George
Mankiw stated his opinion about SOPA on the 19th of January via his
blog, stating that the complaints by the majority online are missing a very
crucial point on what SOPA plans to target.
Intellectual property is the factor that many seem to grasp that, even
though certain music and movies may be online, there isn’t legal permission to
have this material available to the public for free. Mankiw creates a great example with tangible
goods, “In a free society, you don’t have a right to steal from your neighbor’s
property. And that should include intellectual
property” (Mankiw).
A
couple days later, the Economist released an article discussing the reaction of
the public when many websites shut down in protest of SOPA, including Wikipedia
and Reddit. Google and other websites
showed their disapproval by blacking out their logo linked to the description
of SOPA. The article mentions the
dispute between the rights of intellectual property, but also the acts of
government officials and what they want to do to effectively make (or break)
SOPA. The most inspirational was by
Darrell Issa of the Judiciary Committee, who hopes to reach out to the
community to create a balanced act to allow for some protection of intellectual
properties, but still uphold copyrights and avoid piracy in America.
So
what are the economic effects that are imposed by SOPA? For one, if intellectual property can be
protected, many industries will have a chance to reap the benefits that piracy
has cut into. The music and film
industry would be two that would heavily enjoy SOPA, as the level of piracy
would be immediately broken. The costs
would also put a hit on potential creativity by citizens of the United States.
If one needed the proper copyrights to express certain viewpoints via a
podcast, there could be a drop in the level of human capital. However, this is not certain, and in my
personal opinion, do not believe this will effect human capital.
While
many may argue that SOPA will destroy all freedom of speech and the rights to
public goods via the Internet, I am not totally succumbing to the degree that
SOPA will harm society. If what I have
read is correct, the limitations on many currently free goods would still
likely be able to be accessed, but in a controlled state. The music industry would have to be
completely off base to get rid of the current state of allowing for music to be
streamed online. The amount of buzz that
can be created on the Internet is amazing.
The benefits, while not monetary initially, allows for people to test
out what they may buy. The costs of
cutting that off could limit the levels of exposure a musician would receive,
but as long as there is approval via copyrights, the music should still be available
on the Internet (along with other goods).
I
would like to close on the bit on what may occur to human capital if SOPA were
to be enabled. As I have learned in many
of my economics courses, I am as much of a good and can offer services just the
same as an apple or a computer may offer another human being. Arguments that are sure to come up with
protecting intellectual property are holding back learning and growth within
society. But to me, this is somewhat
skewed. The problem in my opinion wouldn’t
be the inability to access Wikipedia; the reason being is that even with all
the free knowledge available, the growth in human capital hasn’t found growth
among youth over the last decade.
Critical thinking is down, and that goes off on a whole new topic of
whether we as a society are holding students accountable for the proper
knowledge necessary to succeed in the future.
I
am extremely interested in seeing the outcome of SOPA. I plan to read more into the actual process
that may occur, but based off the two articles I have read (and outside
information), SOPA could use some work. Once fixed up, perhaps through Donald Issa’s
approach, we could see a balanced act that protects copyrights yet still hosts
the benefits of what the Internet offers today.
References:
- Mankiw, Greg. “On SOPA”. Greg Mankiw’s Blog. http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-sopa.html
- “Stopping SOPA”. The Economist. http://www.economist.com/node/21543173
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