Gewdbuddie13
I agree with the boycott, but who benefits from ACTA and SOPA?
The government for the most part. Depending on what happens, large oligopolies such as Hollywood, Disney, the RIAA, and the WMG may profit as well. Still I doubt that would be the case. I mean they do make up roughly 80% of the revenue from their respective industries. As long as there are people still going to the movies and buying DVDs, I doubt they're anywhere near losing money.
The government on the other hand can use ACTA and SOPA to inch closer and closer to the pseudo martial law that both right and left wing politicians (at least in America) have been pursuing for decades now. The fact of the matter is that whether ACTA/SOPA is passed or not, a lot of people will likely continue pirating crap regardless. And if international law allows the government to step in and monitor the people if they're under suspicion of pirating media, that legally puts the vast majority of the internet-using population on the eligibility list for "internet wiretapping".
Additionally, it would allow the governments to crack down on any website whose services are being used for the distribution or piracy of illegally attained goods. "An interlocutory injunction may also be issued, under the same conditions, against an [infringing] intermediary whose services are being used by a third party to infringe an intellectual property right." This includes Google. This is exceptionally scary considering just how much information google has about practically ever person who uses the internet. What is even more interesting is that their privacy policy allows them to share that information with legal authorities upon request and the new privacy policy to be instituted in March 2012 (which just so happens to coincide with the predicted passage of ACTA) will expand on that allowing the government to access Google's information banks to "detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues." I've been pushing for years now for people to stop using google services because I saw this coming a mile away. But people are too concerned with getting "free" stuff to care.
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