SOPA and PIPA
The PROTECT IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA) is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S. The bill was introduced on May 12, 2011, by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and 11 bipartisan co-sponsors. TheCongressional Budget Office estimated that implementation of the bill would cost the federal government $47 million through 2016, to cover enforcement costs and the hiring and training of 22 new special agents and 26 support staff. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill, but Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) placed a hold on it
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a United States bill proposed by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith (Republican) to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property andcounterfeit goods. Provisions include the requesting of court-orders to bar advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with infringing websites, and search engines from linking to the sites, and court orders requiring Internet service providers (ISP) to block access to the sites. The law would expand existing criminal laws to include streaming of copyright material, imposing a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Can we allow it ??
--> YES or No. decide after reading the above info.
according to me :
It will affect us the user of internet only. Never bring extreme politics into internet fields.
The Internet went silent on Wednesday, and Washington noticed.
OK, not the whole Internet, but on Wednesday several of its biggest players -- Google, Wikipedia and Reddit, to name just a few -- took part in a protest over two bills designed to protect copyright holders from Internet piracy, particularly in instances in which the piracy takes place overseas. The bills, which are heavily backed by entertainment industry trade groups like the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, would give copyright holders and prosecutors the ability to pursue international websites that steal content.
Since the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect IP Act in the Senate were introduced last year, tech companies and many of their users have been complaining that the bills were too broad. The protests reached a peak on Wednesday, when several major sites, like Wikipedia and Reddit, shut down for 24 hours while others, like Google, blacked out portions of their home pages; most of those sites also offered links to sign petitions or email Congress to express their outrage over the proposals.
What the bills do:
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a United States bill proposed by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith (Republican) to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property andcounterfeit goods. Provisions include the requesting of court-orders to bar advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with infringing websites, and search engines from linking to the sites, and court orders requiring Internet service providers (ISP) to block access to the sites. The law would expand existing criminal laws to include streaming of copyright material, imposing a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
--> YES or No. decide after reading the above info.
It will affect us the user of internet only. Never bring extreme politics into internet fields.
The Internet went silent on Wednesday, and Washington noticed.
OK, not the whole Internet, but on Wednesday several of its biggest players -- Google, Wikipedia and Reddit, to name just a few -- took part in a protest over two bills designed to protect copyright holders from Internet piracy, particularly in instances in which the piracy takes place overseas. The bills, which are heavily backed by entertainment industry trade groups like the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, would give copyright holders and prosecutors the ability to pursue international websites that steal content.
Since the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect IP Act in the Senate were introduced last year, tech companies and many of their users have been complaining that the bills were too broad. The protests reached a peak on Wednesday, when several major sites, like Wikipedia and Reddit, shut down for 24 hours while others, like Google, blacked out portions of their home pages; most of those sites also offered links to sign petitions or email Congress to express their outrage over the proposals.
What the bills do:
The entertainment industry was looking for ammunition to go after international content thieves, and SOPA/PIPA would have given them a way to do it. Because direct enforcement is tough, even in countries with whom the United States has strong trade agreements, the bills would have focused on ad networks and payment facilitators -- credit card companies and others, like PayPal, that process payments for online goods -- preventing them from doing business with violators. The bills also would have forced search sites, like Google or Yahoo, to stop listing violators.
Who liked them:
The entertainment industry, mostly. Movie and music giants say they lose huge amounts of potential revenue because of the sale and distribution of pirated content. Pharmaceutical companies also supported the bills, as they could have helped stop the flow of bootleg drugs into the United States. And the bills had the enthusiastic support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Who did not:
Pretty much the entire Internet. Opponents said the bills made it too easy to for content producers to bring legal action against domestic interests -- search sites or aggregators with user-submitted content -- even if the source of the pirated material was from another country. The management of sites that featured user-submitted content said they would be forced to closely monitor their submissions, a situation that would quickly become impossible for a large site like YouTube, which receives 48 hours worth of video every minute. Search sites said de-listing violators could force those companies to re-write the code that drives the searches, a change that could have far-reaching consequences for the basic operation of the Internet. Finally, the Internet companies continued to be concerned about being held liable should other enforcement actions fail. And the broader concerns? Those dealt with freedom of expression, halting development and potentially stunting business growth.
What's next:
It's hard to say whether SOPA/PIPA will be amended or scrapped in favor of new legislation, but even as the bill's authors announced they were being pulled on Friday, they said the efforts to protect intellectual property would continue.
As you read the above stuff now decide you want SOPA/PIPA ..
-information taken from wikipedia and few other website.
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