Thoughts on Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)?
I want to hear your thoughts about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Please leave your opinions in the comment box beneath this post.
Almost everyone is talking about it, making SOPA one of the top trending topics and creating an online rippling effect. I have come across a multitude of articles covering the internet censorship bill and think it’s an interesting subject to converse about. Please feel free to leave a comment with your feelings on the topic.
Big name companies and brands such as Nike, Sony, Walt Disney Company, and the NBA are in support of the act. Rupert Murdock, CEO of News Corp. has been using Twitter to show both his support for the bill and his opinion of some companies, such as Google, who oppose it.
On the opposition, some of the biggest websites and companies, such as Google, Wikipedia, and Reddit are protesting the bill with creative campaigns and participating in the SOPA blackout.
Here are some protest and SOPA blackout examples I found:
Google put a censor over its logo.
Wikipedia isn’t inaccessible. The message on the homepage reads:
“For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.”
Reddit shut down entirely.
I want to know what you think.
Do you agree with and support SOPA? Do you disagree and oppose SOPA? What do you think about all the buzz around it?
Please leave your comments and opinions in the comment box below.
758,599 Readers
Connect to Brian on LinkedIn
Be Brian's Friend on Facebook
Follow Brian on Twitter
Google+
I fully agree that we need to stop piracy online.
However, SOPA isn’t the solution to that problem.
It evens create new hipotetical issues on “online repression”.
So, I believe this is just the first of the many reforms to come.
It’s a good first attempt, but it lacked the concensus of Silicon Valley.
SOPA and PIPA are sledgehammers to crack nuts. Of course piracy is an issue but if these egregious measures had been passed then the internet would be a very different place and one of the great forces for good in our world would be diminished.
I always look at who is on what side of an argument and if Rupert Murdoch is for something, it generally behooves one to be against it.
Copyright infringement over the Internet is already a felony punishable up to max 5 years in prison thanks to Ronald Reagan.
http://www.copyright.gov/history/mls/ML-285.pdf
SOPA hysteria is crying over spilled milk. It’s already the law.
I agree that there is an issue with Intellectual Property and Copyright infringement over the Internet. However it looks like a main part of SOPA/PIPA is to attack ‘Sharing’ which looks like a way to prevent ‘Creative Collaboration’. I think we’re in serious trouble here.
SOPA is something that I have never imagined I can’t even imagine how the internet would be if SOPA is Applied !
That wou;d be terrible !
I oppose piracy of any kind, but this bill is not the answer. Every one of our U.S. Representatives & Senators scare me to death … the are all liars, thieves, and totally incompetent. They could very well screw the internet up … look, but don’t touch anything. Who knows what their real motives are.
Any limits on freedom on internet is morally wrong. Governments that suggest it are worse than communists. Stop the bill now, all politicians have no right to limit our access to anything.
They are a shame to the power they have got. Sack all politicians and presidents now.
John Eide
Passing SOPA is like throwing your car away because you have a flat tire. Look, just fix the flat. The rest of the car (the Internet) is working great and will continue to get better. That’s is, of course, unless we screw it up!!
How many would not struggle with a piracy, and people not to change. All the same will find a way it to be engaged. How many fakes only one brand Adidas! But to try, I think, it is possible.
Dear Brian, isn’t it abundantly clear to rational thinking people that government involvement in any capcity, beyond the limits defined in the “Founding Constitution”, is pure folly, disruptive, and driven for personal gain of public servants at the expense of the people? The “G” in government stands for ‘groupthink’ & ‘Groan, they are at it again!’
PJ Brunet, you’re missing the point. Most people aren’t upset about the prison time, they’re upset about the other issues. Namely giving the government carte blanche to shut down sites without due process.
There are plenty of things to be legitimately upset about over SOPA. Pointing out one law that has been around for several decades does nothing to diminish the harm SOPA and PIPA would do.
Let the web police itself. There are enough Laws and Bills in place as it is so we don’t need anymore.
It just looks like another “power grab” to me. If someone does not like what someone else is writing about on the net then with laws in place like SOPA and the other one that is due up, it would make it easy to shut the “offending” site down.
The US government is looking out for those who are willing to pay the price to have the products and services sold over the net.
It’s quite unfair to eventually work through your self sabotaging ways only to have your work pirated on the web.
I see this as another act by government to protect the financially well off, the people who exchange their products and services for money, meaning it’s high time that most of us work towards serving one another instead of wanting something for nothing.
Another attempt to tame the internet. In the old days, it was easier to control a million people than kill a million people. Today it is the other way round: it is easier to kill a million people than to control a million people.
SOPA and PIPA are thinly veiled attempts to gain more control over the internet, one of the last free resources of information that diverges from main stream “brain-washing” media.
(two terms: Iraq war & weapons of mass destruction – did anyone find any WMD in Iraq by now? no? what a surprise…).
In times, when the main stream media are in the hands of few, extremely powerful people, the internet is extremely important!
No censorship. The anti-piracy act is just the beginning, a prelude to more restrictions…
The act’s been shelved now though right? Victory for common sense and sites like this that explore these issues.