California Democrat, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, believes that a controversial new anti-piracy bill introduced Wednesday in the House of Representatives could mean "the end of the Internet as we know it." Hollywood, content creators, and groups such as the Teamsters, on the other hand, support the bill, arguing it will save and protect U.S. jobs.
Rep. Lofgren spoke to CNET Thursday afternoon adding her voice to a growing number of groups in opposition to the bipartisan anti-piracy bill called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA.
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SOPA (PDF), which is modeled partly after the Senate's PROTECT IP act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property), will allow copyright holders to obtain court orders to block sites that allegedly infringe on their property. Targeted sites would include sites operated for the sole purpose of infringement (or that "have only limited purpose or use other than" infringement), as well as any site that "engages in, enables, or facilitates" infringement.
The heavy-handedness -- and broadness -- of the bill is troubling to many people. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) calls SOPA "disastrous" and "the worst piece of IP legislation [they've] seen in the last decade."
According to the EFF, SOPA would essentially allow copyright holders to force service providers to "disappear" certain websites, which endangers both Internet security and sends a "troubling message to the world: it's okay to interfere with the Internet, even effectively blacklisting entire domains, as long as you do it in the name of IP enforcement."
Not only is SOPA too heavy-handed -- blacklisting an entire domain can mean effectively shutting down thousands of sites that didn't do anything wrong -- its wording is vague. After all, sites that "engage in, enable, or facilitate" infringement could include anything from a blog that links to a YouTube video or to YouTube itself.
SOPA was introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), and is backed by 11 Republican and Democratic co-signers. It will also make streaming copyrighted material a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Rep. Lofgren, whose congressional district includes the heart of Silicon Valley -- Santa Clara county, which houses most of Silicon Valley's capital, San Jose -- plans to head congressional opposition against SOPA.
Rep. Lofgren spoke to CNET Thursday afternoon adding her voice to a growing number of groups in opposition to the bipartisan anti-piracy bill called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA.
[ Stay ahead of the key tech business news with InfoWorld's Today's Headlines: First Look newsletter. | Read Bill Snyder's Tech's Bottom Line blog for what the key business trends mean to you. ]
SOPA (PDF), which is modeled partly after the Senate's PROTECT IP act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property), will allow copyright holders to obtain court orders to block sites that allegedly infringe on their property. Targeted sites would include sites operated for the sole purpose of infringement (or that "have only limited purpose or use other than" infringement), as well as any site that "engages in, enables, or facilitates" infringement.
The heavy-handedness -- and broadness -- of the bill is troubling to many people. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) calls SOPA "disastrous" and "the worst piece of IP legislation [they've] seen in the last decade."
According to the EFF, SOPA would essentially allow copyright holders to force service providers to "disappear" certain websites, which endangers both Internet security and sends a "troubling message to the world: it's okay to interfere with the Internet, even effectively blacklisting entire domains, as long as you do it in the name of IP enforcement."
Not only is SOPA too heavy-handed -- blacklisting an entire domain can mean effectively shutting down thousands of sites that didn't do anything wrong -- its wording is vague. After all, sites that "engage in, enable, or facilitate" infringement could include anything from a blog that links to a YouTube video or to YouTube itself.
SOPA was introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), and is backed by 11 Republican and Democratic co-signers. It will also make streaming copyrighted material a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Rep. Lofgren, whose congressional district includes the heart of Silicon Valley -- Santa Clara county, which houses most of Silicon Valley's capital, San Jose -- plans to head congressional opposition against SOPA.
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