Many people spent time watching the BCS Championship Game last night. Some people watched some NBA games, others watched some NHL games, and others just went out and did something. There were no commercials for the biggest threat to their freedom in a long time. Newspapers and newscasts did not say a word. Magazines had no details of the plague that could potentially ruin the internet. That is why this column, while not directly sports related, needs to be read.
The Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA for short, is a bill introduced to Congress on October 26, 2011 by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), and a bi-partisan group of eleven sponsors. The bill would permit any company to enforce any copyright anywhere on the internet, ignoring current legal standing. Anyone accused of violating these copyrights would have to prove to a government panel that they did not violate any copyrights, under a “guilty until proven innocent” system. Violators would have to pay a fine, and serve up to four years in prison.
While this bill was created with the best of intentions: the removal of pirated television shows, music, video games, and other copyrighted material from sites that allow people to obtain them for free, the potential wording of the law allows for powers that far exceed anything that should be allowable by any company. Any image, no matter how small, could call for its site to be shut down until it proved that it did not break copyright. A family video on YouTube could be shut down if it showed a copyrighted product. A link to an image on Facebook could get Facebook in trouble. Mentioning a company on Twitter could call in the feds. Even something as small as the images used on this very site could get Oregon Sports News shut down until we prove to a panel that we did not break copyright laws.
The obvious argument is “yes they could, but would they?” Most companies do not have the money to run down every little infringement that happens on the internet. The ones that do have the money cannot invest that kind of manpower to chase down little Suzy for her fan tribute to Nickelback on YouTube. However, it is the implication of it. A person makes an unflattering video showing a U.S. Senator saying something racist at a diner. The Senator could have the video removed and YouTube shut down, because it violates copyright. If I write an article criticizing Chip Kelly, and the Oregon Ducks logo is used anywhere, Kelly could have the site shut down for violating copyright. It is a suppression of the freedom of speech. Finally, the primary targets in this bill, the people pirating software, would not be affected at all because most of the sites used for pirating are outside the United States, where SOPA cannot legally affect them.
Google co-creator Sergey Brin spoke of the bill, saying that “it would place the United States alongside China and North Korea in the most oppressive nations in the world.” Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and YouTube have all promised to shut down for a length of time if the bill passes to make people understand what the internet could potentially turn into: a void where creative thinking and speech is suppressed in the name of money.
This bill cannot be allowed to pass without a fight, or a site like this could find itself gone, along with the freedom of the internet.
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