United Liberty
DemandProgress Makes A Gaffe
Fri, 02/24/2012 - 3:45pm | posted by Jeremy Kolassa
DemandProgress, some of the folks behind the anti-SOPA push, just sent me a very funny letter. At least, that’s how I’m taking it.
From the email I received:
It took 10 million-plus constituent contacts to beat back SOPA—and we barely won. That’s because a few wealthy interests had bought the allegiance of key members of Congress.
If we want to win the next fight, we need to reduce the role of special interest money in politics.
That’s why we’re teaming up with CREDO on a call to overturn Citizens United and end corporate personhood.
Oh, where to begin?
Of course, the DemandProgress guys are looking at the MPAA and the RIAA when it comes to corporations…but have they given any thought whatsoever to the big boys who helped bring it down? You know—Google? Facebook? Twitter? Wikipedia?
Perhaps DemandProgress should go and read Doug Mataconis’ excellent post on the subject over at Outside The Beltway. Let’s face it: SOPA would have gone under the public’s radar if Wikipedia and Reddit didn’t go dark and if Google hadn’t spoke out against it. DemandProgress has a staff of two people and while it has many supporters, there’s not enough of them to seriously change the debate within the 311.5 million population of the United States.
If DemandProgress got their way and got Citizens United overturned, when SOPA (inevitably) comes back for a second run, Google and other major companies and organizations might not say anything, and we’ll get shafted by our government again. Then where would DemandProgress be?
Maybe they should take a minute to consider what they’re saying before they just push it out to the public. They’re making themselves jokes now.
Totally with you. This was the victory of one corporate group over another. Its not as though google has to worry about copyright infringements, as they have back door access to every android, apple or microsoft powered device and can delete apps/media without your authority.
They already have done this to remove app bundled malware, and promise they will never abuse the power. And a promise from Sergei Brin is as solid as a promise from Barak Obama…
You’re dead wrong. Google, Wikipedia and other internet based corporations didn’t need Citizens United to do what they did. Simply putting something up on your website is akin to placing a sign in your lawn. The fact that so many people come to their websites is irrelevant. If Citizens United gets repealed, internet based companies could still alter their websites as they wish, but couldn’t dump undisclosed money into political campaigns. In the end, it doesn’t matter at all anyway. These corporations probably only did this because SOPA would destroy their business, not because of the civil liberties aspect. If Google and YouTube were forced to remove every infringement it would cost them millions. What happens when the powerful corporations benefit and the people suffer? Where will the big ‘benevolent civil rights’ companies be then? Absent, I assume.
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