The TRUTH about SOPA and PIPA . . .
I was very alarmed when I read about these two bills, which are attempts by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate to “protect from online piracy.” My hackles go up, first of all, when government says it’s trying to protect me, and secondly, when First Amendment Rights are involved—especially the regulation of them. The following is quoted from one of the many analyses of these two bills and their effectiveness that was very succinct and logical.
“These acts were written with the original intent to allow the U. S. Attorney General to defend the rights of copyright holders, namely the movie and recording industries, against losses due to piracy of their products. The tools provided to the Attorney General for this purpose, however, will cause irreparable harm to the structural integrity of the Internet, circumvent anti-hacking protections already in place, and are unlikely to accomplish the stated goals of the Acts themselves.
The Internet is a series of databases throughout the world, governed by a set of rules called “protocols,” which depend on other “protocols” to be in place in order for the Internet to function properly. Online crime is often accomplished by hackers who, by setting up fake websites and redirecting users to said websites, violate Internet protocols to steal private information from users. In order to combat this online crime, the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) system has been developed, which allows Internet browsers to verify that a website has credentials showing that the site is, indeed, genuine. However, a key provision of both PROTECT IP Act and SOPA permits the U. S. Attorney General to obtain a court order that requires internet providers, of all kinds, to direct users away from websites that are “dedicated to infringing activities.” See SOPA Sec. 102(c)(2)(A)(i); PROTECT IP Sec. 3(d)(2)(A)(i). To put the enforcement provisions of these Acts into perspective, the Attorney General will, by court order, be able to force Internet providers to block access to “violating” websites by interfering with Internet protocols in the exact same way that hackers commit Internet crimes.”
Yes, something must be done to protect stealing of intellectual property on the internet, but these bills aren’t the way to do it. Congress should not write laws about subjects before they have done thorough research and gain full understanding of the issue and possible solutions. On Friday, January 20 Auburn Journal editorial page, there was a discussion regarding this issue. You might want to check it out. In the mean time, NO on SOPA and PIPA!!!
By the way, the original numbers on SOPA in the House were 61 supporters and co-signers and 189 opponents (including several democrats). You may want to check out the alternative bill referred to as OPEN that has been introduced by Daryl Issa.
