No Internet for You!
Warning: I am not mincing words today. I have not written about this on Voice123, mainly because I was hoping it would just go away. I am referring to the SOPA bill. You can read more about it here in Fred Wilson’s latest Business Insider update. I am offering my predictions on how the SOPA bill will affect online casting, especially Voice123.
I remember something I was told when in college and trying to decide between a career as an actor or lawyer (You know law schools try to recruit actors?) :
- “Steven, the ultimate collapse of the United States will happen because of lawmakers. They write the laws that govern society through court rulings, and often do so for personal financial reasons. It’s why I became one.”
Still, years later, I find that comment disgusting. To be blunt, here are my predictions:
If you are a user of online casting services, not just Voice123, SOPA would mean the following for the hundreds and thousands of those, who have transformed their lives, and lived independently, as their own boss, because of the last ten years on the Internet:
- Online casting sites will come under attack for the same ignorant, fear-mongering reasons behind the current bill, giving many legal right to shut us down.
- The work will shift back towards major cities (which many who never grasped working online will love) putting thousands out of work, for the needs of a select few.
- Say goodbye to an Internet of free speech, and hello to a digital trade-show filled with copyrights that will only bring more work to lawyers.
- Say goodbye to ever being allowed to share an original, creative thought online in social media, if you seemingly did not realize it was derived from someone else. You know how people LOVE to sue each other.
- Good luck trying to find work online anywhere. Get your paper resumes ready, gas up the car at $4 a gallon, buy new outfits, and budget in that money for commuting.
- Get ready for a new day and age of industry blacklisting, and abusive lawsuits that strip the creative freedom of an artist, unless they conform to an industry standard.
- Good people will lose work, and growth in organized crime will seep in. You cannot force people to dumb-down to a law. They will go around it. It is human nature.
- Finally, well…it has been a pleasure to serve you, but our days of getting work for full-time voice over professionals, without commission, and plenty of customer service, will be over. Hope your phone starts ringing.
Through all of the debates so far, the bill does not focus on one question: “Will the country be better off because of it?”. Maybe we should analyze the results of our declarations of war on terror, education, obesity, drugs, and alcohol. Ummm…Let’s see…We are the 27th smartest country in the world and the most depressed, heaviest, most addicted to drugs, with a serious organized crime problem in the southwest. We seem addicted to declaring war on things, and we end up educating ourselves less while paying out more money for things that offer no true protection.
The thing that has always been special about the Internet is that no one “owns it”. It is a place to network, grow, transform and combine what you learn. I even met my wife online. Yet, some very successful companies have failed to keep up, and they did what every good corporation does when they are losing at the game capitalism…They conduct a blame-storming session, and try to get laws passed that protect their personal financial interests.
This is just my prediction. I could be wrong. Please see this post from Reddit which instructs you on: “How to Stop SOPA the Correct Way”, if that is of interest to you.
What are your thoughts on SOPA and these predictions?
EAV:a9e2bb5d38bd86ec
“Cant we all just get along”
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Steven is the Community Manager of Voice123 |
Kerri Moseley-Hobbs
December 23, 2011
I go to “The Hill” often for matters of higher education for my job. I and others has effected the drafting and passing of laws this way. It is important for the community to get invovled because very often those that pass the laws are basing decisions on what they are told (no fault of their own no one’s a expert in EVERTHING). I want to offer the Voice123 community tips to respond:
1- never respond angry. Do you repect anyone or give them what they want just because they’re angry?
2- come forward with a argument; that means state the problem AND a resolution. You get what they are TRYING to do here, tell them how to do it better;which leads you to
3-a magic term here is “unintended consequences”
4-you don’t have to speak to the actual Senator or House Rep; many people don’t know, but bill drafting and research is the responsibilty of a designated legislative aid in the offi(sshhh don’t tell anyone I told you *smile*)
5- responses to bills need to be credible. Try to answer with/as a group to show you’re not a 1 case complaint. And seriously, you have to respone as if you’re righting a college research paper (that is data and support); and
6-finally. Try to keep it to 1 page, 2 at the most. I know I know, you’re saying “but you just said write it like a college paper”. Yes but this is the challenge that you probably have mastered if you use twitter: say a lot of meaningful things, in a short amount of time. It’s like an audition if you’re an actor, you have a vey few minutes to make a good impression.
Rick Lance
December 23, 2011
This is scary!
I wish those genesis in the US congress would for once thoroughly investigate an issue before trying to set new laws. I thought that new fed laws were the result of educated debate, compromise and the will of the people. Boy, guess I’m just becoming a dinosaur!
Good job of reporting, Stephen!
Maybe we’ll get lucky this time and reality will set in in Washington!
Kent Ingram
December 23, 2011
Unbelievable….right at the point where I’m starting to get a leg-up and make some progress, this kind of CRAP rears its ugly head! Thanks for the heads-up, Steven. This is just another example of Big Brotherism by Big Government, all the while promising they’ll take care of us. There’s always a payback, however. In return for “protecting” you, they’ll take all of your freedoms and the right to live your life the way you choose to. I’m hoping and praying that cooler heads will prevail but, in the meantime, there has to be a way to fight this. Thanks, again, for another great article and a huge heads-up.
Kent Ingram
December 23, 2011
This is very valuable information, Kerri, thanks! I’d like to think I could express my anger in a class way that would get the point across without putting the other person on the defensive. It’s sort of like an old Irish proverb that goes, “a true Irishman is one who can tell a man to go to Hell in such a way that he looks forward to the trip”. Merry Christmas!
Steven Lowell
December 23, 2011
Hey thanks everyone for your comments!
Perhaps what bothered me most about following this, was learning that they attempted to pass it, fully admitting they had no idea what the consequences would be, but “they should do it anyway to be safe.” I dont think many realize how every law passed removes a freedom in the act of protection, creates more lawsuits and more work for lawyers, which through the process of being held in government courts, raises taxes….means every law passed irresponsibly costs everyone EXCEPT the people making laws.
I quit working on Wall St. and went back into voiceovers for a reason. My stomach couldn’t take the hypocrisy.
Rob Reese
January 18, 2012
I have recently begun following the SOPA and PIPA debates and have seen sites like Google, Craigslist and others (now V123..thank you!) raising their battle flags and alerting the public of this potential atrocity. Besides having everyone email or call their senator or representative to try an persuade them to protect our rights, why has there not been a coalition formed of the companies that will be most affected by the legislation? LIKE Google, Craigslist, Wikipedia, etc…the monetary resources and fundraising ability from just those three sites alone should be able to get these idiots on “The Hill” to at least pause and listen to the masses…for once!
I will be posting daily on different sites to increase awareness of this issue. I will also be calling my idiot Senator who is supporting both bills as of now. FIRE THEM ALL I say…!
Fellow VO actors…let your voices be heard! Have no doubts…this is a battle cry that we need to turn up!
Rob Reese
January 18, 2012
As a matter of fact…here is a link to check on where YOUR Senator or Congressman stands on the SOPA bill.
http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/
Rick Lance
January 18, 2012
My tweet and post of the today reads:
CONGRESS: The internet is the messenger. Copyrighted content the message. Don’t shoot the messenger to control the content. Control piracy!