Besides the fact that this article looks like a troll's comment on a forum, his assumptions are simply wrong. Those who want to target their local or foreign markets except US, do it anyway. The problem of SOPA is not that you're website is excluded from US upfront and you count that in your business plan, it's the fact that you never know if your multi-million users base haven't disappeared when you were on your way home.
> Over here in Europe, we’ll be happily file sharing till the cows come home, allowing all you Yanks hungry for pirated to content to download or stream all the latest movies via other means you’ll be forced to dream up to get around your dumb lawmakers.
Yeah, and we have pink unicorns puking rainbows. For a guy who lives in the UK and writes about piracy, he's totally clueless about the latest news on piracy in the UK or Europe in general. Little hints:
UK:
A judge has ruled that Richard O'Dwyer, the 23-year-old creator of sharing site TVShack, can be extradited to the United States. There he would be tried for copyright infringement and could face a five to ten year jail term in America.
Customers of the Elisa and Saunalahti internet service providers can no longer use those internet connections to visit The Pirate Bay website. Helsinki District Court ordered the ISPs to block the Pirate Bay last October, but the block went into effect on Monday.
So Techcrunch is a humor website now? He should have said upfront that it is funny, I would know I have to laugh.
Seriously, I don't assume they all lost their minds there and I know it's supposed to be somehow a satire, but it's dull as a fart joke. Another example how Techcrunch's quality went down the drain.
It is true that the UK would be the last country in Europe to "benefit" from SOPA/PIPA, given its current legislation and its general preference to rather not alienate the US. On the other hand, there might be some significant opportunities for countries like Sweden or even Germany, particularly if the German Pirate Party (that originated in Sweden) should make it into the Bundestag/Parliament in 2013, which is entirely possible.
I do not know nearly enough about the deep technical and worldwide ramifications of SOPA/PIPA, but I can see how a bold legislative re-branding of said countries might make them a very attractive place to build consumer-facing web companies. Consider how Berlin has become a mecca for artists: it's not because it's cheap (it is, but there are plenty of cheaper big cities in the world), but because it's by far the most liberal large city in the west right now. ('Socially Liberal', that is.) If SOPA/PIPA or future versions of those should actually pass, places such as Berlin could "brand" themselves as the world's last safe havens for b2c web startups (excluding eCommerce, which would probably benefit of SOPA).
Ironically, this might just be the best argument to convince American die-hard SOPA-advocates that their plans are nuts: imagine a future where "socialist" countries like Sweden host the next Googles and Reddits.
It was, but I'm sure the protest mob will still hate it. However, there is grain of truth in it. When the US passed the UIGEA it created huge opportunity in Europe. US export restrictions on cryptography has also been good for Europe.
Admittedly these SOPA/PIPA powers are on the wish list of oppressive regimes throughout the world – and please don’t tell Russia or Belarus about them. They’ve been hankering for an excuse to shut down their Internet Tubes for years and a great nation like Uncle Sam doing it would be just the green light they’ve been looking for. Sigh. (Here in Europe we prefer to slightly forget about those guys. And please don’t ask us if Russian are Europeans – we’ve done our best to avoid that subject for 60 years and we ain’t about to start now.)
I must say, as a European this was pretty annoying to read. While a few of the points were valid, for example, that not depending on organisations in the US (ICANN) as much as we do today is a good thing, this will still affect us as the requirements for a website to be considered for a takedown are still pretty wide/vague.
An all-European site running on a .org-domain? Bam! The US could take it down for everyone, whether they are European or Asian.
Dear god how painful.
I am from Europe, and I have to say that article made me blush. Badly written, bad arguments, no clue. Says a lot about Techcrunch europe that somebody who writes like that is allowed to publish articles.
I'm guessing Mike Butcher isn't French, and isn't familiar with French laws. Europe isn't entirely innocent with respect to the web either. The mocking is entirely unwarranted.
This line in particular shows how naive, or immature, Butcher is: "We can start developing an internet outside of North America. Yay!"
And Butcher is dreaming if he thinks everyone will move to Europe if SOPA/PIPA does what he says (or hopes?) it will do. Businesses won't move where internet access is a human right. They'll move to where it's cheapest to do business, and Europe is not even close to being cheapest.
15 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 28.9 ms ] thread> Over here in Europe, we’ll be happily file sharing till the cows come home, allowing all you Yanks hungry for pirated to content to download or stream all the latest movies via other means you’ll be forced to dream up to get around your dumb lawmakers.
Yeah, and we have pink unicorns puking rainbows. For a guy who lives in the UK and writes about piracy, he's totally clueless about the latest news on piracy in the UK or Europe in general. Little hints:
UK:
A judge has ruled that Richard O'Dwyer, the 23-year-old creator of sharing site TVShack, can be extradited to the United States. There he would be tried for copyright infringement and could face a five to ten year jail term in America.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087135/Richard-ODwy...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-1654433...
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/16/tvshack-guy-c...
Finland:
Customers of the Elisa and Saunalahti internet service providers can no longer use those internet connections to visit The Pirate Bay website. Helsinki District Court ordered the ISPs to block the Pirate Bay last October, but the block went into effect on Monday.
http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2012/01/pirate_bay_block_comes_in...
http://news.yahoo.com/anonymous-targets-finland-over-anti-pi...
Spain:
Spain's Sinde law echoes SOPA, takes pirate sites offline after commission review
http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/4/2681818/spain-approves-sind...
Seriously, I don't assume they all lost their minds there and I know it's supposed to be somehow a satire, but it's dull as a fart joke. Another example how Techcrunch's quality went down the drain.
What the hell?
An all-European site running on a .org-domain? Bam! The US could take it down for everyone, whether they are European or Asian.
This line in particular shows how naive, or immature, Butcher is: "We can start developing an internet outside of North America. Yay!"
And Butcher is dreaming if he thinks everyone will move to Europe if SOPA/PIPA does what he says (or hopes?) it will do. Businesses won't move where internet access is a human right. They'll move to where it's cheapest to do business, and Europe is not even close to being cheapest.