The latest government shutdown drama and pay-roll tax cuts have dominated news coverage out of Capitol Hill this past week, but attention should also be on the Stop Online Piracy Act that is being debated in the House Judiciary Committee right now, which has members of both parties split.
Introduced by Lamar Smith, and supported by Hollywood and the Chamber of Commerce, SOPA is intended to shutdown foreign owned websites illegally broadcasting American produced shows, and movies, thus protecting their intellectual property and hopefully pushing internet piracy to the brink.
Opponents to the legislation claim the proposed law would harm innovation on the internet and lead possibly to censorship, while lawmakers say the blocking of websites could cause problems with the internet's domain system. However, this issue is not about technical problems, rather it's about law & order.
American based film companies lose millions upon millions of dollars due to pirates, who steal their property and reproduce for cheap thieves to enjoy, and something has to be done. Shutting down the website of someone illegally broadcasting these movies is not censorship; it's shutting down thieves.
Please support this law and don't allow opponents to turn this debate from common sense law and order to fears over online censorship, because they are wrong and they know it.
What say you?
Tim, if you support this you are either exceedingly misinformed or out of your mind
ReplyDeleteI have 75 signatures supporting SOPA!
ReplyDeleteWhy am I misinformed, Mike? Please tell me, or even write an article about the subject for my edification. Because I'm not buying the federal government wants to censor websites bull.
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm all for stopping things which are illegal - like this kind of piracy.
ReplyDeleteHowever, considering that past and current Congresses and Administrations have had great difficulties in adequately defining terms in bills and acts, their lack of initiative in actually reading bills before they vote on them, and the knack most bills - once they've become laws - of growing beyond their original intents...
I'm not all that supportive of this one.
Sorry.
Only the USA dudes could come out with something so retarted as this bill.
ReplyDelete