How SOPA/PIPA Can Affect You
JamalThe United States government has been facing an intense amount of pressure, mostly from the entertainment and computer software publishing companies for years to find some method of stopping the online piracy that is allowing people to own copies of their merchandise for free. This is of course understandable, nobody wants to see something they worked hard on to create something of quality be disrespected by people gaining access to it for free.
However, what the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate have planned for their respective bills is not a way of just putting a halt on online piracy. Tech giants such as Mozilla and Google who once supported these bills, now are on the offensive in trying to ensure they never get passed. Before going any further into how this affects the everyday internet users, let’s first get a good understanding about both bills.
Curious about the image above? It’s an infographic from AmericanCensorship.org.
Update:
Internet Blackout Aftermath – Is the Threat of SOPA/PIPA Over?
What is PIPA and SOPA
*Image Credit: Brian Lane Winfield Moore
PIPA
Let’s begin by first breaking down the first of the two bills that were introduced, PIPA. PIPA is an acronym for the Protect IP Act, and was first introduced to the U.S. Senate on May 12, 2011 by Senators Patrick Leahy, Orrin Hatch, Chuck Grassley. It is also good to take note that PIPA is a re-written legislation, the original being the failed to pass Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) of 2010.
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 whether 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
SOPA
SOPA is an acronym for the Stop Online Piracy Act, and is a bill introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives by Represenative Lamar Smith on October 26, 2011. In similarity with PIPA, SOPA is a build on a previous legislation. This legislation being the PRO-IP Act of 2008.
SOPA, if passed, will work in conjunction with PIPA. As described by such entities as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, SOPA is nothing more so than the U.S. government and private corporations black list. Here is a breakdown of the power given to the government and private corporations.
- The U.S. Attorney General can now seek a court order that would force search engines, advertisers, DNS providers, servers, and payment processors from having any contact with allegedly infringing websites
- It will allow private corporations to create their own personal hit lists composed of websites they feel are breaking their copyright policies, ironically this doesn’t have any odd feelings of a legal mafia at all. These companies will be able to directly contact a website’s payment processors a notice to cut all off payment involvement with the targeted website. This payment processors and website of question will then have five days to act before it is simply taken down.
- Payment processors will have the power to cut off any website they work with, as long as they can provide a strong reason of why they believe this site is violating copyrights
Where Do the Tech Giants Stand
*Image Credit: francesco.chillari
Originally, the majority of technology corporations that put their input into these bills, were in support of it. Companies like Apple, Intel, Corel, Dell, Microsoft, Adobe, and 23 other big name tech companies are supporters under the BSA(Business Software Alliance). However, there is still hope in the realm of big name support of tech giants. Two of the biggest in Mozilla and Google, have gone public with their issues with these bills and their reasons why they can no longer offer their support after further research was done.
Mozilla is strongly against both acts because of its use of DNS filtering in both. Mozilla, like the majority of the tech world, believes that by using DNS filtering this will open up more security risks and slow down the system’s up and coming extension DNSSEC.
How Does This Affect You
*Image Credit: cal Walker1
Well by now one probably has gained a good understanding of what both PIPA and SOPA are, and is wondering how exactly will these acts will directly affect how citizens use the internet. Well in all honestly, a lot of things will change.
Blog Sites like 1stwebdesigner could be blocked or shut down
As stated prior in what PIPA and SOPA are and what will they enable U.S. government agencies and private companies to do, the internet will become a hunt for any little bit of possible copyright violation. Of course the government loves blogs and bloggers, so it is only natural to think that they will receive a lot of special attention. These acts make it the blog owners responsibility for everything that is displayed on their site, including the comments of visitors.
So say an article is published one day featuring a logo, or trademark, of corporation and that corporation doesn’t like that it is being put on display on the site. Now the author of this article could have used it as a teaching method, critique, praising good design, or anything you can think of, it doesn’t matter. With these acts being only direct enough to give an area for attack, and vague enough to manipulate and twist seemingly any possible way, any type of accusation can be made and found true.
Say Goodbye to Innovation
These acts are stopping developers from coming up with the next big thing in the online market that could change how we use the internet. Let’s say that these acts were around back when the internet was started, how many of the most popular sites would still have come into fruition. There would be no Facebook, YouTube, MediaFire, SoundCloud, Twitter, DropBox, or any other site that can be targeted as a place where online piracy could take place. Is it even possible to think about what the internet would be like without sites like this?
Legal Action Over A Child Singing A Song
It is quite oblivious that none of the people on sites like YouTube have been given permission from record label execs to sing their favorite song, and then proceed to post it on a video sharing site. However will that be a problem for the record execs?
The site the child will have posted the video on will be put under pressure to resolve this issue, or face their site being put on the blacklist. This child, and her family, could also very well face legal action with either the site or the record label the song that was sung has copyrighted.
The U.S. Government Hope They Will Spark Global Change
The U.S. government officials and private corporations aren’t only concerned about how these bills will work out in America, they are hoping that they will have the influence to get other nations to follow suit with these acts passing. That means if these acts pass, then the next country this could be coming toward may be yours.
What Can We Do
*Image Credit: xomiele
The House Judiciary Committee will be voting on SOPA, and likely passing it TOMORROW!! Once the bill has been passed by the committe, it will be able to be passed at any time by the House of Representatives. The internet community has always been an active and vocal group about anything we diassaprove of, especially when it is hurting the overall internet experience. This is the time to now show this passion for what the community of professionals, and users, love by telling the U.S. government exactly how you feel. Below, you’ll find some helpful ways so you can become vocal about this presssing issue.
Call Your State Senators
This is the most important thing anyone can do, because this is how your voice can be heard in the process. It is the Senators duty as an elected official to do what is right by, and listen to the will of the people who elected them. If they don’t hear the input from the people, then they’ll have no idea of how anyone feels. Americancensorship.org has a great tool that will help you find who your Senators are, their contact numbers, and get you right in touch with them. They also inform you of speaking points to mention in your conversation before calling.
Inform Anyone You Know
Can you imagine how much stronger and effective the Occupy movement would have been if this happened a few years ago? It would’ve been a completely different playing field, and would have a lot more impact then what it already has on government officials. This movement couldn’t happen earlier because people were not informed and those that were just waited to see how things would affect them before deciding to take action. That philosophy has never worked, and will only lead to trying to get out of a disastrous situation you could have easily prevented.
Sign Online Petitions
You don’t have to be a U.S. citizen to take charge here, online petitions is a great way to get a global reach on how people feel. The most important thing is that everyone is heard, in any shape or form.
Stay Informed
Being unaware of what is going on is only allowing for acts like these to pass through without anyone knowing. Being an informed individual about what is going on in the political world, only makes you more capable of being an advocate for change in a positive fashion. Below you will find some links to good articles, and videos about SOPA and PIPA.
Stop Online Piracy(Scary Facts)
Protect IP Act Breaks the Internet
DNS Filtering In SOPA/PIPA Won’t Stop Piracy, But Will Hurt Online Security
Tech Giants Back Off SOPA Support
Mozilla Renews Call Against SOPA/PIPA
An Alternative To Blacklist Bills SOPA and PIPA
Why Americans Need a Civil Liberties Caucus
What SOPA Means for Business and Innovation(Infographic)
AmericanCensorship.org Infographic
‘SOPA’: Internet Piracy Bills in Congress Threaten Core Values
SOPA visual petition riles up the ‘geek lobby’
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petaJB
Posted 118 days ago 183this sopa and pipa law is the biggest pice of fuking shit i had ever saw in my fuking life
pipesexy
Posted 118 days ago 181omer your brilliant comment is a pice of …….
Nguyen Tan Dung
Posted 118 days ago 180Stupid American
all server now for your back up only!
Do you want to pay $10/month for back up your file? How time you loosed for upload and download ?
American full out money from their pocket to buy thing they made
Then they give the thing they made for other country to free to use ! (like china …)
Stupid American
hahaha
eleniaro
Posted 118 days ago 179the-impact-of-the-sopapipa-blackout
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/01/23/the-impact-of-the-sopapipa-blackout/
Rojmeister
Posted 118 days ago 178Those two acts are complete bullshit. US Government officials are being selfish, they are idiot enough to think that shutting down allegedly copyright-infringement websites will solve the current problems. In my perspective, it will not. It will just piss off many people. Another thing is, I think the government just made this act to protect themselves from accusations from open-minded people because their bad habits are now completely exposed in the public, and the internet is now their target because it holds most of the people’s opinions and reactions regarding the ir bullshitness and fucked-up minds.
Igor
Posted 119 days ago 177Is these PIPA and SOPA things those things that the mayans prophecy was about?
pipesexy
Posted 119 days ago 176who made this should … in …
kill PIPA AND SOPA now
pipesexy
Posted 119 days ago 175this is very stupid they should go to….
omer
Posted 119 days ago 174Well if they’ve decided to make this law legal no one will have power to stop them…… since they doing what ever they want and we’ve seen this.
petaJB
Posted 118 days ago 182yo are going to die ill and alone with a pair of streetwalkers
kenny1999
Posted 119 days ago 173Internet will certainly die if such an stupid bullshit nonsense act is brought into practice.
why don’t the government try to think about a very very simple logic…..
While all of the big names companies are welcome the policy because they think it will
protect their business, those big names companies e.g. microsoft, adobe etc. have already
survived and been making big money in the industry for decades. So this stupid policy is
ONLY trying to help those companies to make MUCH more profit while trying to kill
numerous of small companies and people working hard to earn a living. It will certainly
be a big restriction to the Internet, there will be no more interaction between people,
no more freedom of speech and the final outcome is no more further internet development,
and internet will die. We will go back to the age without internet. No one will want to
see this.
karla
Posted 120 days ago 172we must stop PIPA and SOPA beacuse its really stupid and can affect many peolpe jobs , also the education because if the student dont have money to paid the bill for search something in the internet they can do their hw . so this problems affect everyone in everywhere .we must protest about it .
Mike
Posted 120 days ago 171Stop this nonsense. PIPA ans SOPA will destroy people’s ability to freely express themselves.
Imran Zafar
Posted 120 days ago 170A good information about SOPA and PIPA. It will be affective for the users.
Daniel
Posted 120 days ago 169The creepy thing, if not really scary, about this is that the government doesn’t need proof that a website has copyrighted material. They just need to ‘think’ there was copyrighted material to shut down the website. Now let’s say there wasn’t any copyrighted material on Zombiebunnies.com and it was shut down because it was suspected of having the material. If the website can prove there was no copyrighted material they are back on the web. BUT the owners of Zombiebunnies.com cannot sue the government for being accused of the crime or being shut down to compinsate for the loses.
Carl
Posted 121 days ago 167The soap and pipa bills wil destroy the fisrst amendment it’s unconstitutional
Tất Phong
Posted 121 days ago 166Tôi nghĩ việc xoá sổ youtube, facebook, hay nhiều các trang web khác sẽ là một cú sốc lớn đối với cộng đồng internet! Những công việc, những điều màk mọi người làm hàng ngày sẽ biến mất, tất cả sẽ ko còn, những thứ mà chúng ta coi là bình thường và như một thói quen cũng sẽ ko còn, đó sẽ là ngày tàn của internet…
Jello Biafra
Posted 121 days ago 165If you have a site hosted in the USA move it to the UK or another country register with a non US registrar .eu will be fine. Foreigners hosting their sites in the USA bring the USA $1.4 billion dollars per year they will loose this and many times more. Domain seizures will continue as they do currently and before these acts were being considered. The world wide web is a British invention and so is the Bill of Rights Americans can be trusted to break everything ruining everything for everyone including themselves – move your host to the UK. It doesnt matter that these bills have been scrapped domain seizures will continue the US government acts with impunity. Online gambling is also legal in the UK.
kr
Posted 120 days ago 168Don’t be stupid, it doesn’t matter whether your site uses a .com or .co.uk domain.
US controls the Internet through ICANN. This includes any domain.
Megan
Posted 122 days ago 164This is quite rediculous, Almost everything online will be gone, there will be no information for students to look up and find because they dont have “permission” from the officials to post. Many kids post videos on youtube of them singing. Hack, all of youtube will be shut down. If this passes, many jobs will be gone. And i thought we were trying to make more jobs not less! This is all rediculous in my opinion. If the creators of SOPA and PIPA have an issue with something, leading to this, they could have just sued that one person and not tried to ruin many people’s lives.
mina
Posted 122 days ago 163This really pisses me off. Mainly because the US believe that they can control what other countries should be posting on the internet. I mean I think what I feel has been mentioned multiple times on the comments roll, but I don’t see many PROS that come out of this bill. Besides the main fact that works would be credited. Then you have to think to what extent are you solely the creator of your idea. Facebook has been thought of by many people but only one man actually put it in action.
I’m not even from America but it really pisses me off that the Americans can just snap their fingers and men in New Zealand are being arrested.
This bill is stupid and although it has PROS, its CONS outweigh it majorly. It fails to consider viewpoints from both parties.
Savina Velkova
Posted 122 days ago 162Thanks for the insights and comments. We took a moment to look at the impact SOPA and PIPA could have on b2b marketing in particular, read our thoughts here:
Felipeludo
Posted 122 days ago 161If this is approved, in near future, we will not able to comment, to denounce, to speak, and to make nay action that threatens the pockets of certain powerfu and dishonestl people. In short, we will only work, pay taxes, eat junk and be forced to agree with them at all.
Márcio
Posted 122 days ago 159I am translating this article in portuguese (Brasil), then I will to publish in my blog. Although, PIPA and SOPA are bills in US, other nation were affected.
Good luck for all
JD
Posted 122 days ago 156I am against PIPA & SOPA. These will give a downtrend to the internet surfers and earners as well. Please Protest against PIPA & SOPA.
Jerard
Posted 122 days ago 155PIPA and SOPA will surely not help people live a better life, instead, IT WILL KILL NOT ONLY FEW BUT MANY ONLINE JOBS THAT WILL SURELY CAUSE REDUCTION OF JOB OPPORTUNITIES. U.S. GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SHOULD THINK NOT ONLY OF THE PEOPLE IN AMERICA BUT ALL OVER THE WORLD. BIG COMPANIES DO NOT NEED THE SECURITY OF WHAT PIPA AND SOPA WANT FOR THE FACT THAT COMPANIES EARN A LOT IN THEIR MARKETING CAREER DESPITE THE ONLINE PIRACY.
WEALTHY PEOPLE CAN STAY WEALTHY, BUT POOR PEOPLE SHOULDN’T STAY POOR! MANY OF THEM US ARE INNOCENT.
Alexander Tomsky
Posted 122 days ago 160How do you then stop piracy – it is a theft, stolen goods. The infringment of copyright is a disaster over here. The Czech book market is collapsing because people are getting everything for free. There wont be many writers left, We cannot publish a translation of a foreign famous writer – the costs are huge. Soon people who dont speak English will have no access to anything.
HEYY xD
Posted 122 days ago 154Even though I’m not in the US I will absolutely NEVER let this happen. We must stop this at all cast!