us first examine Intellectual Property otherwise known as IP.  IP is considered to be any creation of the mind that is then protected by law i.e., copyrights. As one can conclude this is illogical and not possible. Simply put, one cannot own something that is not tangible; therefore one cannot own ideas, words, songs, or the Internet. In other words, you cannot claim ownership to something that is not physical and tangible. To make a claim to something that does not exist is not logical since ownership implies that something can be owned, and in order to be owned one must be able to physically posses it. One may own a book, but not the words; one may own a CD but not the music on it. Even the one whom creates the music cannot own the music, just the tangible CD’s until he sells them, that physical property (CD) is transferred to the person who exchanges money for it. Whatever this person does with this CD is totally up to them since they now own the physical good. The same goes for books, magazines, newspapers, and the Internet. Therefore one cannot legislate law on property they cannot touch or hold. One cannot claim to own air since it is not tangible, and the idea of someone owning and being able to patent, or copyright, the air is ridiculous and silly. Yet it is the same logic and principle as IP laws and regulation on goods not of this physical world.

Now, let’s take a look at counterfeit goods. What is a counterfeit good? Is it a copy of something that exists? Is it a stolen logo placed on a different product? No. Counterfeit goods are simply goods that are produced to look like other goods at a cheaper cost for the consumer. Goods are “protected” by patents, which much like copyright laws make it illegal, or regulate the ability of one to mimic a good. Again, one cannot own a logo or design just simply the physical good. For example, if a man invents a tool that can be used to fix anything, yet he patents it and makes it so no one else can use it, it would cause great disparity. If we can fix anything but one man’s design is protected by a forceful agency, the State, no one else can use or improve his design to its fullest ability since no one else has the ability to create the sane tool since one man has the “legal” rights to the design of the tool and the only copy in existence. The physical good, in this case the too, is his and he has the right to do with it as he will. However, if someone creates the same tool, that man has no right to it, only his own.If one can make the tool cheaper and improved, which is the tendency of innovation, the more every individual would prosper.

Both of these issues irritate governments and their corporate cronies alike, but why? The answer to this is simple. In a free market there is no regulation; that is no government regulation. The market is self-regulating, that is that the capitalist is constantly trying to bring a product to the consumer for the best and cheapest possible means. In order to achieve this the entrepreneur will go through ideas of where he can fit into the market and what he has to offer. In order to get ideas he simply copies, or elaborates, an idea already in place but does it better and cheaper. This means that over time goods would be brought to market using the best possible allocation of resources at a low price with the best possible quality based on market demand.

So, where does this get all blurry? This seems to be logical, and it is. It is vital to society that the individual is able to copy, create, improve, and elaborate on ideas, inventions, products, goods, etc. This is not the same as the theft of a tangible good as nothing was actually physically stolen, just a word or a logo. What if you received a bill every time you sang a lyric to a song, or said a word from the dictionary; it’s preposterous.  Being able to do the above is the heart of competition and innovation; the capitalist competes for resources to bring the most demanded products to the consumer at the most affordable price while allocating resources in the best way based on market demand based on the wants and needs of individuals. In order to appeal to the consumer greater, one must bring the best, cheapest, and most appealing product to the consumer, this is what drives competition and therefore leads to massive innovation, innovation that can only come from the ability to elaborate and improve goods and ideas to bring to the consumer.  Through innovation society greatly benefits in every aspect of life since new products are commonly developed from the modification of others.

However, a free market and capitalism cannot exist in the realm where government does. The state is inherently anti-capitalist since it could only exist on regulating the liberty of the market and the individual. How? In this regard it is through IP laws. IP laws are laws that are legislated by the State in favor of protecting Intellectual Property. This is bad because large corporations lobby the State to enact legislation such as patent laws. These laws then make it illegal for any form of competition in that specific market. Therefore if Company A is a large corporation protected by their government buddies, then they can obtain patents to keep company B from developing something that they may have the means to already do. This causes a serious issue with the development of everything from technology to medical cures. Innovation is dramatically reduced; and therefore so is every other economic factor that is important to the liberty and prosperity of the individual.

In conclusion, SOPA is nothing more than a large IP law that regulates something that doesn’t physically exist. Why? Sure, to shovel more money to their corporate buddies; however, more importantly it cuts off the communication one has to the world as well as the vast amount of information that can and is detrimental to the State; in other words, censorship. The Internet is a vast array of connections, where one can talk to any one in the world and research anything they wish to research. This means that the States status quo is constantly challenged by a more prevalent truth. Much like the enlightenment that scared the Church, the technological age scares the State. It allows us to uncover the truth; as well as find out that others, who we were told were much different and inferior to us, aren’t that different regardless of borders, gods, race, creed etc. Thanks to the ability of the Internet to connect with anyone in the world at any given time. The State will do everything to keep its bondage over humanity, and cutting off the Internet is like cutting off the printing press of this generation. Help stop SOPA and protect liberty, truth, and the future of humanity.