I make my living from intellectual property. My consulting services, my blog, my other writings and my forthcoming book feed my family. I believe that piracy is an awful thing. It harms our economy and kills jobs.
But the two bills under consideration by Congress—the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA – House Bill 3261) and Protect-IP (PIPA)—are deeply flawed, harm our economy and have the potential to kill even more jobs.
Worse, they won’t actually stop piracy.
Google has a great blog post explaining why that is. Or you can read this post on the New York Times or this one on the Atlantic showing how to work around current “blackouts” sites have enacted to protest the bill.
Obviously, these workarounds only address the self-imposed shutdowns, but they provide insights as to how determined pirates will be able to bypass the restrictions imposed by SOPA and PIPA. The Internet was designed to route around failures (a process known today as “the Streisand effect”). Roadblocks between consumers and content—even pirated content—look exactly like a “failure” to underlying Internet technology. The very nature of the ‘net prevents many of the measures SOPA proposes from working.
Worser still (yes, I know “worser” is not a word, but it feels right here), proponents of the bill cite examples of totalitarian censorship as positive evidence for the bill’s effectiveness:
“When the Chinese told Google that they had to block sites or they couldn’t do [business] in their country, they managed to figure out how to block sites.”
That quote is from former U.S. Senator and current Motion Picture Association of America head (i.e, “lobbyist”) Chris Dodd. Again, I’m not arguing that piracy is a good thing. But emulating the Great Firewall of China cannot be the right answer to the problem in a democratic society.
Yes, we need to find an answer. SOPA is not it.
Finally, it’s not like an alternative bill doesn’t exist. The OPEN Act offers an alternative that protects copyrights and ensures an open Internet.
I usually prefer to keep my politics close to my vest. I grew up in an era where politics, religion and sex were verboten in professional settings. But in this case, I’m asking you to contact your representatives in Congress and tell them to vote against this bill. It’s bad for our economy. It kills jobs. And, by the admission of its own backers, it moves the United States towards Chinese-style censorship.
To make it easier to contact your legislators, I’ve included a widget below that will let you call them directly. Or you can sign Google’s petition. Regardless, don’t sit on the sidelines for this one. Stop SOPA. The Internet you enjoy today depends on it.
Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.
Or subscribe via email.
And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.
Tim Peter & Associates helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to reach more customers, more effectively every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.
Technorati Tags: leadership, Congress, SOPA, Stop SOPA
Tagged as:
activism,
pipa,
politics,
protect-ip,
sopa,
sopa blackout,
sopa protest,
sopa strike,
stop online piracy act
A lack of skills, focus or (heaven forbid), talent, can doom the best marketing strategy before it ever gets off the ground. But, more often than not, the problem isn’t with the team. It’s with management. According to US News and World Report, “Even in this economy, between 1.5 million and 2 million people quit their jobs each month.” And the top reasons people quit their jobs relate to management and culture.
Does your company measure up? The simplest question you can ask your team—ensuring their anonymity, of course—is whether they’d let their friends work for you. If your customers said they wouldn’t recommend your business to their friends, you’d sit up and take notice, right? Why not do the same with your employees?
Finding the right people and then keeping those people happy, focused and secure separates the companies winning the race from the ones that fall by the wayside.
If your team lacks skills, it’s your responsibility to get them the training needed to succeed. If your team lacks focus, it’s your job to inspire them. And if they lack the desire to gain the skills and focus, well… dude, you hired ‘em. Something must have attracted you to them in the first place. Find that and draw it out again[*]. I once knew a manager who complained about every person on his team, even those he’d professed to love when they first joined his team. After hearing this story repeatedly, I figured he either a.) didn’t know how to hire or b.) didn’t know how to manage.
It’s easy to assume that employees will work for you, no matter what. It’s also BS. Yes, the economy—especially on the employment front—sucks. But people want to feel valued and to work on things that matter. I’d mentioned that you’ve got to have your team in order when looking at the 5 steps for online marketing success in 2012 over on the Biznology blog a few days ago. If your employees wouldn’t want their friends to work for you, it’s not the team that’s out of order. It’s you.
Footnote: Of course, you may be better off finding folks who actually are engaged and passionate to learn/work. But, unless you’re like a former Governor, you probably don’t like firing people. The decision whether to retain or part ways with an employee is one of the hardest any manager ever faces. My advice—unless you’ve long since determined the person isn’t going to work out—is “teach, teach, term.” Make sure you’re providing the employee the opportunity to improve. Again, you hired the individual. Try and rekindle whatever it was that sold you on the person first before deciding to move in a new direction.
Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.
Or subscribe via email.
And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.
Tim Peter & Associates helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to reach more customers, more effectively every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.
Technorati Tags: leaders, leadership, marketing, marketing best practices, teamwork
Tagged as:
employees,
leaders,
Leadership,
management,
marketing 101,
marketing strategy,
online business,
online marketing,
Strategy
Jim Kleinsasser is a professional football player. Well, was, anyway. He retired a couple days ago, shortly after his team’s season ended. Kleinsasser played 14 seasons—all for the same team—occasionally catching passes, but mainly blocking for the team’s primary ball carrier. In a brief interview with Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, here’s what he remembered has his proudest moment as a player:
“Remember Adrian Peterson’s record-breaking game against San Diego? [Peterson rushed for a single-game-record 296 yards against San Diego as a rookie.] I had a block in that game I’ll always remember. It was a kick-out block to the sidelines, I think it was Shawne Merriman, and Adrian got a huge run, and he went on to make history. That was always important to me, because it was my job.” [Emphasis mine]
Note, Kleinsasser didn’t talk about his touchdowns (and with only 6 in 14 seasons, you’d think those would be memorable).
Nope.
He talked about pride in doing his job.
As you’re kicking off the New Year and thinking about what you want to accomplish, are you thinking more about the accolades and awards or about the effort you plan to give? Which one do you think matters more?
Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.
Or subscribe via email.
And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.
Tim Peter & Associates helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to reach more customers, more effectively every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.
Technorati Tags: inspiration, leaders, leadership, success, teamwork, vision
Tagged as:
inspiration,
leaders,
Leadership,
motivation
