SOPA Status

Posted on January 23, 2012 by David Randall

It’s been a consequential week for the Stop Online Piracy Act () and the Protect IP Act, the two controversial pieces of copyright-protected legislation pending in Congress. I’ve posted about these bills in recent months but I’ve not attempted to post the play-by-play culminating in last week’s coordinated online protest against the bills. Now that the bills have stalled–the New York Times reports “the pressures of an election year make action this year unlikely”–over the next few days I want to take time to compare the bills’ stated purposes with their methods for achieving those purposes, and separate fact and myth from arguments of both the bills’ proponents and its opponents. These particular bills may be gone for good but the issues they address and, as important, the music, motion picture, and publishing industry lobbying effort that pushed for their creation are still patrolling the House and Senate.

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  • Jixing Man

    I learned about SOPA on YouTube, and as someone who spend a
    decent time on the internet per week, I personally opposed this Act. What makes
    internet unique is it has always been a place that everyone could share their opinions
    and information more easily. Even through there are censorships on certain part
    of the internet, but there is always this feeling that the liability for stuff
    on the internet and stuff in the “real” world is different, especially in the
    ways information is shared. If a person have no way of reporting or bring awareness
    of wrongdoings in “real” world, because they would face consequences of doing
    so, then putting it on the internet would always be the best way to go. If SOPA
    regulated this unique freedom of the internet, then significant advantages of
    the internet would be lost.