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The '''Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)''' (also known as the [[E-PARASITE Act]], House Bill 3261, or H.R. 3261) is a bill currently being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives that was demanded by the wealthy corporations as well as the music and film industry.  If passed, this bill would impose a number of controversial measures for dealing with online piracy including the distribution of copyrighted material via the [[internet]]. The Attorney General would be able to close down websites that infringe copyrights, and ban the site from online payment mechanisms such as [[PayPal]] and Visa. He could also prohibit the sites' online advertising, and disable [[Google]] from ranking and linking to infringing sites.   

The '''Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)''' (also known as the [[E-PARASITE Act]], House Bill 3261, or H.R. 3261) is a bill that was  being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives that was demanded by the wealthy corporations as well as the music and film industry.  If passed, this bill would impose a number of controversial measures for dealing with online piracy including the distribution of copyrighted material via the [[internet]]. The Attorney General would be able to close down websites that infringe copyrights, and ban the site from online payment mechanisms such as [[PayPal]] and Visa. He could also prohibit the sites' online advertising, and disable [[Google]] from ranking and linking to infringing sites.   

The corresponding Senate bill, deceptively named by [[Democrat]] leadership as the [[PROTECT IP Act]], is being pushed through the [[Democratic]] Senate by [[Patrick Leahy]] (D-VT) and [[Harry Reid]] (D-NV), whom liberals helped reelect in 2010.

The corresponding Senate bill, deceptively named by [[Democrat]] leadership as the [[PROTECT IP Act]], was being pushed through the [[Democratic]] Senate by [[Patrick Leahy]] (D-VT) and [[Harry Reid]] (D-NV), whom liberals helped reelect in 2010.

SOPA was introduced by a [[Republican]] in the House, Judiciary Committee Chair [[Lamar Smith]] (R-TX).<ref>http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=400381</ref><ref>http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/112%20HR%203261.pdf (emphasis added)</ref>

SOPA was introduced by a [[Republican]] in the House, Judiciary Committee Chair [[Lamar Smith]] (R-TX).<ref>http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=400381</ref><ref>http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/112%20HR%203261.pdf (emphasis added)</ref>