SOPA is a US House bill 3261 (PIPA is the senate version) calling for stronger anti-piracy accountability on the internet. The original idea has some merits of course, many countries are rampant with piracy of movies and music that hurts American and other entertainment companies. I have no problem with them wanting to protect their intellectual and creative property, just as I want to protect mine.
The problem is that the bill is overkill. It allows corporations to shut down alleged violator’s websites without any due process or review from a neutral authority. That can, and you can bet will, lead to the capricious and damaging use of that power. A big multi-national corporation that just happens to not like the information and creativity on a website could easily put pressure on the host/provider, with legal backing, to close down the supposedly offensive site. Their ‘sin’ could be parody, or whistleblowing or creative sampling. Who knows. The point is that we want to protect intellectual rights. But we also want to protect creative and intellectual freedom and we can’t do that unless our laws follow guidelines that do not allow for abuse by those in power.
STOP SOPA.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
And I agree. Shutting down the site instead of charging the person with whatever they should be charged with is not right.
I agree, it isn’t. My sister sent me a detailed email explaining why she thought I was misinformed and full of baloney about it. She made some good points but in the end I don’t think the laws as written focus the solution where it needs to be. It seems to me that in the pursuit of copyright protection (I am for it of course) the law is targeting the internet providers, hosts and gateways instead of the actual perpetrators of the infringement. I understand the idea behind it, go for the providers and you stop the perps, but it is sort of a baby with the bathwater scenario to me. And it also can be applied capriciously by those in power, and I don’t like that.
I guess it’s not black and white, but in the end, copyright is copyright.