The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

To really start any discussion on this topic we must agree that copyright laws are out of date and do not account for mediums such as the internet. This being the case any law which attempts to deal with this issue, such as SOPA, is dealing with the issue backwards. Instead of changing the internet to conform with IP and Copyright laws we should be changing IP and copyright laws to be more coherent with the internet as a medium. That argument by itself dismisses this bill all together discounting any other factors. Purely on a reform basis, it should be the laws that should change to cope with new changes in society not the government changing society to cope with laws. The above statement really deals with your first point about protecting intellectual property because there is no claim to ownership of the product by the people who are distributing it, unlike flash of genius where his product was STOLEN not pirated. In that case IP laws was the cause of the hysteria because of the fact that Ford took his idea and took out a patent on it. They didn't take the idea and distribute it for free along side being able to sell it in a free market these companies took the rights to this product and prohibited him from ever selling his product. This example is a very bad one for this argument because even though it deals with intellectual property it in no way relates to copyright infringement on the internet (my first paragraph reinforced). The idea that this protects the average consumer and does not curtail free speech is in many ways misguided. The bill does not offer due process, instead acts on a model of guilty until proven innocent. As well it puts an unnecessary burden on ISPs to track and monitor people on the internet. If a claim is made the website is immediately shut down until it can be proven that the site has not been engaging in fraudulent activities. This is not how a society should allow its government to function. A responsible society should adapt to new changes rather then stifle advancements to appease outdated laws (Once again the first paragraph) The idea that piracy can be a tool for prosperity is very real and has some tangible examples. Many music artists from the 1980's do not receive many royalties for their songs, they do not get many gigs, they do not even have name recognition any longer. Though in the 2000's an internet fad called "Rick-Rolling" became a viral sensation where a copyrighted peace of material was used as a joke. This was used by many people including speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi. This made Rick Astley a household name and his fame returned to him from his original 15 minutes in the 80's. It also led to him getting a job on the macy's thanks giving day parade where he eventually rick rolled the audience, which let him rake in some cash. Now this may be a phish incident but it's just another example of free advertising and the power of the free internet to create real world tangible wealth. More importantly, We should listen to the major tech companies like google, AOL, Microsoft, verizon, ect when it comes to regulation of the internet. These tech giants understand the internet much better than congress and even better than the lobbyists of the entertainment industry. The internet was developed to be a tool for humans to share information with each other freely and securely. The right to IP is important and is the back bone behind our economic structure but the approach of SOPA is the wrong approach and needs to be voted down in favor of reworking our system and finding a solution that approaches 21st century matters in a 21st century way. .