I briefly considered blacking out the DogS(h)ite in solidarity with Drop the SOPA Day, then decided against it. This ill-conceived legislation is not of your doing. So why punish you, Dear Readers, by denying you my whizdumb in these dark days?
Instead, I contacted one of our senators, Mark Udall, via his website, and thanked him for opposing the Senate’s version of the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), called the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA).
Alas, the websites of Rep. Doug Lamborn and Sen. Michael Bennet — a co-sponsor of PIPA who is suddenly reconsidering his support — were FUBAR for some reason (pirates off the port bow, arr?). Happily, Bennet seems to be getting the message without further prodding from me, and talking to Lamborn is a complete and utter waste of time, right up there with trying to teach a Yorkshire pig to whistle “The Internationale.”
The call for an Innertubes blackout has proven problematical, according to The Christian Science Monitor — while thousands of sites are said to be participating, with Wikipedia and Reddit the biggest digital dogs on that virtual porch, others are staying up while linking to more information about the legislation and its opponents.
That made sense to me, so here I am in all my link-dispersing, informative glory. You’re welcome.
Mad Blog Media 
Anything espoused by the MPAA is likely to be opposed by me. Seems to be more about keeping their pockets lined well than preventing piracy. It’s like trying to prevent obscene phone calls by installing censors to listen in on the phones….but wait, Dick Cheney and Co. did that to save us from the tear-ists as ol’ W used to call ’em. I gotta admit to surprise that there’ve been no comments about the verdict in the Mike Sinyard vs ex-employee lawsuit? Maybe it’s just too easy to make fun of?
Larry, I don’t know enough about the Specialized-Volagi thing to bring the snark in that arena. I’m always deeply suspicious of big companies trying to money-whip little outfits into submission, though. The Big Red S, which claims to be about “growing the sport of cycling,” spent $1.5 million trying to smother an infant competitor in its crib? Ohhhhh-kay.
Steve Frothingham, web editor at Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, advises via Facebook that an in-depth story is upcoming in the next edition of the dead-tree BRAIN. Should be worth a look.
The snarkiest thing I read was a suggestion they change their slogan, “Innovate or Die!” to “Litigate or Die!” Only worked briefly at a bike shop that sold ’em, not long enough to have any dealings with the company directly though I remember their attempt to supply Sprawl-Mart with bikes and bypass their independent bike dealer agreements by calling ’em Full Force. Of course the swell folks in Wisconsin tried the same scheme by putting Jazz on the bikes instead of that name that begins with T. Then there was the S’ brief fling with close-out king/online wizard Alan Goldsmith. They seem to act a lot like Mitt Romney rather than the left-leaning bike folks I remember from the old daze.
The litigate instead of innovate, or heaven forbid – produce, spawns from having 1. management goals tied to investor wealth and not company health. 2 management teams who are focused on the B school approach to world domination (this happens even to guys who built their own businesses).
When you focus on financials, litigation over patents etc becomes a low cost and lower risk approach vs investing capital into production and employees.
Locking competitors out of the market by controlling intellectual property has its allure, but if you forego building production capacity once you’ve soaked all the patent violators you’ve got no income.
Ah, yes — “management goals tied to investor wealth and not company health.” I recently severed all ties with an operation of that sort. When Pharaoh bids one to make bricks without straw, it’s time to get the hell out of Egypt.
True dat! And when you can mark up the plastic bicycles you have made in Asia 10X or more, you have plenty of profit you can use to sue competitors and buy up pro teams to promote your brand. Ya gotta wonder how long before the consumer realizes he/she can buy pretty much (sometimes it seems exactly) the same thing direct from the Asian companies who actually make them for 10% of the price and slap your own name on it, ala Eddy Merckx. I don’t get why folks pay all the dough for these overpriced things and promote the very folks who screwed them…but if I understood that, I’d also understand why folks vote for Repuglicans!
Isn’t the greater problem here the apparent vulnerability of the internet? Should it be possible to ruin all that is the wonderfulness of the internet with one shitty piece of legislation? Of course it shouldn’t, but if it is…we need to find a way to make it more foolproof.
Thank you – a day late.