Actually they (Republicans) love the government, specifically because it pays them money to pass corporate protectionism bills. Remember, when Republicans take over and lock out the Democrats, then:
~ They no longer need Republican votes, so officials no longer have to serve their constituents
~ The Executive no longer needs Congress, so their money train is in jeopardy.
~ The businesses no longer need lobbyists, so their money train is in jeopardy.
(Considering the level of incompetence we’ve seen in the federal government lately, it’s possible that our congresscritters haven’t fully thought this through.)
We’re in the AI age now, which has shown us IP laws mean nothing when an entire major industry wants to violate them. This has always been true, as the studios and record labels pirated all the time, but it wasn’t as open and in the sunlight as it is with AI development. And Big AI is currently propping up the entire stock market.
It turns out IP laws never meant anything anyway. Copyrights and patents were justified as temporary monopolies to promote science and the useful arts, specifically to produce a robust public domain.
Except it does neither. Artists and scientists are rarely the copyright holders, and to get to own their own stuff, they need to be hot property (still making content) and have good lawyers. Also, the temporary monopolies have become permanent in practice. (much thanks to Walt Disney.) SCOTUS has not only refused to see the public as a stakeholder, but has taken things out of the public domain, so it has to be licensed again, in defiance of the Constitution of the United States.
So now IP law is only a rent-seeking racket. Especially now since you need subscriptions to use your appliances.
But as Sony has made clear for us in 2026, if purchasing isn’t owning, then piracy isn’t a copyright violation.
This bill is a technology solution and has technology countermeasures. They can order ISPs DNSes and VPNs to block piracy sites, but those sites change all the time, and can do so faster than it takes to update the registries. Furthermore, when services don’t follow through, they will get more usage (and will make more money) so there’s a perverse incentive to slow walk the updates, and not talk to whoever makes the lists.
We learned this a long time ago when the biggest selling point of ISPs was free porn and free movies.
Like encryption with backdoors for law enforcement, there’s no way to nerd harder to make it work.
It also depends on foreign service offerings cooperating with US law. Unless we build the Great Firewall of the US (which, I’m sure, is on the table), US offerings will be obligated to follow the law while foreign ones do not, which will run against the interests of local businesses.
For people who hate the government, they sure like using it to oppress everyone else.
Actually they (Republicans) love the government, specifically because it pays them money to pass corporate protectionism bills. Remember, when Republicans take over and lock out the Democrats, then:
~ They no longer need Republican votes, so officials no longer have to serve their constituents
~ The Executive no longer needs Congress, so their money train is in jeopardy. ~ The businesses no longer need lobbyists, so their money train is in jeopardy.
(Considering the level of incompetence we’ve seen in the federal government lately, it’s possible that our congresscritters haven’t fully thought this through.)
We’re in the AI age now, which has shown us IP laws mean nothing when an entire major industry wants to violate them. This has always been true, as the studios and record labels pirated all the time, but it wasn’t as open and in the sunlight as it is with AI development. And Big AI is currently propping up the entire stock market.
It turns out IP laws never meant anything anyway. Copyrights and patents were justified as temporary monopolies to promote science and the useful arts, specifically to produce a robust public domain.
Except it does neither. Artists and scientists are rarely the copyright holders, and to get to own their own stuff, they need to be hot property (still making content) and have good lawyers. Also, the temporary monopolies have become permanent in practice. (much thanks to Walt Disney.) SCOTUS has not only refused to see the public as a stakeholder, but has taken things out of the public domain, so it has to be licensed again, in defiance of the Constitution of the United States.
So now IP law is only a rent-seeking racket. Especially now since you need subscriptions to use your appliances.
But as Sony has made clear for us in 2026, if purchasing isn’t owning, then piracy isn’t a copyright violation.
This bill is a technology solution and has technology countermeasures. They can order ISPs DNSes and VPNs to block piracy sites, but those sites change all the time, and can do so faster than it takes to update the registries. Furthermore, when services don’t follow through, they will get more usage (and will make more money) so there’s a perverse incentive to slow walk the updates, and not talk to whoever makes the lists.
We learned this a long time ago when the biggest selling point of ISPs was free porn and free movies.
Like encryption with backdoors for law enforcement, there’s no way to nerd harder to make it work.
It also depends on foreign service offerings cooperating with US law. Unless we build the Great Firewall of the US (which, I’m sure, is on the table), US offerings will be obligated to follow the law while foreign ones do not, which will run against the interests of local businesses.
Yup, all “rules for thee, not for me” isn’t it?