The Stop Online Piracy Act, which has bipartisan support from Democrats and Republicans, is a complete mess.

Not only does it allow prosecution of websites hosting pirated material (which it should), but it also allows the following actions to be prosecuted:

-An allegation is all it takes to get an investigation started; meaning, no concrete evidence is needed.

-If there is material used under the "Fair use" clause, such as a clip of "Fox News" used to illustrate a point (be it political or otherwise), and someone issues a complaint saying the usage of that clip was unlawful, it will be taken down.

-If your site contains a link to a site that offers copyrighted material; Even if you are not linking directly to it, but the site DOES support that material; You can be prosecuted. This includes forum posts.

-If your website is considered to be "Rogue" (No concrete definition for this is given), it can be taken down.

So it's finally happened. The government is stepping in to control the internet.

Why are Republicans in favor of this? This is what I would call huge government.

Obtained (in part) from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

Supporters

The Stop Online Piracy Act was introduced by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and was initially co-sponsored by Howard Berman (D-CA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Steve Chabot (R-OH), John Conyers (D-MI), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Elton Gallegly (R-CA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Timothy Griffin (R-AR), Dennis A. Ross (R-FL), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Lee Terry [R-NE]. As of November 15, 2011, there were 24 sponsors.[87]

The legislation has broad support from organizations that rely on copyright, including the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, Macmillan Publishers, Viacom, and various other companies and unions in the cable, movie, and music industries. Supporters also include trademark-dependent companies such as Nike, L'Oréal, and Acushnet Company.[88][89]

Both the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce support H.R. 3261, and many industries have also publicly praised the legislation. On September 22, 2011, a letter signed by over 350 businesses and organizations-including NBCUniversal, Pfizer, Ford Motor Company, Revlon, NBA, and Macmillan-was sent to Congress encouraging the passage of the legislation this year.[88][89]

On November 22 the CEO of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) expressed concerns about the bill, saying that "valid and important questions have been raised about the bill". He said that definitions and remedies needed to be tightened and narrowed, but "BSA stands ready to work with Chairman Smith and his colleagues on the Judiciary Committee to resolve these issues."[90][91]
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Opposition
EFF home page with American Censorship Day banner

Opponents of the bill include Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, AOL, LinkedIn, eBay, Mozilla Corporation, the Brookings Institution and human rights organizations such as Reporters Without Borders,[92] the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the ACLU and Human Rights Watch.[93][94]

The Library Copyright Alliance (including the American Library Association) objects to the broadened definition of "willful infringement" and the introduction of felony penalties for noncommercial streaming infringement, stating that these changes could encourage criminal prosecution of libraries.[95]

On November 16, Tumblr, Mozilla, Reddit, Techdirt, the Center for Democracy and Technology were among many other Internet companies that protested the Stop Online Piracy Act by participating in a so-called "American Censorship Day". They displayed black banners over their site logos with the words "STOP CENSORSHIP".[96]

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has expressed opposition to the bill, as well as Representatives Darrell Issa (R-CA) and presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX), who joined nine Democrats to sign a letter to other House members warning that the bill would cause "an explosion of innovation-killing lawsuits and litigation."[97] "Issa said the legislation is beyond repair and must be rewritten from scratch," reported The Hill. [98] Issa and Lofgren have announced plans for legislation offering "a copyright enforcement process modeled after the U.S. International Trade Commission's (ITC) patent infringement investigations."[50]

In mid-November, Washington Post blogger Dominic Basulto, of Electric Artists and formerly Fortune and Corante.com,[99] drew parallels between SOPA and efforts by China, North Korea and Iran to limit internet access; and saw an attempt "to push through new anti-piracy legislation by year-end that would benefit Hollywood at the expense of Silicon Valley".[100]

While I understand why everyone's in such a huff, I find it laughable that congress can or will get anything passed, ever, at least in our lifetimes. This bill included.

All kidding aside, has anyone considered spamming the representative's Facebook pages? Or twitter pages?[1] Are people doing that? Hell, if there were an organized group of people doing that, I'd join facebook just to help out.

We should do that. Is anyone doing that? Let's do that.

000Ronald:
While I understand why everyone's in such a huff, I find it laughable that congress can or will get anything passed, ever, at least in our lifetimes. This bill included.

All kidding aside, has anyone considered spamming the representative's Facebook pages? Or twitter pages?[footnote]But not MySpace. Anyone who has a MySpace page and nothing else is clearly so far behind the times that it doesn't matter. Write them a letter, they'll respect that. Are people doing that? Hell, if there were an organized group of people doing that, I'd join facebook just to help out.

We should do that. Is anyone doing that? Let's do that.

Why not just move another Occupy movement in? Of course do name it differently so it's clear what it's about.

And I'm rather serious about it.

Vegosiux:

000Ronald:
While I understand why everyone's in such a huff, I find it laughable that congress can or will get anything passed, ever, at least in our lifetimes. This bill included.

All kidding aside, has anyone considered spamming the representative's Facebook pages? Or twitter pages?[footnote]But not MySpace. Anyone who has a MySpace page and nothing else is clearly so far behind the times that it doesn't matter. Write them a letter, they'll respect that. Are people doing that? Hell, if there were an organized group of people doing that, I'd join facebook just to help out.

We should do that. Is anyone doing that? Let's do that.

Why not just move another Occupy movement in? Of course do name it differently so it's clear what it's about.

And I'm rather serious about it.

Because it's not necessary. Sure, going and talking bodily to your representative is a good idea, but that's usually not a viable option.

What's more, doing something online makes the point of just how important the internet is. Or, that's how I'd think of it.

And third point, I'm not going to get pepper sprayed. If I can help it.