To some, January 18th -- the day the Internet came together in protest of SOPA and PIPA -- was seen as a day of important democratic action. To others, like the RIAA's CEO Cary Sherman, it was seen as a great failure of the democratic system. An act of "demagoguery" rather than "democracy."
That was the gist, and the wording, of a controversial op-ed Sherman wrote for The New York Times in early February, entitled What Wikipedia Won't Tell You. In it, he claimed that Wikipedia and Google tricked the greater Internet public into believing that SOPA and PIPA were bad. Here's a quote:
When Wikipedia and Google purport to be neutral sources of information, but then exploit their stature to present information that is not only not neutral but affirmatively incomplete and misleading, they are duping their users into accepting as truth what are merely self-serving political declarations... The conventional wisdom is that the defeat of these bills shows the power of the digital commons. Sure, anybody could click on a link or tweet in outrage - but how many knew what they were supporting or opposing? Would they have cast their clicks if they knew they were supporting foreign criminals selling counterfeit pharmaceuticals to Americans?
Talk about a "self-serving political declaration." To me, that sounds a lot like Mr. Sherman isn't a big fan of informing the public. Better to let everyone believe that opposing SOPA is the equivalent of supporting foreign criminals.
That's why when Andrew Keen, author (and friend of Internet Evolution), posted a tweet the other day requesting questions to ask Sherman on his radio show, I suggested: "Do you really consider an informed democratic public to be a bad thing (as you seemed to in your NYT op-ed)?"
You can take a look at Sherman answering my question and others on Keen's show below (note the grimace that crosses face as he's being asked). But here are a couple of notable points:
"Readers online" accepted misinformation being spread by Google and Wikipedia about SOPA and PIPA based on the assumption "if it comes from these sources, it must be true."
Members of Congress were "very frustrated that they couldn't get out their side of the story." (Aww.)
Those on the Internet have to hold themselves to the "same high standards" as newspapers and broadcast journalists do in the offline world, "with clarity and integrity."
To that last point, it's completely true that anyone charged with spreading information should do so with "clarity and integrity." But it's nothing short of propaganda to propose that online sources were the ones serving up misinformation about bills that were very clearly bad for the Internet. (Hence Mr. Sherman's inability to cite anything specific or specifically positive about the bills in his op-ed piece.)
Further, essentially chalking this up to a stubborn wrinkle in his plans, he says, "Hopefully that was a one-time experience that came from a lot of different things coming together where a lot of different people came to the conclusion that this was a terrible piece of legislation."
In other words, hopefully next time people will only be privy to the message of legislators and lobbyists -- you know, the ones who never misinform the public for political gain.
Sad that this guy really thinks SOPA and PIPA were misunderstood. I mean, even if that were true (I speak ironically), it would be a miserable reflection on everyone who had a hand in that bill -- and chose to make it incomprehensible to the average person.
The average idiiot who need to be made aware of the REAL way to handle all that digital thievery.
The real problem for me is that he doesn't seem able to specify any respect in which the public were misled by Google, et al, on SOPA/PIPA.
The irony is that Google today is implying that people have been misled over the implications of its new privacy policy, but it similarly unable to explain exactly what the misunderstanding is.
Right on Nicole. I mean if your living a $40,000 a month lifestyle (monthly nut) and your paycheck suddenly tanked to $2000 a month what is there to get? Frantically grasping at straws and yelling into the wind isn't going to bring the past, the good ol days back.
Totally agree Dream Chaser. The music industry, and its artists, have to take a more sober look at the world and reevaluate. I was watching an interview the other day with the lead singer of Maroon 5 who acknowledged that, while his band has had financial success, it's nothing compared to the kind of payday they could have expected a couple of decades ago.
But those days are gone. And, no, it's not simple. The Internet has disrupted business models without replacing them with equally lucrative ones, or often even lucrative ones! But now is the time for innovation and for forward-looking approaches to present-day problems... not deceptive rhetoric and legislation that would turn back time.
Nicole the Internet music distribution model won't support the extravgent ongoing expenses required to keep a big industry afloat. The RIAA should consider cost cutting so they can compete. For example someone who is wealthy from having been an officer of say a performing rights society might have to face the fact the money is not rolling in anymore and downsize their lifestyle. Mick Jagger in a recent interview said the 70's and 80's was when the money was really rolling in. But thats gone now.
"What gets me is that it's almost a decade later, and the record companies still don't get it."
Yup, Ron, same here. iTunes saved the music industry from much, much further despair. The efforts to continue to work against digital technology and the Internet make absolutely no sense.
Ron the record companies get it. They just don't like the Internet distribution model. The days of selling 40 million records at full price are over that much is obvious though and a few record companies do get that. As far as iTunes artists and labels went onboard reluctantly. It's just another tune shop basically and you can't depend on that alone to pay the bills - recoup the investment.
Wow. Talk about "out of touch". I'm not quite sure which is worse: that he's so woefully out of touch that he actually believes what he's saying, or that he's so out of touch he thinks he has a chance to deceive the people who are protesting.
I'm reading the Jobs biography, and it was only through the man's will power that he ever got the record companies to agree to join the iTunes Store. He gave them a revenue stream at a time they were facing big issues with file sharing sites. But it was a difficult negotiation, one only I think he could have pulled off. If you haven't read it, highly recommended reading. As one of the negotiators put (and I'm paraphrasing). "He's pathological, but he's a genius." That about sums it up. What gets me is that it's almost a decade later, and the record companies still don't get it.
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Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
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