I have been watching the debate over the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, for some time. For those of you who do not know what this legislation will do, allow me to enlighten you. SOPA, and it’s partner bill in the Senate, the PROP-IP Act, is designed to cut down on copyright infringement. As bloggers, you and I know full well we need to be careful about the content we allow on our websites. Most of us write our own content, but we do quote from various news articles or other blogs. That’s what we do, we comment on the news of the day, or other topics that interest us or our readers. Here is a description of SOPA from Wikipedia.
The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites outside U.S. jurisdiction accused of infringing on copyrights, or of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. After delivering a court order, the U.S. Attorney General could require US-directed Internet service providers, ad networks, and payment processors to suspend doing business with sites found to infringe on federal criminal intellectual property laws. The Attorney General could also bar search engines from displaying links to the sites.
The bill also establishes a two-step process for intellectual property rights holders to seek relief if they have been harmed by a site dedicated to infringement. The rights holder must first notify, in writing, related payment facilitators and ad networks of the identity of the website, who, in turn, must then forward that notification and suspend services to that identified website, unless that site provides a counter notification explaining how it is not in violation. The rights holder can then sue for limited injunctive relief against the site operator, if such a counter notification is provided, or if the payment or advertising services fail to suspend service in the absence of a counter notification.
The bill provides immunity from liability to the ad and payment networks that comply with this Act or that take voluntary action to cut ties to such sites. Any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement would be liable for damages.The second section increases the penalties for streaming video and for selling counterfeit drugs, military materials or consumer goods. The bill would increase the penalties for unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content[for uploaders, downloaders, or hosts? clarification needed] and other intellectual property offenses.
At the end of October co-sponsor Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Intellectual Property sub-panel, told The Hill that SOPA is a rewrite of the Senate’s bill that addresses some tech industry concerns, noting that under the House version of the legislation copyright holders won’t be able to directly sue intermediaries like search engines to block infringing websites and would instead need a court’s approval before taking action against third parties.
From time to time, we have talked about the slippery slope we are on in this country. I can not help but wonder if SOPA and PROP-IP is part of that. Stopping copyright infringement is one thing, shutting down websites for a simple mistake is another.I want you to take about four minutes of your day and watch the video I have embedded below. It was created by WordPress.org and outlines some of the dangers of this legislation.
Obviously, I do not agree with infringing a copyright. I respect the effort, time, and money that has went into the creation of the content, Internet or otherwise, that we all use every day. At the same time, I think we need to be aware of exactly where the foundations of SOPA and PROP-IP lie. Bunkerville has a video that explains how former Senator Chris Dodd has landed a lucrative deal with the Motion Picture Association of America. His plan is to push their agenda on the American people. I urge you to watch that video as well.
Where does this leave those of us who blog, those of us who have poured our hearts and souls into creating content, sharing our thoughts, ideas, and dreams? My personal opinion is simple. If the government starts censoring what we can see on the Internet, where will it end? Would it not remove the one thing the Internet has that no other media has; the ability to immediately publish content to a large number of people? Would that not take away some of the leverage and strength the Internet now holds?
What are your thoughts on how the eventual passage of this legislation will affect us as writers and bloggers? I would really like to know where you stand on this.
UPDATE: ToBeRight has two posts about SOPA that should be considered required reading. Harry understands the dangers involved with the legislation much better than do I. It also looks like Darrell Issa and other Republicans are either withdrawing their support for the legislation or expressing concerns and doubts. That’s good news, I believe.
SOPA – The End of the Internet
Like all statist laws, this is a stinking piece of offal that violates the concept of the rule of law and is designed for purposes other than what is stated. We have copyright laws on the books, so why is this needed? To shut down free speech. Plain and simple.
If the ACLU would only tilt back to the center and not be so anti-Christian, I would be a card-carrying member.
This reminds me a lot of efforts to control guns. Even with the number of gun control laws already on the books, our government still insists it needs more laws. The same applies here. We already have laws to prevent copyright infringement, as you have pointed out. Now they want to add another, redundant layer of regulations that give our government even more control over the Internet? I don’t think so, it’s not the way to move forward.
The passing of this legislation will have zero effect on blogging and bloggers like “Political Realities”.
Everybody should read the Wall Street Journal’s editorial of today that has a very good analysis of what is at stake and how silicon valley is crying wolf after many years of complaining about real wolfs. It is again one of the leftist campaigns from Google.
It may not affect Political Realities, or similar sites, but I still think SOPA is an unnecessary burden of regulation that will do nothing to curb piracy. It is a slippery slope, I believe.
Anyone who thinks this is about the intellectual idea of protecting copywrited material, and NOT about money, is kidding themselves.
I think it’s sad that people are so caught up with making money off of their ideas that censorship of the internet is seriously being considered. Doesn’t this sound a lot like what China does?
Yes, these people poured their time and money into these products, but lets not pretend like piracy and copywrite infringement actually syphons any meaningful amount of money away from them. People who make their money in media, whether it’s movies, music, or whatever, are outlandishly rich. I feel for the little guys who don’t have gigantic pay days.
Could you imagine Mark Twain being upset that someone copied Huck Finn without the expressed permission of his publisher? Do you think Beethoven would have been beside himself in agony if he were to find out that alll of his music can be heard for free on youtube?
No. These were men who understood that their work meant something more than the money they were paid for it. That’s a notion that these greedy fools will never understand.
I wish I could find room to disagree with you, Jack. Sadly, I can not. This will lead to nothing good, I am afraid.
Thanks for the link. So it turns out that lobbyists, or whatever we call them, are even more powerful than Senators.
You are quite welcome, Bunkerville. You nailed it when you said the lobbyists are powerful. Much more than they should be.
The Government does not need to get involved in this issue… if someone is stealing material (pirate videos for example) there are already copyright laws in place to handle it.
Regarding bloggers commenting on material from newspapers and magazines there is “fair use” law protecting us. The Las Vegas Tribune (I think) hired a law firm to go after bloggers… the ones who fought won.
I understand the real frustration of businesses who are seeing their marketshare bleed away to the Internet but I think there must be a better way than using a club to kill a fly.
Good article Larry!
Thanks, Harrison. I am not so much worried about bloggers like you and I, but I believe Conservative Hideout had a post some time back that highlighted how some newspapers were going after bloggers, even for the smallest of offenses. Many bloggers wouldn’t have the money to fight something like this. I know I wouldn’t.
I really like your analogy of using a club to kill a fly. That is most accurate.
I agree with both you and Harrison on this, there are alrady enough laws on the books to deal with this. So why then is the government looking at passing this legislation? In my opinion it is to get a foot in the door of internet regulation and we know that once they are in they will only expand their authority. Once they rule they can regulate the internet some they will rule they can regulate the internet more.
Thankfully it sounds as if this is dead but if we let out guard down it will come back again.
Why does the government want to pass his legislation? Simply because their answer to any problem or issue is to pass more legislation and lay the groundwork for more regulation. It seems to be the only thing they are capable of.
Thanks, Larry! I so appreciate you citing my rants on this piece of legislative you-know-what.
The outpouring of support I saw on Facebook today was amazing. Even my friends who I know to be “leftish” were all up in arms about this. I think that social media will be the death of SOPA. The issue is too easy to understand for the demagogues to cloak in their political double-speak.
Thanks again for raising more awareness of this issue. My opinion is that this – more than any other federal power-grab – will hasten the destruction of the Republic. I know…heavy duty words. But I believe them.
You are quite welcome, Harry. I hope social media quashes SOPA like a fly. Thanks for doing your part.