Why SOPA and PIPA matter and why they must be fought

It seems that anyone who is remotely aware of what is going on in the world is aware what SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act, currently stalled in the US House Of Representatives) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act, currently being considered in the US Senate) are, and is probably aware of a few of the implications, but what many do not realise is quite how drastic and wholly unreasonable the changes could be worldwide. As people who are present on a blog that is predominantly used for downloads, I presume that you already have opinions, or at the very least disregard towards copyright, but these two bills have shown that the USA is prepared to completely ignore the progress of technology and society in order to better protect corporate income (it must be remembered that there is a precedent of this in Eldred v Ashcroft).

Anyway, even if you aren't aware, there is an excellent summary over at the BBC News website. As it succinctly says, perhaps the most worrying consequence of SOPA is that any website which in theory could 'enable or facilitate' piracy could have action taken against it, sometimes to the extent of being shut down. This is where the global consequence comes in. Whilst the US law theoretically has no authority or sovereignty over most of the world, the sheer power of the US is such that other states could well feel pressured into being complicit with this law, regardless of how ludicrous they find it. Furthermore, it still applies to a huge number of websites, including many of the world's largest - indeed, any site whose address ends in .com, .net or .org to name but a few would be affected by this. Those which would be immediately at risk, largely due to hosting user-created content include Youtube, Wikipedia, most filehosting websites (and let's face it, nobody likes iFolder), Bandcamp, and indeed any website which hosts text, images, video or sound which is not 100% original or in the public domain (a public domain which many high-standing people in US politics seek to destroy).

This is, however, just talking about a direct effect. Under SOPA, the US government and copyright holders would be able to seek action to be taken against websites which link to a suspected site. And while much is made of Google's Big Brother-esque presence, I think that few people who use the internet would deny that the internet would become practically unusable if one was unable to use search engines. And that's just to start - those accused of breaching copyright could have far more serious measures taken against them.

I'm well aware that my views are neither the most refined nor the most eloquently expressed regarding this huge issue, but if one more person joins the fight against SOPA because of this post, it has been a success. Fight regression. Fight SOPA/PIPA.