Dear Congress, Guess What? We Already Have Copyright Laws

David Gewirtz | ZDNet | January 20, 2012

Summary: What you need to do, my dear politician friends, is to stop listening to the lobbyists and start listening to the innovators.

I know some of you in Congress are baffled by all the fuss us Internet geeks are making about your precious little SOPA and PIPA. I know some of you think you’re protecting intellectual property and all us digital types just want to freely do whatever we want online, without regard to who owns what.

You are incorrect and misinformed.

In fact, most of us digital types make our living from our intellectual property. When some sleezebag in a foreign country republishes this article (and does so over, and over, with slightly changed wording using a tool called “spinning”), that criminal will be stealing money I’d otherwise use to feed my family...