Image via Wikipedia
This is dangerous thinking:
SOPA foe Fred Wilson says everyone is a pirate, but supports a blacklist for pirate sites | VentureBeat
“If we created an independent body that essentially created a black and white list,†Wilson told a crowd of media executives at the Paley Center in New York. “The black list are those sites we all know are bad news. We all know who the good guys are who are truly licensed and are operating legitimately. And we know who the bad guys are.†CNET reports that Wilson named Hulu, Netflix, Rdio, Spotify and Rhapsody among the good guys.
I highly respect Fred’s intuition for solving complex problems. he is usually right about these things, but blacklisting is dangerous per-se, because it’s really a question about authority – who could possibly be authoritative enough to judge if a site is a ‘well known pirate’?
I will not state all the obvious examples from history where this type of thinking went awry, but the fact that it is even debated is an indicator that the topic is important. engage with it before it’s too late.
Related articles
- Post SOPA, influential tech investor favors ‘blacklisting’ pirate sites (news.cnet.com)
- Google blacklists The Pirate Bay (pocket-lint.com)
- Stop the Blacklisting of Migrant Workers (northernbarbarians.wordpress.com)
- Why I Research the Blacklist (dramaturgchick.wordpress.com)
- India’s Former Space Boss on Blacklist (91live.wordpress.com)
