I dont agree. He should have fought fire with fire and connected their attempt to fight online piracy with the intrusive methods used by the large media companies to control content.

For example, how the media companies force you to watch commercials that can't be skipped when you purchase a DVD. People HATE those and using that as an example of a world where SOPA/PIPA are the law of the land would win a few points.

He should have also been much more forceful or accusatory and mounted a good offense that Cotton would have been forced to defend against. This is an effective debating strategy, nearly equivalent to the question "when did you stop beating your wife" and can totally change the win/loss column.

But the BEST way to frame this debate is to discuss how INTRUSIVE the methods will be. The ISPs will HAVE to install means of monitoring everything that is done online in order to protect themselves from liability. This same technology, once installed, could be used to block access to offshore poker/gambling sites and that it s HUGE business in the US. There is literally NO END to the kinds of disfavored businesses or information sources that could be censored and if you don't know about them, then its likely to completely change the open nature of the Internet. Making the point that this censorship regime would look exactly like China's Great Firewall is effective. For all intensive technological purposes, the two are the same.

Well....sounds like you are agreeing with me. I said I didn't think he was well prepared enough. He should have spoken about SPECIFIC issues. i.e. highlighted SPECIFIC ways the legislation recommends that things will be implemented, or other specific ways that the internet (and our way of life) will be impacted via language found in the legislation.

None of which he did. I felt like that could have been me talking - when it shouldn't have felt like that. It should have felt like someone that is intimately familiar with the legislation and have talking points about why it is bad with specific examples. i.e. what you said :)