Firstly, there is an excellent explanation of SOPA’s potential impact here. Check out the video in the first link.

What is so striking about this, apart from the breath-taking over-reach of the bills, is the about-face in Congress as a result of the Internet strike. This is the latest example of the Internet providing citizens with the means to have their voices heard. Other recent examples include Verizon backing off a $2 bill payment fee, Bank of America dropping a $5 debit card fee, Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring.

In today’s world, knowledge of others is greatly expanding because of video, social media and the Internet. When people around the world connect, see each other and communicate, they can identify with and recognize the humanity in strangers everywhere. This is an unprecedented capability that has only existed for a few years, but is already having an effect, e.g. a Facebook page where Israelis and Palestinians communicate. This connection is enhanced by video because it communicates so much more powerfully than the printed word. Yes, we have had film and television, but they were both one-way transmissions, carrying the message of a narrow elite. Now, conversations are taking place all across the world. We are learning about others from their own lips, and the message the elites of this world wish to promote is losing its spell.

We fear the unknown, and strangers and foreigners have historically been the unknown. Governments have exploited this, as excellently portrayed in “1984″ by three super-powers in perpetual war. However, the Internet has popularized alternative narratives, and along with recognizing the humanity in all of us, world peace will be attained within the century.

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The Internet is a revolutionary technology comparable to the Gutenberg press. It offers direct communication between groups of people, bypassing the gatekeepers who have dominated and controlled the public conversations in the past.

Additionally, and just as important, through this contact with other people, we see them as similar to ourselves, rather than unknown, scary and hence a potential threat. The division into us vs. them that clans, countries, cultures and races encourage is weakening. The connections made through the Internet focus our attention on what we have in common, not our differences, and offer a way forward towards world peace.

Today’s NYTimes reports that “one longtime money manager … was disappointed that members of Congress … had not come out swinging for an industry that donates heavily to their campaigns. ‘They need to understand who their constituency is,’ he said.”

Could the admission of buying politicians be any clearer?

I exaggerate – the claim is a civil offense, not a criminal one, but this is still a new low for Patent Trolls. Innovatio IP, a non-practising entity (NPE, i.e. a business that doesn’t actually produce anything, but just sues people), is shaking down coffee shops, hotels and grocery stores for payments in the $2,300 – $5,000 range. “Nice business you got there, Mr. Hotelier. Be a shame if a passing lawyer broke all yer windows, wouldn’t it? Just a small payment to Bill Niro, and you won’t ‘ave no more worries.”

Groklaw brings us this news.  After eight years, the legal system finally reaches the obvious conclusion.

An excellent NPR story on patents has been getting attention, and Forbes uses it to argue in favor of invalidating software patents.

Quotations are the TV dinners of thought.

• They require no effort; they are the lazy person’s way to avoid thinking and cooking up their own ideas.
• They’re fresh when created, but can go stale as the world changes.
• They get boring with repetition; everyone has tasted them before.

In today’s NYTimes, David Carr critiques Jon Stewart’s attack on the media as insignificant because “In even a good news night, about five million people take a seat on the cable wars, which is less than 2 percent of all Americans.”  Based on that logic I can ignore his attack because the NYTimes has an “average weekday circulation of 877,000“.

To assert that only 2% of Americans watch cable on a particular night, therefore cable’s influence only extends to 2% of Americans, is an absurd deduction.  Those 2% talk, post YouTube clips and create Tea Party rallies.  The other media report on Fox’s outrages, pick up their theme du jour, respond to their positions.  I’m not prepared to put a percentage on it, but to claim a 2% audience is to discount their influence.