SOPA in the US

[Sophiesmama]

For those of you concerned about SOPA and what it means to censorship of the internet in the US, here is a link for a petition. Today, news stories are saying that congressmen are second thinking the bill. There is such a public out cry!

Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) | Petition Congress: Protect the Internet for Innovators!

[Jan]

That link sounded pretty one-sided. Is there another side to this story? (I don't know, I'm just asking)

[MidwestGirl]

Who in Congress Supports SOPA and PIPA/PROTECT-IP? | SOPA Opera | ProPublica

[Sophiesmama]

Here is another link....

Red Tape - As Google, Wikipedia join protest, SOPA opponents gain momentum

[Jan]

Thanks, Shelley, but that doesn't tell me why someone supports it. Surely there was a reason in the first place.

[MidwestGirl]

How SOPA would affect you: FAQ | Privacy Inc. - CNET News

I haven't read everything on it yet...so confusing!

[Sophiesmama]

The bill, like so many others, sounds good on its surface. Stop piracy. Stop illegal downloads. But it doesn't stop here. There is a lot of crap written inside the bill that limit the internet and amount to censorship.

[Jan]

Thanks again... that does explain why it was introduced. The fact that WIKI is opposed has my vote. Although I'm not sure how, as a Canadian, I'd be affected.

(I love reading the comments on articles like these!)

[deidra]

My friends signed the petition like a billion times today in computer class! I don't know a lot about it so I'm not going to say anything else,lol.(havn't looked at links yet)

[BigBrownDog]

I can tell you the reason we need some sort of anti-piracy laws. In my business we are seeing increases in people using free pirated downloads of textbooks, mostly coming from offshore sites. If left unchecked this could spell disaster for publishers, particularly smaller publishers, who won't be able to recoup the significant expense associated with writing, researching and editing those titles. If they can't recoup expenses and make money on a book- they'll stop producing them or produce fewer most heavily used titles.

Extrapolate that to other industries dealing in intellectual property. While the movie business does gain income from theatre runs, many movies are not in the black until they go to video. Pirated versions online subvert that income stream.

It's theft, plain and simple and could put a lot of people out of work.