If you spend any time in the blogosphere at all, you’ve probably heard at least one person make reference to SOPA- the Stop Online Piracy Act. See, businesses are at the end of their ropes- no matter how many people they sue or how many file-sharing websites they take down, more pirates always crop up, using the ‘persecution’ they feel along with the poor behavior of a few select businesses (EA and the Recording Industry as a whole- both of you should be ashamed of yourselves) to justify their actions.
Thing is, piracy is illegal, no matter how you swing it – even if you think you’re in the right by pirating something, you’re still breaking the law.
DRM’s failed to deliver. In some cases, it drove paying customers to pirate their game just so they can avoid the overly intrusive, oft-infuriating protection certain developers insist on shoehorning into their games – protection which only ruins the experience as a whole. A few folks in governmental positions noticed the losing battle corporations the world over are fighting against pirates, and decided they wanted to help.
While their intentions might be good…their methods are not.
The Stop Online Piracy Act
You can read the whole act here. I’ll summarize. Essentially, if someone who holds the right to a piece of intellectual property feels they’ve been harmed by a “U.S.-directed site dedicated to infringement, or a site promoted or used for infringement under certain circumstances,” the individual or business can provide a written notification that identifies the site to network providers and advertising services. Here’s where it gets bad.
The trouble lies mostly with the way it’s worded – at least, at first.
Those providers must immediately forward the notification to the operator of the site, and suspend all services (meaning the site could very well be completely inaccessible) unless and until the site’s owner responds to the notification with a counter-statement explaining they are not dedicated to infringement. No timeframe is given for this process, so it could very well end up that a website operator’s only given a few days before their services are shut down.
Oh, and there’s also a good chance their services will be withheld immediately, even if they aren’t actually at fault.
If the providers don’t suspend services, or if no counter-notificaton is provided, the claimant can then seek legal action against the owner of the site – or even the domain itself. By that wording, if a blog on WordPress is responsible for copyright infringement…Wordpress could immediately be liable if it doesn’t shut down said blog.
It gets better.
The bill also expands the umbrella of what constitutes copyright infringement to include “public performances of copyrighted work by digital transmission,” and “work intended for commercial dissemination by making it available on a computer network.” Guess what, YouTube? Most of your content could be considered illegal under this new bill.
Of course, if you blindly ban anyone even suspected of infringement, you’ll be granted legal immunity. Sweet deal, except for the fact that service providers already have immunity from the legal ramifications of their users’ actions. Guess what? Under SOPA, they won’t. Not anymore.
This means that anyone who wants to censor something can simply scream “infringement!” and get the offending content removed. Don’t believe me? Watch this. What’s to stop a business from claiming competition is infringing on their copyrights, and getting the little guy shut down.
Nothing. Due process? What’s that? Investors are actually talking about completely turning away from investing in certain internet business models if the bill goes through.
I’m not sure how much stock I give to the people saying that if more than two people are listening to a piece of music, it qualifies as a “public performance,” but if it’s true…it’s just getting worse and worse. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is strongly opposed to the bill, claiming that it “stifles innovation” and that it allows the U.S. Government to establish a blacklist of websites, giving the Attorney General the power to kill a site in a matter of days.
Sadly, it looks like they’re right.
There’s also a bit in the bill about prescription medicine, drug trafficking, and goods or services that don’t meet military standards, for some reason. Because why not make the bill even more obtuse?
Opposition To SOPA
Understandably, SOPA’s got some pretty powerful groups lobbying against it. Google, AOL, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Zynga have sent a letter to congress, signed and dated, that opposes the bill. Though the ESA at large supports the bill (for some reason), many developers have begun to take a stand and speak out, after realizing just what the bill means for the industry. What’s more, many of their most significant members, such as Nintendo and EA, have offered no official support for the bill.
So what’s the problem then? The businesses that basically make up the lifeblood of the Internet looked at the bill and said “no.” There’s no chance it’ll pass, right? Even Microsoft has realized that SOPA’s probably a bad thing, and backed off.
Right?
Why It’s Still A Problem
He doesn't need to understand the Internet- he's a politician.
Word is that, in spite of how downright insane the bill is, in spite of how powerful its opposition is…Congress still largely supports it. There’s still a chance they’ll approve it, in spite of opposition by businesses like Google, in spite of all the petitions and letters they’re receiving telling them that there’s no way in hell a lopsided, poorly-planned, jilted bill like this should ever get past the drawing room.
In spite of the fact that it’s basically an assault on freedom of expression, and a thinly-veiled attempt to defend business models that are completely and utterly obsolete. In spite of the fact that this bill has the potential to utterly destroy innovation just so that a few businesses that can’t be bothered to change can stagnate at the top.
Want to know the worst part? IT Experts wanted Congress to host a hearing where they’d explain how SOPA would negatively impact Internet security. Know what Lamar Smith, the man behind the bill said? He rejected the hearing. Apparently, he doesn’t want to slow the process down, and can’t be bothered with learning about the negative effects of the bill-to him, that’s a waste of time.
“Copyright infringement is not a new problem,” Lamar stated, deftly sweeping aside the experts. That’s right- he wants to pass a bill without an understanding of how the internet works. Even more frightening is the fact that he’s not alone.
Of course, the guy has a history of trying to pig-headedly push through harmful, problematic bills without even a modicum of thought as to the consequences, so anyone who knows him probably isn’t the least bit surprised.
Yes, they’re heavily amending the bill- or trying to (most amendments are being rejected outright). The SOPA that passes might be different from the SOPA we see at the current juncture. Even so, the very foundations of the bill are fatally flawed. If something like this passes, make no mistake, nothing good will come of it.
We’re living in a world of freely available data and information. A world of social media and constant communication. A bill like this frankly reeks of censorship, and from where I stand, will cause nothing but harm, and will perhaps irreversibly cripple the Internet. YouTube, Photobucket, yfrog, hell…even Facebook could be dinged for infringement. SOPA is a death sentence for new media.
But at least people won’t be pirating anymore. right?
What You Can Do
Everything. Share YouTube videos. Post information on SOPA everywhere you possibly can. Learn about the bill. Talk about the bill. Tell your friends. Send letters to politicians, governors, executives…anyone you can think of with even a modicum of influence needs to know about this bill, and needs to know why it, and its partner, the Protect Intellectual Property Act should never pass.
Hell, show up and protest outside Congress on the days they’re meeting about the bill.
Show them that people aren’t going to stand for this.
There are ways to deal with piracy. There are methods for protecting intellectual property. But this isn’t the way. This is nothing more than a knee jerk reaction from people who don’t seem to understand how the Internet actually work; a flailing act of blatant revenge by businesses that can’t be bothered to seek alternatives.
Gabe Newell once said “The way to defeat piracy is to provide a better service than the pirates.” Food for thought for all the businesses who support this bill. Why not just, y’know, actually think about your customers for once? Crazy idea, right?
Update(1/14/2012): Turns out, the Nintendo, Sony, and EA thing was just a rumor. They didn’t withdraw support; Nintendo and EA never actually officially supported SOPA in the first place. I’ve also been made aware that the Obama Administration doesn’t officially support SOPA, either- a sure sign that things are headed in the right direction.
Image Credits: Ars Technica, Ology.com, America’s Voice, Naturalplane,
Like what you read?
If so, please join over 28,000 people who receive our exclusive weekly newsletter and computer tips, and get FREE COPIES of 5 eBooks we created, as our gift to you for subscribing. Just enter your name and email below:
I know for a fact that this will not pass!
I hope you’re right- if it does, it’ll only cause harm.
Smith is due for reelection this year. In the first place, his Texas voters should let him know NOW how they feel. Oh, and the Chinese pirates must be trembling in their boots.
The worst part about SOPA is that it’s not even going to stop piracy. Software pirates are a crafty bunch, and DNS blocking doesn’t actually remove a server from the internet- if you know the IP, you can still connect.
If the Chinese pirates managed to get around the Great Firewall of China, SOPA isn’t going to inconvenience them to any greater degree. It’s honestly as though they’re trying to repair a delicate piece of hardware by throwing a grenade at it.
Add this to NDAA and it is easier to understand why the Congress is so willing to pass such a bad bill.