Why We Oppose SOPA/PIPA
- Details
- By People Post
- | Wednesday, 18 January 2012 03:14
12:00am | by Dennis Dean | Today, thousands of websites and potentially millions of internet users will join in protest of two harmful bills currently being rushed through Congress. These two bills, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business.
Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose both bills. Members of Congress may think they are doing the right thing, because on the surface the bills look like a way to put an end to online piracy and counterfeiting, but SOPA and PIPA are the wrong way to do it. In reality, these bills represent an unprecedented threat to freedom of speech on the internet. The way they are written, they would allow the U.S. government, the RIAA and the MPAA the right to block access to any site that they deem infringes on copyrighted material. However, it’s not just the file-sharing websites that are in danger. Any website that hosts user content could be blocked from American users if a user posts an illegal link to copyrighted material.
Both bills would threaten the future growth of the technology sector. Law-abiding websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and the Long Beach Post all rely on user interaction and submission. Sites like ours would be forced into a position of heavy self-censorship to avoid the threat of time-consuming and financially draining litigation.
AOL, eBay, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo and Zynga, wrote a letter to Congress saying these bills “pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job-creation.” Fifty-five of the country's most successful venture capitalists expressed concern over PIPA, stating that if passed, it “would stifle investment in Internet services, throttle innovation, and hurt American competitiveness.” More than 204 entrepreneurs told Congress that PIPA and SOPA would “hurt economic growth and chill innovation.”
On top of all of this, there is no guarantee that SOPA and PIPA would even put a dent in the online piracy they are attempting to end. The censorship regulations written into these bills won’t shut down pirate sites. There are better ways to combat 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.
Please take a moment to visit AmericanCensorship.org to learn more, and to contact your representatives.
Developing…
Dennis Dean
Creative & Technology Director
Long Beach Post
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Let's find a better solution.
Instead of telling your readers how to think, present us with unbiased facts and let us make our own decisions.
@Suited: Your job is not to tell the editors and publishers what their job is. I think that as the site approaches its fifth anniversary (2/13/2007) it has a pretty good grasp of what it's job is. Opinions are very much a part of this site and I for one appreciate the LBP putting their view and stance on the SOPA issue out to the readers so we can understand their opposition to the legislation. Part of SOPA is the restriction of freedoms, one freedom it does not restrict Suited is your freedom to not click on LBP site or posts and to not click on "Comments."
As for the LBP being "delusional to compare LB Post to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube," it is not delusional at all as all these sites, and thousands more, provide content on the web that make it subject to the SOPA regulations and punishments. Just because the revenue and traffic generated by those sites is significantly greater than the LBP does not make the concerns any less for LBP and other websites across the country that provide local news and commentary to their communities.
Is that the law you think should be on the books?
Facebook has millions of posts every day, maybe even billions. If 1 person posted a link to copyrighted materials neither they nor Facebook had permissions to, the copyright owner could shut down Facebook.
The bills are foolish and would further shift business off of USA soil.
Would anybody agree with the above statements?
Actually, LB Post would be in more danger than the giant internet companies since they would not have the resources to monitor and police. They would have to shut down discussion threads such as this in fear that we users could recite a copywrited poem or song lyrics.
Once the offending site is shut down for violating IP right, copyright laws, or selling bootleg products, or knockoff products, such as drugs or auto parts ~ then sites like Google would be served notice to remove links to said site (which is redundant, if it is already shut down, link goes nowhere) and advertising. The sites served notice only need make "reasonable effort" to comply.
As far as I know You Tube does not sell bootleg videos and they do remove videos that infringe on IP rights. So that if either bill had passed, I doubt they would have been adversely affected.
Don't forget that our two US senators are also for citizenship and decriminalization of Illegal Aliens who have illegally entered our country, illegally forged social security numbers, illegally fail to file income tax, illegally obtain and receive generous entitlement programs and yet have never paid a penny to any of these programs in the first place. Are these the kind people we want our children associating with that are here because of the obvious shortcomings in the perceptive correct judgements our two US senators consistently have demonstrated during each of thier lengthy tenures as the two US senators from California? Why doesn't George Harrison write a song sequal to, "Imagine..." He could call it "Wake-up America, freedom, liberty and justice are merely names not rights of individuals in the US anymore."