Anti-Piracy Bill and Artists...

Most of you have already heard about the anti-piracy bill that almost got passed the other week but has been put on pause...but here is an article about how art groups are reacting.

Obviously the movie and music industry wants the bill  to pass. It would restrict the use of any of their material on any website without permission...but many artist related groups oppose the move, saying it limits the availability of art and overall would negatively affect the access and influence of art on society.

I agree with that. Even on my blog alone I post images and links of artists I like, urging other to check them out. If the bill passed, my blog could get warned, even permanently shut down if I continued that action. What many that support the bill don't realize is that, while piracy is a huge problem,  this bill would also hurt people linking images that are simply sharing information. It would harm knowledge building and the spreading of new ideas...It would harm the individual artist as people could no longer post their images without consent and while that may stop some forgery, it also stops the thousands of people blogging other artists works in order to spread their work and ideas...Furthermore, sites built around user-posted media such as etsy and youtube would have a very difficult time making sure that their members are complying, risking a shut down of the entire site...

I get the point of the bill...and it does address a very real problem. The issue I take with it is that, while curtailing illegal actions, you're also hurting the millions of people that are simply looking to get someone's name out, to promote those they feel deserve promotion, and to spread knowledge, innovation and ideas. It's the grade-school mentality where everyone is punished for one kids' bad choice...and everyone knows (even grade-schoolers) that's just the easiest solution, not the best one. And besides, how many times did the whole class staying in from recess really stop the three bad kids from continuing to be bad? Check it out here.
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Online-piracy-bill-has-free-speech-supporters-up-in-arms/25332