Woody Harrelson and SOPA: How they're related and why they matter

I’m Woody Harrelson, AMA

Those unfamiliar with the Internet culture cosmos known as Reddit may have missed the trouble that the actor Woody Harrelson found himself in this week. Mr. Harrelson, star of "Cheers" and Money Train, participated in Reddit's recurring AMA (Ask Me Anything) tradition, in which famous or otherwise interesting people sign onto Reddit and answer any questions that Redditors may have.  AMAers have included actors (Zach Braff), B-list TV celebrities ("Jeopardy" winner Ken Jennings), politicians (a pre-scandal Anthony Weiner), victims of scandal (a young woman who is followed on Twitter by Anthony Weiner), and regular people with interesting jobs (an elementary teacher).

The AMA threads originate from the soul of the Internet.  It represents its greatest use as a tool: sharing of information.  The answerers offer insight into a life that others are interested in, and put themselves at the behest of all the intertubes to answer any questions.

Mr. Harrelson's AMA garnered attention for two reasons.  First, because he faced certain questions he might not have anticipated (one Redditor, I think, accused him of date rape).  Second, because the AMA was likely posted not by Mr. Harrelson but by a PR rep, as a way to promote his new film Rampart.  Mr. Harrelson, or his PR guy, was clearly seeking only to answer questions about the film.  He was promptly ridiculed.

Oddly enough, Mr. Harrelson's AMA ended up answering a very important question indeed.  It provides the key to why bills like SOPA and PIPA have been pervading the U.S. government and the world community.  The Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act were lobbied for by the Motion Picture Association of America, who represent Mr. Harrelson's home turf.  The reason for the MPAA's support of the bills is the same reason for Mr. Harrelson's Reddit disaster: both see the internet only in dollar signs, and not for its true purpose.

The MPAA, among other legal entities in the entertainment industry, fought hard to push anti-piracy legislation through Congress, and almost succeeded.  Their purpose was to curb the rampant online piracy of movies and music that has been losing them money.  Their complaints were for the most part based on unprovable negatives (think of all the Nickelback albums that weren't sold), but their advantage was that they were dealing with people who didn't quite understand how the internet worked.  The threat of the bill's passing was that it put the internet squarely in control of the entertainment industry and anyone who has the expendable funds to lawyer up when necessary.  In the interest of catching the baddies it would have severely restricted the best tools the internet has to offer.  Think of it as the Patriot Act of the internet: punishment of the whole for the sake of a few.  Thankfully, the internet fought back and the two bills were put to a quick death (at least for now).

SOPA/PIPA supporters share with Mr. Harrelson (or his PR guy) this tunnel-vision with regards to the internet.  It's a refusal to see it as anything but (a) a money-making machine, or (b) a money-losing machine.

Now, is the internet a money-making machine?  Of course.  Could Mr. Harrelson have used Reddit to successfully promote his film, of which I've already forgotten the title?  Absolutely.  He has sufficient enough street cred, especially after Zombieland, that if he had submitted to a legitimate AMA and not blatantly set it up as an advertisement, he might have cultivated legitimate interest in whatever dumb movie he just made.  A major complaint against SOPA/PIPA was lodged by corporations themselves, whose online business could potentially have been hurt if it were put into law.

What the Harrelson and SOPA incidents--and you can throw in the Anthony Weiner scandal as well--represent is a fundamental misunderstanding by our higher-ups of what the internet is good for.  It has established itself as a force that, though it can be regulated, cannot and should not be wrangled, whether it be by government, or the entertainment industry, or a horny Congressman who wants to have sexy chats.  The entertainment industry tried to lasso it.  Woody Harrelson tried to steer it toward his own interests.  In all these cases, the internet bit back.