Marketing Technology for Growth

The online community’s recent victory over US Congress’ efforts to institute SOPA and PIPA underscores the growing power of the Internet as an effective means of political lobbying. It also casts in bold relief the widening gulf between the political establishment and the under-forty crowd. Senator Christopher Dodd, a principle backer of the bills, recently expressed his incredulity, marveling at the technology industry’s “ability to organize and communicate directly with consumers.” He went on to call it a “watershed event” the likes of which he had not seen in over 30 years in politics.¹

The whole world is atwitter (sorry for that) over two anti-piracy laws recently introduced by US lawmakers. Among other provisions, both the House’s version, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), and the Senate’s analog, PIPA (Protect IP Act) seek give copyright holders and the Justice Department the power to obtain court orders to shut down websites that “engage in, facilitate, or enable copyright infringement.”