The Truth about the Economics Behind the Blacklist Bills
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/truth-about-economics-behind-blacklist-bills
In the face of mountains of evidence that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA) will censor online speech,
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/internet-blacklist-vs-constitution hurt Internet security
http://boingboing.net/2011/12/17/how-sopa-will-destroy-internet.html and infrastructure, and criminalize tools
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/20111116141248301243.html used by human rights activists in oppressive regimes, supporters of the blacklist bills say one subject trumps all others: jobs.
Yet for unknown reasons, Congress is ignoring that SOPA/PIPA would depress the growing tech sector, all while citing the MPAA's misleading and debunked numbers on how piracy is “decimating” their industry.
The tech sector has been a huge economic driver in a time of general economic stagnation. In 2011, California “created more jobs than any other, adding 233,000 workers to the payrolls in the past year — 6,500 in just the last month,” according to CBS News.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57348192/calif-tech-companies-providing-job-boost/?tag=contentBody;cbsCarousel “The hot spots: high-tech centers where jobs are up in Silicon Valley, San Diego, San Francisco and Orange County.” Another study
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/09/university-of-maryland-study-says-facebook-apps-have-created-more-than-182-thousand-jobs.html shows Facebook apps and mobile apps alone are responsible for almost 200,000 jobs over the last few years.
The tech sectors have been crucial to the recovery of local economies. For example, San Francisco is seeing job growth
http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-03-27/business/29193862_1_tech-jobs-tech-employment-tech-firms reach levels near the dot com peak in the mid 1990s. In fact, "high-tech industry growth during 2011 drove the best market performance in more than a decade” in the northwest region on the United States.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-office-market-ends-2011-up-346-million-sf-similar-pace-of-recovery-expected-in-2012-2012-01-06?reflink=MW_news_stmp But this phenomenon is hardly confined to Northern California: the same is true
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tech-sector-job-market-remains-hot-in-middle-tennessee-2012-01-06 in less obviously tech-focused states like Tennessee.
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