Brad Feld

"Look more carefully. The first item Is #1 in Books." - Brad Feld

"More self-help but the ideas are relevant to anyone / everyone." - Brad Feld

"Ok - so what is the Sphere?" - Brad Feld

"Bingo! Senator Udall did a nice job of talking about "red shirt issues vs. blue shirt issues" and how this dominates. Ironically, in SOPA/PIPA is didn't, as there was a view that there was "broad bi-partisan support", but there was also broad bi-partisan opposition which was actually more important than the support since when the red shirts and the blue shirts both decided it was bad, it probably was bad." - Brad Feld

"Phil - I started off following you and nodding my head the first three paragraphs, but then I got lost.  Help me understand where you are going with this - it seems interesting but I'm not processing it." - Brad Feld

"Understood. I spent many hours during SOPA/PIPA on the following things. First, I challenged folks to articulate the problem and substantiate it (most couldn't go any deeper than the generic high level talking point.) Next, I'd say something like "assume that piracy is an issue - what are we specifically trying to solve for." The proponents of SOPA/PIPA refused to engage thoughtfully in this discuss. Finally, once I realized the combination of these two things, I realized it was pointless to continue this particular thread and SOPA/PIPA must die.  I'm perfectly happy and willing to engage in "problem solving" around the issue of online piracy. I'm involved in several activities with folks who previously supported SOPA/PIPA that might evolve in this category - at least I'm hopeful they will. And yes - I totally agree - these things will keep coming up. Gigi did a great job of showing us chronologically how SOPA/PIPA is deja vu all over again in her presentation." - Brad Feld

"I've already bitten off something that has a deep seated unchewable nature. I have very sharp and durable teeth, or at least I fantasize that I do. Having grown up in Dallas, Ross Perot had lots of other issues that prevented him from making more progress, at least in my humble perspective. But the reminder is super useful." - Brad Feld

"The biggest problem is that the proponents of things like SOPA/PIPA (I'll call them incumbents) don't really want to test first, iterate, then implement. They want to solve entirely from their frame of reference, independent of any other frame of reference. That came through loud and clear a few weeks ago and then again yesterday." - Brad Feld