Two anti-piracy bills are picking up steam in Congress, despite the fact that their broad stipulations could dramatically infringe upon the First Amendment.
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a bill with a purpose exactly what it sounds: like, to help government authorities monitor, pursue, and apprehend Internet “pirates” and put an end to intellectual theft.
At least that’s what the bill’s supporters would have you believe.
Stopping copyright infringers has proved to be a difficult task since the initial development of the Internet. At the same time, faster Internet speeds and rapid advancements in technology have only made offenders more elusive and effective.
Recently, the issue has become increasingly political as those being exploited by piracy have begun to channel substantial funding into lobbying efforts.
Eighteen legislators in the House of Representatives have received more than $5 million from media lobbying in their careers to date, but that won’t have any influence on their legislative priorities, right?
It must also be a coincidence that Lamar Smith, Republican from Texas and SOPA’s sponsor in the House has received nearly half a million dollars through lobbying from these media corporations.
It’s really become sickening to watch these “representatives” continually be influenced through financial persuasion, but that’s another conversation altogether.
Intellectual theft is a real problem, whether some will admit it or not.
Unlimited amounts of music, movies and software are available at the click of a button to anyone in America with a broadband Internet connection – for no cost at all. Obviously, the corporations can’t afford for this to happen as they stand to lose billions of dollars per year, according to the bills’ supporters.
It’s hard to blame them for being upset, because they are truly being exploited on a grand scale.
But, their desperation to see something done about it has significantly contributed to the depraved circumstances an ordinary citizen may face for what would be considered petty theft in any other situation.
If SOPA and its partner bill in the Senate, the Protect IP Act are signed into law, those engaging in file-sharing or “streaming” would be subject to a five-year prison term – even as a first offender.
Let that sink in a little bit. You could drive your car through the front door of Best Buy and clean out the music and movies section and feasibly get less jail time than that.
Piracy needs to have consequences; it’s grown rampant in this country – in part because many of its facilitators are overseas based websites, and our government has no jurisdiction in shutting them down.
But, the anti-piracy bills will allow the government to bypass First Amendment rights and began restricting access nationally to any website they see as a potential threat.
Sites like YouTube, which have become not just useful for entertainment purposes, but integral for teachers’ curriculum across the country, would likely cease to exist.
Social media, search engines and advertisers are all also at risk, as any connection or correlation to streaming would be grounds for heavy reparations from the government.
Techdirt blogger Mike Masnick summed it up well.
“And the definitions are ridiculously broad. Under SOPA, you can be found ‘dedicated to the theft of U.S. property’ if the core functionality of your site ‘enables or facilitates’ infringement. The core functionality of nearly every Internet website that involves user generated content enables and facilitates infringement. The entire Internet itself enables or facilitates infringement. Email enables or facilitates infringement. They have significant non-infringing uses as well, but the definition leaves that out entirely,” Masnick said.
The scariest part about this bill is that, more than likely, you’ve never even heard of it. Despite its toxic implications and controversial consequences, the national media has barely even touched it.
Why would they? The convergence of media in the United States has made it so the same companies that produce the majority of music and movies are in some way tied to the corporations that are responsible for disseminating relevant national information – the same corporations that have been pouring millions of dollars into the campaigns of Congress members, both Democrat and Republican, for years.
This is only the beginning of what will become a very complicated and likely long, drawn-out debate.
I urge you to do your own independent research in order to learn as much as you can about the issue, so you can communicate with your state’s representatives accordingly as these bills continue their journey through Congress.