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S.O.P.A. Facts
Photo Credit: http://blog.brandprotect.com
Both bills are designed to defeat the problem of foreign-based websites that make and sell pirated movies, music and other products.
Darian Saal, Staff Reporter
January 27, 2012
Filed under News
There are actually two bills: the Stop Online Piracy Act, known as “SOPA”, in the House and sister legislation called the Protect Intellectual Property (IP) Act, or “PIPA”, in the Senate. Both are designed to defeat the problem of foreign-based websites that make and sell pirated movies, music and other products. Federal law enforcement has the authority to shut down United States-based websites that offer pirated content, but they cannot directly do the same to foreign sites like Pirate Bay. The Motion Picture Association of America, the legislation’s main backer, estimates 13% of American adults have watched illegal copies of movies or TV shows online, and it says the practice has cost media companies billions of dollars.
Many Americans wonder how it will change their everyday life, and a lot don’t understand the effects it could have. Sophomore Mackenzie Jacobs says, “The internet would fall apart if the bill passes. Too many sites would be censored.” Opponents of the legislation worry that the language in the bill is so broad that it would allow content owners to target United States websites that are not knowingly hosting pirated content. This has been a major concern of bill opponents like Facebook, Wikipedia and Twitter, all of which have sites that depend heavily on content uploaded by users.
According to www.judiciary.house.gov, “SOPA does not censor legal activity on the Internet. It targets activity that is already illegal. The bill helps stop illegal foreign websites from stealing and selling America’s technology and inventions, and keeping the profits for themselves. The theft of America’s intellectual property costs the U.S. economy more than $100 billion annually and results in the loss of thousands of American jobs. This bill targets foreign websites that are primarily engaged in illegal and infringing activity. It’s not censorship to enforce the law and stop criminal activity online.”
Most major website owners think that they will be shut down, but if they are following the law now, they will not have any problems. The websites that support “SOPA” are the ones making it possible. Hottipscentral.com wrote “JeepersMedia (via Youtube) has brought out some really cool points that should be shared around the world. CBS, Time Warner, AOL, and even Disney, have all helped aid in the transmission of copyrighted materials for what seems like the sole purpose of profiting from it with lawsuits.” It seems that the bill has been put on hold for now, though.
After the global protest, or “blackout”, some law makers are seriously rethinking the bill. Thewashingtonpost.com says, “The decisions came just two days after prominent websites, such as Wikipedia and Reddit darkened their sites for 24 hours in protest and, along with others, such as Google, encouraged visitors to urge their Congress members not to support the bill. The sites collected signatures from millions of users opposed to the measures, and several co-sponsors of the measures withdrew their support of the online piracy legislation.”
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