ProtectIP / SOPA / E-Parsite Act
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Stop Online Piracy Act
The Stop Online Piracy Act ( SOPA ) is a United States bill introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit 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 websites, and court orders requiring Internet service providers to block access to the websites. The law would expand existing criminal laws to include unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content, imposing a maximum penalty of five years in prison.commentary The introduction late last week by members of the House Judiciary Committee of the "Stop Online Piracy Act," or SOPA, may test a long-standing reluctance by technology companies to take up arms in the legislative battleground. The bill, introduced as the House version of the Senate's Protect IP Act, solves few of the glaring problems of the Senate bill and introduces many all its own. While Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) may have given in to hyperbole in calling SOPA "the end of the Internet as we know it," there is certainly a great deal in the bill that should concern even law-abiding consumers and leaders in the tech community.
SOPA: Hollywood's latest effort to turn back time | Politics and Law
Protect IP: The Bill that Threatens the Internet and Our Freedom
By David Post One of the obvious dangers of the Internet Age is that we’ll be so distracted by everything going on around us — lots of it interesting, complicated, and even important (not to mention all the stuff that’s idiotic and unimportant and fundamentally uninteresting) — that we will fail to recognize the truly important stuff when it comes along. The IP bills that Congress now has before it — the Senate version of which is known as PROTECT-IP, the House version as SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), sometimes known as the “E-Parasite” bill — are deep and profound threats to the Net and to our freedom on the Net. If anyone has good ideas about how to fight back other than to stand on the street-corner, as I am doing now, and shouting to the rooftops, I’d be interested to hear them.
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 the sale of infringing or counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S. [ 1 ] The bill was introduced on May 12, 2011, by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [ 2 ] and 11 bipartisan co-sponsors. The Congressional 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. [ 3 ] The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill, but Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) placed a hold on it. [ 4 ] The PROTECT IP Act is a re-write of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), [ 5 ] which failed to pass in 2010.