SOPA

This past Wednesday, I was getting ready to start my discussion post for class. This particular discussion post was about POD (print on demand) websites for writers interested in self-publishing. Knowing little about the subject, I decided to check out Wikipedia to get a basic overview of what these sites were and how they worked. This was the page I found:

First of all, I felt extremely out of the loop for not having heard of SOPA or PIPA before. It is a major issue in the entertainment industry, yet I hadn’t heard anything of it until that day! What I can tell you is that if all these sites were on a 24-hour blackout to raise awareness, I would say their mission has been accomplished. I took the time to do my research a little bit and here is what I was able to find as a general overview.

SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act) is an act that will be voted on by congress on January 24. The act is meant to curb online piracy and its main supporters are powerhouses in the entertainment industry. If the act passes, it will give the government the power to block access to websites with infringing material or the potential of having infringing material. This will affect numerous websites and will have a major impact on specifically websites that have user-generated material. It will also give corporations power to sue search engines that provide links to the sites with infringing material. This act will also force advertisers to cut off funds completely from websites accused of infringing material. Piracy and the infringement of Intellectual Property has been a major problem since the startup of the Internet and I do agree it is a problem in need of a solution. Coming from a background in the entertainment industry, I do realize how important it is to protect those rights. After looking over the potential cons of this act though, has mad me come to the opinion that there has got to be a better way of trying to curb piracy than the actions proposed by SOPA.

According to some of the research that I have done, putting this act into place won’t necessarily stop down loaders. Although these sites won’t be easily found in search engines, the down loaders will still be able to access these sites simply by putting in a complete web address instead of the website’s name. If the act passes there is a strong likelihood that user based websites will not exist anymore: Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, etc. If one of their users were to post infringing material, their whole business could be shut down completely! One of the main problems I see if this act passes is the potential for abuse. SOPA could make it possible for companies that feel infringed upon to get the suspected infringers shut down without even a court hearing. I definitely respect the entertainment industry, but I do feel that there has to be a better way to protect this intellectual property other than having the web completely censored! It violates our freedom of speech and from what I’ve found, it may make the web less secure. I just feel that it is a very slippery slope as to how far this can go. Feel free to check out some of the websites below and stay tuned!

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/283781/20120118/sopa-blackout-jan-18-bill-supporters-protesters.htm#page2


http://socialtimes.com/a-quick-overview-of-sopa-will-it-pass_b87740


http://americancensorship.org/