The SOPA Paradox

[Commentary] It has been two years since the defeat of the Stop Online Piracy Act or “SOPA.” The defeat of SOPA marked a bit of a watershed in American politics, as the legislation was stopped not by traditional means such as a Presidential veto or even a backroom hold by a senior legislator, but by a massive grassroots up-swell (complete with self-imposed blackouts of many popular web pages) who feared a purported government takeover of the Internet.

Putting aside for the moment that a good deal of the objections to SOPA were based on sophistry and outright dis-information (indeed, a close reading of the manager’s amendment would have revealed that SOPA contained multiple legal safeguards before any takedown could occur), the hard fact remains that on-line piracy continues to run rampant, and we still have very poor tools to deal with the problem. So as Congress undertakes its review of our nation’s copyright laws, it should keep the following in mind: First, theft of intellectual property reduces social well-being, even if we count the benefits to the thief and assume theft requires no resources. Second, Congress’s actions to mitigate theft, if effective, probably won’t be very popular.