I don't think that's a devil's advocate viewpoint. I'm pretty sure that's the common wisdom. It's obviously something that everybody is considering very carefully, because it's an irrevocable act.
But the timeline won't be "1. Internet blackout 2. SOPA defeated 3. Congress wipes out the entire computer industry next year". What this does is put them on the board, with all that implies, it's not a suicide move.
But then, the whole point of SOPA is that they are on the board whether they want to be or not, and while they are flattering themselves with their moral purity and pretending they aren't players, all the other players are checkmating them. What this move would change is not the nature of the game, merely the other player's perceptions of the power of the computer industry players.
I suspect that it is effectively inevitable this blackout will occur. It will work. And then we'll have a couple of years of breathing room to work with before the computer industry is coopted and they become part of the machine.
(Sidenote: Note barrkel said would be perceived as, not is. Not the same thing.)
But the timeline won't be "1. Internet blackout 2. SOPA defeated 3. Congress wipes out the entire computer industry next year". What this does is put them on the board, with all that implies, it's not a suicide move.
But then, the whole point of SOPA is that they are on the board whether they want to be or not, and while they are flattering themselves with their moral purity and pretending they aren't players, all the other players are checkmating them. What this move would change is not the nature of the game, merely the other player's perceptions of the power of the computer industry players.
I suspect that it is effectively inevitable this blackout will occur. It will work. And then we'll have a couple of years of breathing room to work with before the computer industry is coopted and they become part of the machine.
(Sidenote: Note barrkel said would be perceived as, not is. Not the same thing.)