Hi, I'm Clayton, a young entrepreneur and Jack of all Trades, master of none from Orlando, Florida.The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
The meaning and magnitude of this proposal is critical to understand. We must be conscientious about new forms of censorship in the Information Age.
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R.3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011.
Anyone interested in the raw material, can read the bill in full here.
Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws especially against foreign websites. Opponents say it is Internet censorship, that it will cripple the Internet, and will threaten whistleblowing and other free speech.
It is understandable that copyright holders would like their ‘intellectual property’ to be protected, and that security is the general aspiration of this bill. Does this mean we have to place absurd limitations on public internet usage? I’m sure we are capable of a more efficient and ethical method of accomplishing this goal.
Art Bordsky of advocacy group Public Knowledge stated that,
“The definitions written in the bill are so broad that any US consumer who uses a website overseas immediately gives the US jurisdiction the power to potentially take action against it.”
The world is shrinking with every user that joins the web. This may seem paradoxical, but it is undeniable. International communication is quickly becoming the norm in corporate operations, and social networking. The ambiguous nature of SOPA is dangerous to our constitutional freedom, and should be impeded from implementation at all cost. Nothing good can result from a deliberate restriction of media and informaiton. Just hop on facebook and ask your friends in China 