Stop SOPA & PIPA!

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA): House Bill (H.R.) 3261

PROTECT IP ACT (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 or PIPA): Senate Bill (S.) 968

Those two bills are being considered today, as we speak. If you've been noticing "STOP CENSORSHIP >" bars (and total blackouts on some websites), such as on Wikipedia, WIRED, 4chan, and Google, that's because they are showing their protest against these bills.

"What's this all about?" For those who do not know, SOPA will basically "allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement." [Courtesy of Wikipedia and PCWorld]

As for PIPA, "the bill defines infringement as distribution of illegal copies, counterfeit goods, or anti-digital rights management technology. Infringement exists if 'facts or circumstances suggest [the site] is used, primarily as a means for engaging in, enabling, or facilitating the activities described.' The bill says that it does not alter existing substantive trademark or copyright law." Along with that, "the bill provides for 'enhancing enforcement against rogue websites operated and registered overseas' and authorizes the United States Department of Justice to seek a court order in rem against websites dedicated to infringing activities, if through due diligence, an individual owner or operator cannot be located." [Courtesy of Wikipedia]

"What's so important about these bills?" Well, if these bills pass and go into action, they will virtually shut down the majority of the internet, including any social networking websites (e.g. Facebook, Google+, MySpace, Blogger, Addicting Games, etc.), search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Ask.com, etc.), sites like Wikipedia and About.com, and just about any other site that does not "voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement." Sounds extreme, right? It's almost as if the U.S. Government is taking away the people's online freedoms... WRONG. The U.S. Government IS taking away our online freedoms if these bills pass into action.

"I'm not in the United States, so why should I care?" SOPA and PIPA will affect the entire world because this censorship will not stop at the U.S.'s political borders. These bills have the power to take down internationally used websites, like Facebook and Google, if they pass. Not to mention if they pass, the organizations, companies, and websites based in the United States will be liable for persecution and even termination if they do not oblige with these new restrictions. Do you see now how this could change how you surf the internet?

"What can I do to stop this?" Sign the petitions, voice your opinions, and show your support for the end of these atrocious bills. Here are some links to help get you started:

American Censorship: americancensorship.org/
SOPA Strike: - sopastrike.com/strike
Wikipedia: SOPA Initiative (Learn More): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more
End Piracy, Not Liberty – Google: www.google.com/landing/takeaction/
Change.org (Featured): www.change.org/#featured

END PIRACY, NOT LIBERTY!

Want to track the bills and their progress? Click these links:

SOPA: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-3261
PIPA: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s112-968

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My Take On It All: Personally, I think all of this is absurd. Why should the U.S. Government even be allowed to do this? Because we let them. Piracy will never go away, but liberty and freedom can. Rather than take away our freedoms in order to fight something that will never cease to exist, why not make the reasons for piracy obsolete? Why not educate our youth to make better choices? Even if all else fails, taking away our freedoms is NOT the right answer - it never will be. I dislike privacy just as much as the next guy, but I enjoy my freedoms and I know better than to think we can make a perfect, utopia-esque world.

I believe Google put it best:

"To make matters worse, SOPA and PIPA won’t even work. The censorship regulations written into these bills won’t shut down pirate sites. These sites will just change their addresses and continue their criminal activities, while law-abiding companies will suffer high penalties for breaches they can’t possibly control.

There are effective ways to combat foreign “rogue” websites dedicated to copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting, while preserving the innovation and dynamism that have made the Internet such an important driver of American economic growth and job creation. Congress should consider alternatives like the OPEN Act, which takes targeted and focused steps to cut off the money supply from foreign pirate sites without making US companies censor the Web." ~ Google, www.google.com/landing/takeaction/sopa-pipa/

Thank you for reading. I hope this helps clear some of the confusion up.