Difference between revisions of "Stop Online Piracy Act"
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* [[PROTECT IP Act|PIPA]] | * [[PROTECT IP Act|PIPA]] | ||
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Revision as of 15:41, January 19, 2012
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) (also known as the E-PARASITE Act, House Bill 3261, or H.R. 3261) is a bill demanded by Hollywood liberals who are big supporters of the Democrat Party and Obama's reelection efforts. 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 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).[1]
Former Democratic Senator Chris Dodd -- now chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America -- is a leading advocate of the bill and criticized the website blackout that occurred on Jan. 18 as a "gimmick":[2]
| “ | designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals. It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. | ” |
Proponents of the bill claim that it exists to protect the intellectual properties, and revenue of copyright holders, and is necessary to enforce copyright laws in the US. However, opponents state that it violates the First Amendment, that it will cripple and ultimately destroy the Internet, and will threaten online free speech. Some critics have likened this bill to China's Great Firewall.
Those supporting the bill include television and music companies (and their trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America), whilst critics include Google, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Yahoo!, and Mozilla, the creators of Firefox.
The Obama Administration released a statement which read, in part, "we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet. Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small."[3] In political terms, such a statement means that the politician may sign the bad bill but then claim it does not harm anything. The administration has also released a statement implying that it will veto the legislation should it reach the president's desk.