SOPA & PIPA
I understand and even welcome the ability of copyright holders to protect their works from piracy. What I have a problem with is the complete censorship of a website because someone thinks there is infringing material or an infringing link to said material on a website. I have a problem with this because I’ve read about (from reputable news organizations) abuses of the DMCA by large copyright holders and I dread the thought of those same copyright holders having the ability to shut down ANY website WITHOUT due process. I realize that the idea was to target foreign sites that are based on infringement, but in my opinion, the language is too vague and could be misinterpreted and abused. Again, I am for copyright holders being able to protect their works, but I am against SOPA and the Protect IP Act.
I have sent several of these form letters in the past few months and I have received several form letters from you, but I am including a personal message in my letter this time and I hope that you would do the same. I don’t expect to change your mind with my words, but I hope that you would see the concern that people who know what they’re talking about have against these bills, and that you would not vote based upon how much money has been lobbied towards the House and Senate by the MPAA and RIAA.
Historically, the movie and recording industry have opposed VCRs, TVs, and CDs & DVDs because they felt that these devices would be used to pirate material and would consequently put them all out of business. As we can all plainly see, these technologies have not only not put them out of business, but have made them more money than ever.
The technology is not the problem. The problem is those who refuse to adapt to changing conditions and try desperately to cling to their old, outdated business model.
The above is what I sent to my congressman today. It’s quite ironic that, in order to protect one kind of IP (Intellectual Property) they’re willing to destroy a different kind of IP (Internet Protocol).
Edit: I’ve taken this from Tumblr via Wil Wheaton who got it from Fark.com. This is good info about the bills and what they mean.
Stolen from Fark, which has the best SOPA/PIPA protest I’ve seen today:
- http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41911.pdf – provides the absolute best summary I’ve seen of the bill, if you don’t want to read the actual bill itself. It also states the concerns about the bill.
- http://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/coica-v-20-protect-ip-act does a great job of explaining WHY the wording is vague, instead of just stating the the wording is “too vague” (which is vague in itself, and what I’ve seen most places).
- http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/newsfeed/files/2011/07/PROTECT-IP-letter-final.pdf – Letter from 108 law professors, again pointing out the problematic sections of the bill.
- For reference, the bill itself: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s968rs/pdf/BILLS-112s968rs.pdf