A student of mine in Economics wrote this piece on SOPA (short for Stop Online Piracy Act) and the PIPA (Protect IP act). So, what are the costs and benefits of the act? Will it hurt innovation?
I think that a great part of the US is that we have the availability to speak our minds in a way that doesn't impede on anyone else. By having "censorship" this could be detrimental towards the way that people are able to express themselves. I can't think of a worse idea than enabling this act.
I think that one of the major issues here is the legal "traffic jam" that this bill would create. Organizations like the RIAA will have the ability to sue websites and owners if they believe that they have violated this law. The courts will be overwhelmed with cases against websites that violate this law. There will be millions in legal fees as these cases endure the long legal process. In my opinion, this is a waste of resources. The innovators and creative minds that have made the internet an infinite source of knowledge will be less inclined to share their ideas because of the threat of legal action against them.
I think that innovation is both stifled as well as promoted by this act. People will have less incentive to spread their ideas throughout the web through fear of legal action, which can be seen as a decrease in a type of innovation. However, innovation might also be furthered due to stronger legal action preventing piracy and thus giving an incentive for people to innovate without fear of their ideas being stolen with no legal action available to them as the creators. Which of these two sides of the story will outweigh the other is still to be seen.
I think that a great part of the US is that we have the availability to speak our minds in a way that doesn't impede on anyone else. By having "censorship" this could be detrimental towards the way that people are able to express themselves. I can't think of a worse idea than enabling this act.
ReplyDeleteI think that one of the major issues here is the legal "traffic jam" that this bill would create. Organizations like the RIAA will have the ability to sue websites and owners if they believe that they have violated this law. The courts will be overwhelmed with cases against websites that violate this law. There will be millions in legal fees as these cases endure the long legal process. In my opinion, this is a waste of resources. The innovators and creative minds that have made the internet an infinite source of knowledge will be less inclined to share their ideas because of the threat of legal action against them.
ReplyDeleteI think that innovation is both stifled as well as promoted by this act. People will have less incentive to spread their ideas throughout the web through fear of legal action, which can be seen as a decrease in a type of innovation. However, innovation might also be furthered due to stronger legal action preventing piracy and thus giving an incentive for people to innovate without fear of their ideas being stolen with no legal action available to them as the creators. Which of these two sides of the story will outweigh the other is still to be seen.
ReplyDeleteGrant is pointing out costs and benefits very nicely. Nothing in the real world is as neat and pretty as a theoretical equilibrium point.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ryan, this bill would create a lot more harm than good.
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