"(Msnbc.com, a joint venture of Microsoft and Comcast/NBC Universal. Comcast/NBC Universal is listed as a supporter of SOPA on the House Judiciary Committee website."

Comcast owns Msnbc - and while Microsoft doesn't support SOPA 'as written', Comcast most certainly does. I wouldn't expect to see much in terms of depth regarding this issue on Msnbc.

Is English your second language?

No one is saying business are free. Please point to where the article or those who oppose SOPA say that. It's funny you even suggest it since many backers of the STOP SOPA/PIPA are businesses themselves. We are saying the US has no right to have ultimate power of regulating and censoring the internet.

Food does not equal digital content. When Starbucks can copy/paste their coffee and not pay the coffee bean growers, let me know. We can replicate the process for grain and solve world hunger.

openmi, you should copyright your post. Now I'm going to quote part of it, with attribution, under the Fair Use principle: "This is impossible to expect a profitably (sic) business with know (sic) income is insane."

Under SOPA, if you think I took Fair Use too far and violated your copyright, you could get a lawyer and sue not only me but also Newsvine. Having made that accusation, even before a court ruling in your favor or mine, you might be able to get Newsvine shut down.

Now do you get it?

There are copyright laws that protect intellectual property. The problem with SOPA and PIPA was in how these bills were drafted--very broadly, open to interpretation, and giving ISP providers and other corporations the right to police the internet and shut down sites based on an accusation alone.

I don't get anything for free in this world, and looking at the box office of major films and the advertising revenue of TV shows, I don't think the entertainment industry is in danger of going broke. Now people do hate being ripped off and gouged by monopolies who rig prices. This is why Redbox and the Roku box are such good deals. You can rent a movie for a dollar; you can borrow a movie for $2 from your local library. You can watch films all you like for free on Crackle if you have a Roku box. And of course you can pay your local cable provider $100 a month for internet and cable service that gives you 300 channels of which you only watch 4 or 5 regularly. I think few people are enjoying a free lunch here.

Android is free and making Google BILLIONS

That's right, you don't understand. Anybody with half a brain can figure out how to make a living on the Internet ... if that have something people want and then connect with fans (social networking) and give them a reason to buy.

Now instead of a couple of dozen rock-stars making millions of dollars we're getting thousands of musicians able to make enough to quit their day jobs and follow their passion. Maybe they won't be able to afford to buy a jet but they can buy what they need.

Ever wonder how a best-selling SF writer can have all his books available for free download on his web site and still make money selling his books? Cory Doctorow does just that. He says that his problem isn't piracy, it's obscurity. If your stuff gets pirated that means people like it and many more people will see it. Some of those will buy it. (Read all about it here: )

So if you really care, just do a little Internet research and you'll see just how it's being done. The new business paradigm. The old established companies are resisting the changes as they always do. They don't like the leveling of the playing field. Suddenly a singe person can compete on what is close to an even basis. So they are trying to use copyright and patents and trademarks and lobbyists to beat back the upstarts.

Just my humble opinion.

Peace,

Rob:-]

"Take action now and call Hitler. Tell him not to gas everyone that looks at him crooked."

Extreme, maybe, but the NDAA passed the passed the Senate by a vote of 97-3. That means there are only 7 people in the Capitol that will hear your calls and that simply isn't enough.

You can take more effective action by removing the other 97 in November.

93-7, my bad. Still pretty disastrous. Wake the @!$%# up. OWS, Tea Party, you @!$%#ers are on the same side. Everyone who hates both of them, you are on the same @!$%#ing side.

Take you own advice, Kevin.

Helen is one of the few journalists here that at least appear to proofread their work. She gets the topics out there with relevance, and manages to make her articles easy and enjoyable to read.