Will SOPA hurt the Internet?

As of today, the United States legislature is currently working on putting together the Stop Online Privacy Act, a new bill intended to prevent companies from losing business by pirating downloads and software.

The bipartisan bill will make unauthorized streaming of content a felony, will bar ISP's from giving access to the sites, and bar search engines from linking to the sites. It is up to the Department of Justice, in addition to copyright holders, to deem sites blockable.

Supporters for the bill argue that the laws are a natural extension of copyright laws into the 21st century, and that the bill is necessary to prevent companies from losing too much intellectual property.

The bill's opponents say that the government will have too much say as to whether a site can remain operable, and that the security changes will undermine the basic structure of the internet.


Where do you stand on SOPA?

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sopa-hearings-cast-debate-as-old-media-vs-new-media/2011/12/16/gIQAmCD3yO_story.html

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/109533-how-sopa-could-actually-break-the-internet

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/12/21/sopa-haters-are-already-finding-easy-ways-to-circumvent-its-censorship/