SOPA, PIPA, and the law of unintended consequences.

Once upon a time, an excellent doctoral candidate laid out this scenario for a roomful of bleary-eyed undergrads:

There was a time when there was no dip in the sidewalk to allow for wheelchairs to smoothly glide onto the crosswalk. That was a law that had to work its way through Congress, shouldered forward by lobbyists and constituents. 

When the law was passed, it seemed like a great thing. Wheelchair-bound voters could get around easier. But then blind people started wandering into the street because they couldn't feel where the curb stopped and the street began.

Another law had to work its way through to put grooves down into the concrete so that the visually impaired would have some sensation to warn them of the street.

That law passed...then ladies started getting their stiletto heels caught in the grooves and falling down.

Every law, no matter how well meaning, will result in unintended consequences.

It's not often that the "unintended consequences" of a law are widely discussed, but right now the internet is burning up with talk of what would become of us should SOPA or PIPA pass. 

The internet certainly has its pros and cons, but the reason that it has become such a force of reckoning is because its had so little restraint. For better and for worse.

It's become an incredible lab for industry and culture. I am of that generation that can clearly remember the time before the internet. My first day on the Internet was a Wednesday in 7th grade when the class was trotted into the library computer lab and taught to use a search engine. Not knowing what was on the internet, I searched, "Halloween Poems" and spent the rest of the class scrolling through feeble blogs with pictures of cats wearing witch hats and couplets about pumpkins and candy. Cute.

I got to watch the Internet come together slowly, from acres of Geocities and online games of hearts to the inception of social networking and the early years of independent journalists. I couldn't have guessed at what it would become based on that first day in the middle school computer lab.

Trying to create a blanket law for such a tremendous and unwieldy problem as internet piracy is bound to have lots of unintended consequences. (Remember Prohibition?) Think how much tweaking simple laws about sidewalks required after the initial passing. How many more laws would have to go through the books to reach a comfortable place of governance? Yes, some compromise has already gone into the bill, but I doubt it's anywhere near where it needs to be to hold water. 

If you're in the dark on the issue, I like this article. It's concise and clear. You can also go here to get more information on the SOPA strike

(thanks to Erik Godwin, the source of the sidewalk story.)