The frustrating part is that the internet and tech companies opposed to SOPA have plenty of gold. They're just not using it.
I agree. They are frustratingly quiet. Any ideas why?
Increased regulatory compliance costs plays to the advantage of existing big players. The government won't really let Google or Facebook be destroyed. DuckDuckGo or Diaspora? No tears shed. Losing some profit today to know that you just raised the bar of entry for your industry impossibly high for everybody else? A hard offer to resist.
What? Google is one of the few companies that's actually come out swinging against SOPA. I would wager they've done more to defeat it than any other company or individual with a presence on HN.
And I count that to their credit, as I do for the other companies who have fought this. I count it to their credit because it is no credit to resist a temptation not offered to you; my opposition to SOPA is easy, because I do not stand to gain from it. They are actually resisting something. But the answer to the question asked is, even if it appears to harm certain other companies, it's still to their benefit if it harms others even more, and that's why we're not hearing from them very much.
because SOPA doesn't hurt them. It hurts SMALL businesses.