One great Thing about offline marketing....

John I very rarely disagree with what you have to say in the forum, however, on this point I have to use the expression "agree to disagree"....Although in it's purest sense of offline marketing you are correct, SOPA and PIPA would not have an impact.

However, since most of what offine marketers are marketing is online services, there could easily be an impact in relation to what we would be placing online for them.

On another note, I hope that others did what I did yesterday, which was to call, and email my congressman (worthless pos) and both US Senators (beyond worthless pos the both of em...but I digress). Regardless of what the details of any bill may be, in my opionion any action by the government relative to the internet can only serve to inhibit free speech and free enterprise.

Especially if its true and you dont write your own content, and you make your living off ripping people off... , and you dont exercise the creative ability that God gives us all which eliminates the need to steal.

I see what you are saying though. It would be yet another example of EVERYONE, even good people suffering over the selfishness of a few bad apples, which is why I encourage everyone not to patronize sites that make a mockery of real product creators and publicly build businesses off the premise of stealing others content.

Its really not funny at all, its very immature and greed driven, and it causes even good people to suffer.

Furthermore it insults its own patrons who blissfully allow their lack of moral fiber to be exploited, to the point of praising the people who exploit it.

Im sure they could change ALOT of this behavior just by making people own up to it by using own real names in their marketing. People would think twice about stealing publicly if they had to do it with their own name. And if there isnt anything wrong with it, then why not?

As a former professional songwriter, I personally dont like the idea of people helping themselves to others art work without paying. However I cant support sopa because of the very thing you point out that even good guys would be hit because of the misdeeds of the blue fart people.

If you know any sites like that I would boycott them personally and do. What they stand for is wrong IMHO.

Understandably my view may not be very popular, because alot of people who agree are afraid to agree publicly due to monopolies in which they have become intertwined or interdependent, or even co dependent upon.

I have built my own forum and offline business on my own merit, with some help from the WF only... so I dont personally care, other than to say that now we have to protect the bad guys to save our own asses which I think is a crime in itself.

Am I proud of being original? Heck yes I am. Sorry if that offends anyone. There was a time when being original was a given, but now its a badge of honor!

I'll bet my experience and creative thinking against a degree any day of the week.

I just read an update on this on Google and the decision is leaning towards internet freedom as I suspected it would.

Another poster here mentioned that OUTCRY'S have happened "after the fact" of stupid, damaging laws being passed BUT there are outcrys and there are revolutions!

The outcry would be SO deafening if our internet freedom was taken away from us I believe it would start a Revolution.

We need not fear the government but the government needs to fear the people. Billions of people.

Why not offer businesses a seminar/webinar on how to make sure that their sites are SOPA compliant? The upsell, of course, is to offer to do it for them.

I see an opportunity here, personally.