After all the raging debate about SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), the fundamental flaw in both is captured succinctly in this public letter to Senator Orrin Hatch from Phil Windley, Kynetx CTO and author of The Live Web, on his Technometria blog.

Thanks for summarizing the problem so nicely, Phil. And a tip ‘o the hat too to Cory Doctorow, whose talk on the subject Phil credits as well.

Incidentally, Phil’s point that we don’t need new laws governing technology, we need to enforce existing laws about harmful behaviour, explains why Connect.Me created the Respect Trust Framework. It is the legal fabric of a “purposeful network” where the incentives are so strong not to violate the trust of others that we will not have the kinds of rights violations that SOPA and PIPA are trying, misguidedly, to address.