For those of you who might be in and around Philadelphia this coming Tuesday (Jan. 31), I’ll be debating with Justin Hughes of Cardozo Law School at a Temple Law School Federalist Society event about the recently introduced (and even-more-recently withdrawn) copyright legislation (SOPA and PIPA). More details about the event can be found here and here. It should be an interesting event; Justin and I have very, very different views about these bills — he was a consultant, I believe, to the House Committee that drew them up, and I think they’re the Devil’s handiwork — and I think there will be both heat and light shed on the issues (both of which are required of a good debate). Plus, I think this is an issue that cuts through a very interesting line through what might roughly be called the political “right” — between the property rights conservatives and the free-speech libertarians — so there are interesting meta-issues on display. We’re expecting a good crowd — there’s nothing like a day-long Wikipedia blackout to get folks interested in online copyright matters — and it should be a lively affair.
Adam B. says:
Hmm. Am presiding judge for a Temple-LEAP high school mock trial that morning; you may just get me to stick around.
January 27, 2012, 12:18 pmyankee says:
I’m surprised you can find anyone to debate. As far as I can tell, the only people who support this POS legislation are employed by Big Content.
January 27, 2012, 12:29 pmrhhardin says:
Ideas are politically, not naturally, property, presumably with the idea that there’s a net benefit to the economy that way.
If the benefit turns out empirically to be empty, say just amounting to corporate rent-seeking, the intellectual property right ought to be done away with.
Full argument from a Michele Boldrin podcast here.
January 27, 2012, 12:30 pmBruce Hayden says:
Good luck.
Need to keep the pressure up – Rep. Smith, at least, seems to not have accepted defeat well, and I would not be the least bit surprised if either he or Sen. Leahy tried to slip it back in and fast track it before resistance can build again. A lot of money has been spent lobbying for this legislation, and those having spent it, are expecting results.
January 27, 2012, 12:45 pmAlast says:
Well this makes an interesting point… Uploading a Michael Jackson song can get you more jail time under SOPA than actually killing Michael Jackson.
January 27, 2012, 12:51 pmFub says:
Well, yeah. Killing Michael Jackson doesn’t cost[1] the copyright industry anything. Probably even makes their portfolio more valuable.
But uploading a single song, even one that nobody wants to hear, would cost them several small country GDPs. Just ask them.
FN 1: wouldn’t have cost — I think he’s dead already, unless his funeral was just a publicity stunt.
January 27, 2012, 2:26 pmEMB says:
It’s amazing how effective clever use of language can be in lobbying. The mere use of the term “intellectual property” (as opposed to, say, “government-granted monopoly”) has done a huge amount toward getting conservatives to regard something that today is essentially a regulatory capture/big government corruption issue as a “property rights” issue.
Some of the more famous examples of this sort of thing like “climate change” and even “death tax” seem ineffective in comparison.
January 27, 2012, 5:28 pmEli Rabett says:
And academic publishers
January 27, 2012, 5:32 pmnewyorkstudent says:
any chance this will be recorded and made available online somewhere for those who can’t attend?
January 28, 2012, 7:43 pmSeaDrive says:
Why should Big Content be allowed to outsource the defense of their IP onto the public? Not everyone with IP gets government help. It’s their IP, let them protect it themselves.
January 29, 2012, 2:58 pmrob bob says:
http://digitaljournal.com/article/293865
January 30, 2012, 9:35 amMarketingYourselfThroughMonkeys says:
Was at the debate today. Both Prof. Post and Prof. Hughes made good arguments and can’t say there was a clear winner; definitely informative. I will say that Prof. Hughes’ conducted himself in an oddly combative and near rude manner. A couple times I really thought to myself “what is this guy’s problem?” Prof. Post on the other hand managed to communicate without taking shots at Prof. Hughes or acting in any way uncivilized. Robust debate is one thing, but Hughes was sort of off the wall at times.
January 31, 2012, 8:10 pm