People pay a lot of lip service to ‘job creation’ in politics, but I’m
currently working in an industry that creates jobs – seriously, on an
almost daily basis there are new jobs and opportunities for people, so
much so that the demand far outstrips the supply. Though no growth
period lasts forever, the bill called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act),
which is currently in committee in the US House Representatives, will
have stifling effects on this growth by creating greater overhead for
tech-oriented companies.
A lot of major tech players (Google, Facebook, even Microsoft -
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57330078-281/surprise-microsoft-quietly-opposes-sopa-copyright-bill/)
are opposed to this bill. The amazing technologies that have
integrated into our lives over the past decade (iPhones, streaming
movies, digital albums) has a lot to do with the openness of the
Internet, the exchange of information that it engenders, and the
resulting technological innovation and competition.
This bill is a bad idea, and an especially bad idea given the current
economic climate. My representative in the House is already opposing
the bill, and I’m grateful. If yours is not, use one of the many
resources (i.e. http://engineadvocacy.org/voice/) to call your
representative and let them know you want to enable us all to have
more great stuff from the tech sector in the coming years. Oh yeah -
and more jobs.
Thanks, soapbox over
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*This was a letter I sent to my immediate family, I thought it was worthy of publishing online.
