ladyofleithian | SOPA Update (Reply)

Good news: Barack Obama no longer supports SOPA -- the bill's pretty much dead. Unfortunately, the fight's not quite over yet -- we still have other things to contend with, like PIPA, otherwise known as the Protect IP act. Let's say that I've just heard about this, if only because SOPA was moving a lot faster in terms of the legislation, but PIPA is just as dangerous. And now that SOPA has pretty much been thwarted, they're focusing on PIPA, or the Protect IP Act. For those who are curious about PIPA:

PIPA, if passed, will give U.S. corporations and the government the right to seek affirmative legal action with any website that they see as enabling copyright infringement weather of U.S. origin or not. Here is a breakdown of all that they will have the power to do.

Force U.S. internet providers to block access to websites deemed as enablers of copyright infringement
Seek legal action by suing search engines, blog sites, directories, or any site in general to have the black listed sites removed from their website
Will be able to force advertising services on infringing websites, and those supporting of them, to remove them from their advertising accounts
Companies will also have the power to sue any new websites that get started after this bill is passed, if they believe that they are not doing a good job of preventing infringement on your website

(http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/how-sopa-pipa-can-affect-you/)

That and both SOPA and PIPA -- they're (or in SOPA's case, they were) aiming high; as previous copyright infringement laws were pretty much mocked for not being able to reach overseas networks, PIPA would take that a little further -- basically, it wouldn't just attack the Internet over in the United States, but worldwide. In addition, the main reason they'd fail is not only because of the whole breaking the foundations of the Internet (no Facebook, no Twitter, no nothing), but because they'd ultimately end up targeting the wrong people. A child singing a favorite song and posting it on Youtube, for example -- she and her family would have to face legal action for something as innocuous as that. It would ultimately threaten freedom of speech and expression, not only over here, but for the whole world.

As a result of this, Wikipedia and many other sites are going on strike -- look here and here for more information. *Sighs* Continue to contact your Senators, continue to spread the word -- just don't allow PIPA to pass. If that happens, this may very well be the end of free speech as we know it. And that can't happen.

Update: