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"To promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes." —H.R. 3261

especially those registered outside the U.S.

The legislation — two similar bills pending in the House and Senate — would empower the Department of Justice and copyright holders to shut down websites that violate intellectual property or sell counterfeit goods. A range of U.S. businesses and their trade groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, pharmaceutical and media companies and publishers, say it would lead to more jobs and revenues and promote consumer safety.

Opponents, including large and small Internet companies and First Amendment advocates, argue that it would stifle innovation and lead to censorship. Here are key issues to consider:

Alphanumeric wrote:

The legislation — two similar bills pending in the House and Senate — would empower the Department of Justice and copyright holders to shut down websites that violate intellectual property or sell counterfeit goods. A range of U.S. businesses and their trade groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, pharmaceutical and media companies and publishers, say it would lead to more jobs and revenues and promote consumer safety.

Opponents, including large and small Internet companies and First Amendment advocates, argue that it would stifle innovation and lead to censorship. Here are key issues to consider:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story ... 52623914/1

Coeus wrote:This shit would never fly in Sweden. We have the PIRATE political party & this country created Piratebay

Alphanumeric wrote:^No you won't. Not when Piratebay and anything related to Assange is continuously attacked.

Alphanumeric wrote:LOL @ in this day and age. Are you serious?

Call your elected officials.

Tell them you are their constituent, and you oppose SOPA and PIPA.
Why?

SOPA and PIPA cripple the free and open internet. They put the onus on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the blocking of entire sites, even if the links are not to infringing material. Small sites will not have the sufficient resources to mount a legal challenge. Without opposition, large media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for small competing foreign sites, even if big media are wrong. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines.

In a post SOPA/PIPA world, Wikipedia --and many other useful informational sites-- cannot survive in a world where politicians regulate the Internet based on the influence of big money in Washington. It represents a framework for future restrictions and suppression. Congress says it's trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the "cure" that SOPA and PIPA represent is much more destructive than the disease they are trying to fix.