I know it's way too early to be optimistic...
(particularly in the light of the Megaupload arrests)
but either way I found this graphic (found via allamistako) quite intriguing.
What mainly intrigues me is that so many opponents showed up out of the blue after (I assume?) the Wikipedia Blackout. I mean, 15 Members of Congress appear to have changed camps according to that graphic, but where did the other 55 come from? From the realm of "I don't care", or maybe from "I didn't know", that's where...
I guess this once again shows my Nerd Bubble glasses - when the Blackout started, and all those links appeared to "Why SOPA/PIPA is harmful", I was thinking "Yeaaaaaaah we know it already". Except that apparently, many people, presumably including those 15 + 55 Members of Congress (or the people who phoned, mailed or messaged them) really didn't know already. Mental note: Really don't take common web knowledge for granted, it is still just as exotic as common sense is.
Along those lines I guess I might rant again about a line in the Stern magazine, concerning "the illustrious web community" and the plagiarism case around our ex-Minister of Defense: The old spiel how the very web community that brought Guttenberg down is itself all about violating copyright, ZOMG TEH DOUBLE STANDARDS.
Let me explain it again, idiots: TWO. DIFFERENT. KETTLES. OF. FISH.
Guttenberg's actions would be comparable to "the illustrious web community" if he'd scanned, pdf-ed and uploaded some (possibly absurdly expensive) Law Studies book, saying "Here, this is [Law Studies Book] by [Name of Author/Editor], enjoy, hope it helps with your exams, spread the word".
Instead, his actions are comparable to a member of the web community who uploaded a cracked version of - say - Dragon Age, saying "Here, this is a little game I programmed last weekend, enjoy, hope you like it, spread the word"...
which would result in scorn and a good take-down. As it did. No double standard there. THIS IS NOT A DIFFICULT CONCEPT. So why will you not understand it?
Oh right. Nerd Bubble. I forgot. :P
ETA: samtyr links to an interesting...campaign? Don't know what to call it. Interesting, anyway. And not hard to participate in (even though Crucible of Gold comes out in March ;)), really. So, worth considering?