Thoughts on SOPA From New Orleans

In which Hank walks around the French Quarter and discusses the freaking sweet internet blackout that resulted in a great number of congresspeople dropping their support for SOPA and PIPA. The internet is coming into its own as a powerful political force, and just in time to face serious threats.

Note: All buskers in this video received at least a $5 tip. Posting a video of a busker is a really interesting intellectual property discussion, actually. If I were to take 20 videos of that one man band and create a YouTube channel all about him and then make a bunch of money off of it and not give him any, that would clearly be wrong, but it would not (as far as I can tell) be illegal. He's performing in a public space and I am thus allowed to record him. It's another example of the rule "don't be a dick" being far more important than any law congress can pass on copyright reform.

We are entering a brave new world here, thank you for standing up for the internet, helping to defeat SOPA and PIPA, and thinking deeply about these issues.

Tagged as: blackout, buskers, dancers, french quarter, internet, juggler, musicians, new orleans, one man band, pipa, protest, sopa