The author makes the argument that "movie studios, often cited as the driving force behind the two controversial bills, are losing money to online pirates, but that doesn’t tell the whole story" but I disagree. From my own experience, people tend to pirate things they didn't have the money to buy because they had already spent it on all the movies they could afford or because things aren't available in the States (some manga series and anime being examples).<p>Would there be more money flowing to the studios if piracy didn't exist? Maybe. But maybe not. I've had friends who ended up buying special editions of movies they pirated because they liked it so much. Or friends who buy merchandise related to the anime or shows or whatever.<p>There's just too much going on, too many factors, too many different people, to conclusively say that piracy is linearly related to losses for studios. There have been studies that tried to determine if piracy is bad for studios and the non-studio funded ones have said it's hard to determine. But writing an article that says "yes, movie studios, piracy is making you lose money" when it's not even proven gives the MPAA and RIAA more ammunition that we shouldn't be giving them.
A numbers proof for an argument I have observed repeatedly: The American Congress, on the balance, seems to be more about staying in Congress (or affiliates i.e. Lobbying) than about jobs for Americans.<p>When will we develop a digital representation system that allows us to dismantle the American Congress? We have the tools...<p>Edit: Another HN post that could be part of the solution: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3495623" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3495623</a>
Congress doesn't really care about "jobs", it's just a platitude they use as an excuse to push through the bills they want...you wouldn't vote against jobs, would you?