Bill Snyder, writing for Infoworld, sharply rebukes advocates of SOPA and PIPA for their contrived numbers regarding job loss and dollar hits to the economy. Microsoft is notoriously busy in Congress and elsewhere shouting about piracy. Snyder:

“The software industry is being robbed blind,” said Business Software Alliance CEO Robert Holleyman. “Nearly $59 billion worth of products were stolen last year (2010) — and the rates of theft are completely out of control in the world’s fastest-growing markets,” it reported in a study. The BSA, which is led by Microsoft, was a leading advocate for SOPA and PIPA. By way of comparison, Microsoft’s revenue for that year was $62 billion. (Microsoft, by the way, spent $7.34 million on lobbying efforts last year, according to United States Senate Office of Public Records.)

Readers may have noticed that I had displayed a banner in the upper right corner of my site for a few days in protest of these anti-piracy proposals (SOPA and PIPA). The Internet chatter and Wikipedia’s self-blocking of its site sent a message. Congress has put these two measures on the back burner.

But Microsoft and others have deep pockets. So I don’t think these initiatives are gone for good.

If they return, though, web-shit will hit the fan again, and again, and again.

Love the Internet.