I’m sensing a whole lot of fear coming from these AC trolls who can’t even be bothered to address anything before heading straight to the insults. Or maybe there’s just a whole lot more head trauma among the dissenters, which I would presume to be self-inflicted, perhaps when head meets wall/desk upon the news that yet another person/entity has broken away from the supposed quorum that makes up the PROTECT-IP hallelujah choir.

What are you looking for exactly? Will PROTECT-IP finally put the “creative community” (read: MPAA/RIAA/BSA) into the black? Is that what you think will actually happen?

PROTECT IP, 3-6 Strikes, ACTA, etc. are all supposedly going to turn a nation of basement dwelling pirates into paying customers. That’s the plan, isn’t it? This legislation will pass and the money will start rolling in.

But what if it doesn’t? What if the legislation does pass and your collective P&Ls remain in the same sorry shape they’re in now? What then?

You already know “what then.” You’ll craft new legislation and wave money in the general direction of your favorite politicians and demand satisfaction. More laws. More enforcement. More penalties. More power to the Content Cartel and less to the rest of the citizens.

And what if that doesn’t help? Or doesn’t do enough? What if the spike in sales is more of a blip?

You’ll just keep heading back to the legislation well, lobbying money in hand and backscratchers at the ready.

You won’t be happy until you’ve got your own internet, cobbled together into some sort of AOHellish, government-run (with the input of our acronymous and acrimonious “friends”)[BTW, “acronymous” is now a word. Go use it somewhere.] portal that “allows” internet users to reach only pre-approved sites and every other word on the page links to a “Buy” transaction. You won’t be satisfied until you get your own search engine and browser software. (Check with the BSA. It’s got to have some “creatives” within its ranks that can bang this out over a three-day weekend for you. [I don’t know… “CopyRIGHT Day?”)

But, take a moment and consider this:

What if, “hypothetically” (there’s a reason that’s in quotes…), you keep jamming more laws and restrictions and breakage down everyone’s internet and the end result is NOT A GODDAMN BIT OF DIFFERENCE?

What if sharing goes dark and you can’t find it? What if your former paying customers get a little sick of you eroding their civil rights, fucking with their internet service and using their legislative system (and their elected representatives) to force the general public to bend to your increasingly expensive whims? What if they decide to just stop spending money on your products because they’re sick and tired of feeding a machine that’s always hungry? What then?

Your sisyphean efforts will NEVER be repaid, at least not to a degree that will satisfy you. It will NEVER be enough.

Do you honestly think that the people who download because they can’t afford to buy will suddenly find their wallets full of cash once the legislation passes? Are you counting these (and other unhatched chickens) in this theoretical future windfall?

How about all of those people who stopped buying your products years ago and now spend their money supporting independent artists directly? Do you think a shit ton of legislation and a government-addled internet is going to suddenly win their hearts and minds (and most importantly, wallets)?

Honestly, I don’t think you even care. I think this legislation is nothing more than a vindictive attempt to rabbit punch a few infringers. It’s the equivalent of leaving a flaming bag of shit on the doorstep of America (and the rest of the world, if you get your way). You’re hurt because you’ve gone on a 15-year slide and the only moves you know are (a) bitch and (b) moan. Fortunately for you, your bitching and moaning is heard in Washington. But it won’t be this way forever.

You can’t stop piracy. You can’t even contain it. All you can do is make the world a lousier place for every person who doesn’t still rush out and buy your plastic things on day and date. You’ll screw up everything for everyone, including the artists you pretend to speak for.

Shut down all the digital lockers and you’re hurting every band that uses them to distribute their free music. You’ll turn every cloud service into a prohibitively expensive and completely worthless digital trinket, saddled with a million “me too” licensing fees and built-in tariffs for the always-popular “just in case there’s stuff on there that’s not quite right.”

You jackasses can’t even sell an mp3 to anyone. It never belongs to the customer. It still belongs to the artist. If someone wants to offload their iTunes purchases on an open market, you’re right there to remind them that all they purchased was a “license” for the track in question, an ephemeral piece of control freak crap that isn’t worth the paper it was never written on.

So, go ahead: insult us. Scream. Bitch. Call us any name under the sun. But all that bile isn’t putting any money in your pockets. And it certainly isn’t winning you any new friends.

You’ve got an entire world to compete with, most of whom can do your job (connect with fans, sell music/movies/software, earn customers for life) better than you can. You don’t care about your artists. You don’t care about the general public. All you care about is “getting yours,” no matter how much you have to destroy in the process.