The MPAA and the Feds vs. The Internet
GOP-led House drafts draconian Stop Online Piracy Act
SOPA, also called the “E-PARASITE Act” (I mean, really?) is the darker version of the already dark Protect IP Act, which has been dogged by free speech, technical, and even constitutional concerns. But far from offering a reasonable alternative to Protect IP, the House delivered SOPA, which would let content owners bypass cops, courts, and any semblance of due process, and “disappear” entire Web domains like some kind of privatized secret police force.
Overly dramatic? Possibly. However, it cannot be denied that the copyright consortiums of America are pushing to eliminate wide swaths of valid content uses in the name of “stopping piracy”. I’m all for copyright - I make my living on it. But those rights have to end somewhere or the content is essentially locked in a sealed vault, unable to contribute any value to anything. The DMCA is bad enough; extending that to allowing the government to forcibly shut down sites that carry *ACCUSED* infringing content is a violation of due process.