Defend our freedom to share (or why SOPA is a bad idea) | Clay Shirky

www.ted.com What does a bill like PIPA/SOPA mean to our shareable world? At the TED offices, Clay Shirky delivers a proper manifesto -- a call to defend our freedom to create, discuss, link and share, rather than passively consume.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/tra...
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[@MindprowlerMusic]

I could listen to this guy all day, what a great public speaker, very impressive, very convincing. Well done Clay Shirky.

[@simplyJT27]

"Time Warner called and they want you back on the couch consuming not producing and sharing." WOW I just LOVE that!! That was BRILLIANT dude!!

[@pseudogenesis]

Great TEDTalk. He avoids the trap of dullness that so many technical talks fall into and managed to make the issue of human concern without being overly-sappy or appealing too much to emotion. Well done.

[@gmoduk93]

I actually clapped at the end of the video. Remarkable and hopefully effective speech. Well done. A++

[@fujifilmz]

I encourage everyone to post this on their Facebook. It's much easier to for many to understand the consequences of SOPA and PIPA through this explanation. Shout outs to the fusion of Tom Hanks and Mr. Clean!

[@kaemincha]

This gave me chills. I'm 14, and in the last year I've recently been exploring the internet. I would hate if just now that I'm starting to get into KZbin and Tumblr; suddenly, it would be taken away from me.

[@SyntheticFuture]

Spread this everywhere people, this needs to go viral.

[@KaiTendo174]

I love the part, when he goes: "Get ready!", when he talks about "the hard thing", that he mentions... I find it amazing. :D

[@anonwoohoo]

Every internet user should watch this video. This needs to go viral! We will not stand for this draconian censorship. We will never forget SOPA & PIPA.

[@subsonicdeathmonkey]

Thank you so much for being so concise during a time of chaotic yelling and screaming. Now is a time for thinking, understanding and acting with purpose. Best TED Talk yet!

[@DanielBallantyne]

This is a fantastic summary of and argument against SOPA/PIPA. Thanks for putting it into terms that will resonate with most people. Shifting the burden of proof from the accuser to the accused is something we should all rigorously resist as it undermines fundamental democratic principles.

[@rodovre]

Thanks for the the effort to explain PIPA and SOPA in such a clear way! I just hope that citizens, not lobbyists, run US these days...

[@MrLenzi1]

I am a firm believer in the non-aggression principle. I think theft is so immoral that I even reject the state on that basis. But copying is not theft!

[@KittenKoder]

This is the best description and most complete analysis of the issue. This is just perfect.

[@dazbert1]

Brilliantly put. It's this clarity that marks Clay out as a voice worth hearing.

[@SideSmash]

This guy's got his head on straight. He's also a fantastic public speaker. I applaud this "Ted" person.

[@DoRayMeFa]

Clear, concise, understandable, compelling. (the lecture, not pipa/sopa) . It's hard to believe our "representatives" are even proposing such overreaching! PIPA/SOPA make Prohibition look like a work of genius. .

[@joebrower3318]

for a second i was like tom hanks is a handsome man bald.

[@killyourtelllievision]

One of the better TED Talks I have seen

[@crafty_geek]

Thanks for all the DMCA and SOPA/PIPA historical info - as a child in the '90s, I am unfamiliar with the intricacies of recent history, so had no idea about those precidents until now,

[@MrLenzi1]

Henry Ford, the first mass producer of cars, was sued for patent infringement. Thanks to patent laws mass production of cars was only really possible after Selden's patent ran out. And it still happened. If you install a software and agree not to share it, you enter a contract. If you do share it, that is a breach of contract and should have consequences. The bad thing that was done in this scenario is however not the sharing but the breach of contract.

[@Axlite2]

Simply awe-inspiring talk! It's the kind of stuff that reassures one's hope in humanity.

[@bugsz1]

Agreed. There are already commerce laws addressing copyright infringement. No more administrative rules and regulations need to be added.

[@pnggolfer9]

@themilkguruu It's sad that people who aren't from the US know more about our politics than many if not most Americans. I appreciate your comment and your attention to our (and I suppose your) politics. The crap that creeps into legislation while the ignorant many enjoy their bliss doesn't need to exist. Thanks TED!

[@DavidDiMuzio]

A must watch for everyone...

[@VanielDonovan]

This is awesome and well done, and I love so much that I'm watching it ON KZbin. It just highlights all his points. He also looks remarkably like Tom Hanks. A++

[@shango02005]

Best TED talk I've ever seen! Thank you, TED!!

[@Daturatox]

Hurray, education about a topic I have felt emotion over. ... thank you for posting this.

[@OpenhartCreative]

Excellent message. Too bad the audio & visual is not in sync. I have however forwarded this message on as well as signing a petition against PIPA/SOPA. Thanks again.

[@DvnMrtn]

What a great video. He's very well spoken and gets right to the point.

[@MrLenzi1]

Theft means that someone takes someone else's property without their consent. It means that the owner doesn't have it anymore. Sharing, copying, pirating, whatever you want to call it, means that he still owns it. There is no such thing as intellectual property.

[@ThatOneInternGuy]

The point of the vid is not just to inform the laymen about these two bills and why theyre bad, but that new iterations will be introduced, and that it is important to stay vigilant and informed about such bills that have not yet come to pass.

[@StevenVillman]

Yes... and this is *_still_* very relevant in 2017, because of the threat of the end of Net Neutrality if the FCC succeeds in ending Net Neutrality on December 14, 2017!!!

[@jceja87]

Well done presentation.

[@rubendiazguitar]

Excellent talk! Thank you so much!

[@its_riyo93]

totally agree with you! thats why i love the joker from the dark knight so much (sorry for being a little bit off topic) he says, that freedom can only be achieved through chaos, and the the one thing about chaos -> it's fair (this is not a direct quote, i'm just interpretating his thoughts)

[@chubito33]

1st i enjoyed your speech, well put together. this needs to be spread out so more ppl know what to do, i already signed the petition, hopefully more follow

[@iviewthetube]

Thanks TEDtalks. It is speakers as Clay which lead to legislature's withdrawal of support to the poorly written SOPA bill.

[@leifert3]

Amazing rhetoric and phrasing. Great speaker.

[@PerspectiveEngineer]

Wasn't it the Sony betamax the were suing over in the 79's. That always cracks me up when I hear about Sony media crying over copyright. Great speech. I'm sharing it!

[@isaacmiller162]

This is an incredible speach

[@vivinpan]

We need to right some wrongs. Haven't we been USED enough? This is an issue we have to understand and stay focused on because if we lose focus what chance will our kids and grand-kids have of being free to think, create, grow and stay human, as opposed, to living to consume and make money for the huge, multinational, monster corporations. I'm going to share and share and share information like this. Thanks Clay Shirky

[@Nub12342]

The fight is not over guys! We need your support again! ACTA, is an international trade agreement currently negociated by the European Union, the United States, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Australia as well as a few other countries, whose aim is to enforce copyright and tackle counterfeited goods (hence its acronym: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). Please thumbs this up to help raise awareness. It is worse then SOPA and will be passed in 6 days. It has been behind doors for years.

[@Drafell]

This talk is so spot on. Great work.

[@Space_Gaucho]

I like how he says that people sometimes just "finds" and share illegal copyrighted material.

[@STevEKlm012]

This has to be the most relevant talk in this century.

[@TechVitaminsTV]

Great information, continue to educate people we need this type of info!!!

[@superpolarbearrug]

I am from Sweden and I am truly terrified of these bills. If you read this and live outside of the US, do not imagine that SOPA and PIPA won't effect you. They indefinitely will.

[@GIUGIK1]

Fantastic speech. Truly mesmerizing.

[@dominictemple]

Really liked this video, Clay Shirky has done an excellent explanation of the problems with these ridiculous pieces of legislation. Another video that talks about the upcoming problems is Cory Doctorow's "The coming war on general computation" which points out the terrible absurdity of these laws and why they will keep on coming.

[@darkdragonsoul99]

@Sympat1cZz It was a gift from the french we didn't really have much to do with building it or naming it. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" That should be rewritten to no vacancies

[@FreeInternetDownload]

It amazes me why politicians keep trying to hinder the growth of the internet with these new variations of SOPA/PIPA.

[@hojdnatir]

The best take on SOPA/PIPA that I've heard.

[@theonetruekirk]

@wstiii Depends on what is labeled as stealing. There has been trend toward labeling any use, even "fair use", as "stealing". If you wanted to compare and contrast two different scenes from two shows in an internet forum, with Sopa/Pipa you will get shut down due to "copyright infringement". Way to support narrowing our freedoms.

[@TheHopeWithin]

As a Canadian, I firmly believe there should be constitutional amendments in ALL first world nations specifically created to defend the internet (neutrality, freedom of speech/expression, and privacy). It should be iron clad and like the bill of rights; a citadel upon which our societal freedoms and values are based. The web is easily the greatest invention of modern times and like the industrial revolution, it has caused a fundamental shift in our very evolution. It should be treated as such.

[@M4ttz8]

This comment was posted a long time ago, 3 months to be exact, the news had just come out so I hadn't quite looked into it the finite details yet, and no one even knew how successful that decision would be.

[@Xalterax]

Ah here's the original. The view still seem low for how clear and concise this video makes understanding the 2 bills, and what they are *really* about and why they need to say something. I actually linked this to all my co workers because it is so easy to understand.

[@HWGMowsey]

Gabe Newall himself made an excellent point about Piracy (Which is essentially a blanket term that can be swapped out with "Copyright Violation" these days), "Piracy is not a pricing issue, It's a service issue". I don't buy DVDs because i'm sick to the back teeth of having to watch 50 thousand titles telling me i'm a thief and a disgusting human being if i pirate content, Even though i've got the retail box for the DVD on my lap and i'm reading the promotional material.

[@extion]

Wow, TED. I'm really happy you did this. Thank you Clay, and thank you TED!!

[@gunslingrr6]

Have to hand it to him. His argument is cogent and specific to these bills. If we're lucky enough to survive them, can we remain vigilant for the fights ahead that must come. There's no reason in the world for media producers to stop trying to kill copying. They are going to come at it from every angle. I fear the subtle approach most. Every show, star, piece of music we enjoy is coming from people who have a stake in this. I expect they'll have them appeal to the people eventually. NAPSTER!!!!!

[@MetalNCarnet]

I just bought a new book and just finished reading it. I thought it was great and decided to let my friends borrow the book and read it. Essentially, in the eyes of MPAA and ESA, my friends are stealing and NOT PAYING to read that book, and should be punished (labeled thieves). That scenario is the same as downloading a music album from a friend over the internet. I see no difference. So if these laws pass, then they should disallow people from sharing physical media too. SAME THING!

[@Melki]

Change the law, change IP. Update IP. Lets not treat contents as property, but lets require people to give thanks to their sources of solutions. One way of doing this is to post receipts of payments or donations made to authors in your profile page. Receipts could be subtituted with stickers. Those who use and share a lot of utilities but have little receipts are those who don't pay for stuff and would be liable for scrutiny from their community.

[@MrSongLamb]

Thanks so much TED for such an informative video.

[@Geoshi]

Incredible talk, and it's terrifying to know this could be a reality

[@elmersglue44]

good speech. thank you

[@apricotsnms516]

Perfect thank you. I'm spreading the word.

[@niggamoment86]

What we need are the biggest websites on the internet- not just reddit or wikipedia, but youtube, facebook, google, yahoo, etc. to black out, not just for 24 hrs , but for 48hours. Or, at the very least, cover the main page in anti-SOPA ads and imagery so that Joe Public who is clueless about the severity of this bill will finally be motivated to learn more about this assault on free speech, and take action.

[@jhux1]

im going to click 'share' on this video, as a metaphorical "up yours" to the PIPA &SOPA bills

[@TheGolfdaily]

Clay Shirky looks like Tom hanks with no hair. Any way great job Clay Shirky! World needs more guys like you.

[@HasanDervish]

The other thing we can do more of is create and share our own stuff, music, novels, movies, animation, series. people are making great films for a fraction of the blockbuster costs. perhaps this is our chance to really get started on creating and sharing home-brewed media; get out there and reclaim the building blocks of our culture.

[@w00tse]

Amazing talk, thanks for uploading.

[@Kronus420]

Thank you for sharing.

[@Nub12342]

@Soul12000 Yes! Please help spread the word! The UK has not signed for this yet, and it is only 6 days left until its passed. You can sign petitions to help out.

[@buscadora06]

I live in Spain, were everyone is actually considered a criminal as we pay an extra Digital Tax in every piece of electronic equipment we buy, so that may explain why we are world number two in ilegal downloads, we consider we already payed for it, so we download it for free. I always used the USA as an example, were piracy was punished and content was cheap and available, so I feel terribly sad to hear about SOPA, and criminalizing everyone. This will sure be the begining of the problem

[@pedrohadek]

I believe that PIPA/SOPA is a good thing. It finally brought Copyright issues to the mainstream - which may finally allow for the other copyright abuse problems to be solved more easily.

[@LTL30]

There was a guest on; am1290 here in London, Ontario today and he said this exactly this bill will give the American government total and complete control over everything and everyone it won't matter which country that you are from. So, if you video record yourself singing a song that you like (of an artist that you like), and place it on You Tube they have complete access to you and they will go after you for not having the rights to that song. It means the true internet becomes deleted.

[@Zralf]

thank you good sir, that was a good, to the pont, clear talk.

[@desertrose0601]

Very well explained. Thank you!

[@shaneomack12]

The cartoon character bit reminds me of a bar in Green Bay called Grumpys. They used to have a hand-painted image of Grumpy the dwarf from "Snow White" on the door and they ended up getting in deep doodoo because of the copyright. Today, it's still called Grumpys and has a blacked-out image of Grumpy with a question mark on his face.

[@ThiagosbbBR]

Amazing Talks, Sir. I`m spreading the word!

[@MrLenzi1]

That is literally what happened to cars. Is no one producing cars anymore? There's still an interest in producing higher quality products and it still happens without "IP laws".

[@hardeep717]

Great video. TED always delivers some of the best information content. Hopefully SOPA or PIPA will not change that.

[@FeederForLife]

@Niterice I want to start this by saying that I am totally against these laws and found this speech very educational, but they aren't saying they own the internet, they are saying that, for example, if someone uploads a montage with clips from a TV show and their favourite song the companies that own the TV show and song rights get to take that down. The problem is that people aren't making money for their montage, so it doesn't break copywright laws, they just thought it would be fun.

[@HealthyPlanet]

These did not pass. They should be ripped up. And start over by creating fair bills WITH U.S. experts/professionals/consultants that know more about how to protect copyrights WITHOUT censoring/limiting our freedom to exchange information.

[@javiercorre]

This video deserves more views!!

[@Rizzit]

Copyright is an infringement to human nature. Without copying others and learning from it, we would not have this discussion.

[@Nub12342]

@MyMyMyTelephone No, the European Union has not signed it. We need to help the UK protest against it by signing petitions against it. Please spread the word.

[@hamaca7]

thank you so much for this video... I am sharing

[@KaiTendo174]

Such an amazing speaker!

[@pedrohadek]

@BrainLapseFilms I was talking about the fact that these bills brought the copyright issue to the mainstream. The bills themselves are atrocious - and so is most of the current legislation.

[@greob]

Excellent video. Thanks, and good luck to us.

[@MrLenzi1]

Yes. If I don't want others to copy it, I can either not sell it or put some kind of programm on it that makes it harder or impossible to copy it. Also, most people want to support inventors of something and want to encourage more of it so they buy the actual product.

[@StevenVillman]

+MrLenzi1 That is the case, *_*if*_* they can buy the actual product within their own country; otherwise...

[@puttefnask]

This guy is totally Tom Hank's double. Keep up the good fight!

[@Ocasek77]

I totally agree, "we have freedom of speech.... as long as we don't offend other or the institutions"

[@NIGHTMAREuki]

We need more people like Ron Paul in Congress, people who can't be bought.

[@FindingVickie]

@sympat1cZz Even a free country makes mistakes. SOPA and PIPA haven't passed yet, and I don't think it's fair to say that our country doesn't have liberty if our congressmen still have the chance to make the right decision. Even they deserve the benefit of the doubt. Bad bills have been in Congress before, and, the majority of the time-I believe-they have failed. It's too early to say America doesn't have liberty. But if these bills pass... I'm totally with you.

[@ezikual55]

SHARED on my Facebook....

[@Zephyr16]

@NoShit12 ...he was saying those things to make the audience laugh (and they're laughing at the stupidity of the big media companies)...humor is a tool to keep the audience engaged.

[@delusionnnnn]

Actually, piracy is not the primary problem behind SOPA. The primary problem is that copyrights last forever - continually lengthened as time goes by, so that nothing enters the commons. Demand a five year copyright law without extensions.

[@3tiredofbeingalive3]

I would like the transcription of this poorly Xeroxed and on my desk by Monday!

[@DVJLabonte]

Great talk. I think the most important message in this now is that we should be 'ready' for more assaults on our internet freedoms. (ACTA is already on its last dying breaths) Its sad to see that greed and fear can so easily manipulate human minds. It is, however, empowering to see enlightened minds speaking out against injustices to the human race. We are poised on the edge of a knife right now, which way will you chose to sway. We the people, united, forever.