Will SOPA protect the freelance programmer
This week has been something, when the world first heard about SOPA last year many where preparing for the worst and with SOPA being introduced to the senate we know it will be just a matter of time before it gets passed. or will it ?
On the one end we have content providers such as the RIAA, and the MPAA both eager to protect what they call their investments, one thing to note however is that last year Hollywood recorded one of its worst earnings ever, with people buying less movies and going to the movies less. Then on the other hand we have the large tech companies eager to make a buck on web apps, such as Youtube, Twitter, Facebook etc.. and here is where other "techies" come in, programmers, web developers, artists no I'm not talking about the ones that work for large corporations that provide these services since all of the top tier companies have the budget to lobby congress thus using SOPA for their advantage.
I'm talking about the independent workers, the freelancers of the web the ones that don't have the support of big money. Yes there are thousands of them all over the world, many actually in third world countries.
Yet I highly doubt SOPA will be on my side as a freelance developer. Let us say for example I develop a PHP script that I would like to sell, I do the coding myself, market it online setup a web site for it, then suddenly someone steals my code or breaks the encryption and gets uploaded to the many warez sites out there, do you really think that SOPA will "protect" me ?
After all someone just stole my intellectual property and that is one of the provisions of the SOPA act, but how hard do you think it will be for me to get SOPA on my side ? I can almost guarantee that U.S federal gov will not even care one bit why ? Well I didn't lobby thats why, I never invested in their system. See SOPA will only benefit the Microsoft's of the world it is only their intellectual property that the government wants to protect, SOPA can be beneficial if it can work for everyone including the freelancer but don't count on it.
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