We need to stand against SOPA

Few people would debate that the Internet is an integral part of the modern world and is perhaps the largest engine for artistic expression, economic growth, scientific advancement and human freedom in the whole of human history, and will likely only become even more so in the future. Of course, with that in mind, it makes all too perfect sense that the government wants to ruin it.

While the news itself seems to be mostly preoccupied with Kim Kardashian's divorce or other such trivialities, a bill has come before the House of Representatives, HR3261, better known as the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA for short. This stated purpose of this bill, if passed and implemented, would be used by the entertainment industry to further crack down on digital piracy and enforcing intellectual copyrights. However, like so many other government efforts to regulate or legislate, the potential for both abuse and disaster are enormous.

First let me point out that, despite past efforts to stop Internet piracy, both by lawmakers and the entertainment industry, it has continued, and will continue, and there is not a damn thing they can do about it. The entertainment industry brought the pirating issue on themselves by both charging obscene amounts of money for an often sub-par product, as well as refusing to reform outdated copyright laws so that they are more practical in the digital age. As a result, people used technology to get these goods at a much more fair market price, and the entertainment industry claimed this was why their profits were down, and it had nothing at all to do with the recent downward trend in the quality of their products. If the entertainment industry would work with advancing technology and social media, rather than against it by trying and litigate people back into paying for the latest flavor of the week offering from the media peddlers, there is a good chance a mutually beneficial agreement could have been reached years ago. Instead, we get these perennially passed bills in Congress, followed by surprise from Washington and Hollywood when piracy grows further.

If this was just the latest laughable feeble attempt to stop piracy, I might be able to just shrug this off as the latest attempt by a bunch of pencil-pushers to regulate something not one of them likely understands or uses. However, there is more than a little to be worried about SOPA with.

For starters, it is far too familiar with the earlier Protect IP Act, which after being put forward in the Senate, was thankfully killed after massive public opposition as well as notable technical issues about the implementation bill itself. had it been passed, it would have created a blacklist of websites that the government would force Internet service providers to block, as well as penalizing advertisers who use those sites. In a way, SOPA is far worse than it's senatorial cousin, as the qualifications of penalization are far more open and left to interpretation in this version, leaving any website that is believed to be in violation of copyright law, and even websites that 'don't do enough to stop piracy', open to both litigation and being shut down.

Not surprisingly, this has a great deal of people up in arms, worried over the loosely worded bill and it's massive potential for abuse, which is no small worry when you remember recent bills to lower health care costs send them through the roof, and ones to make airports safer result in having cancer-ridden grandmothers getting strip searched. The outcry on the Internet has, not surprisingly, been overwhelmingly negative, with a rare coalition of sites ranging from big players like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon and the like, down to groups like Anonymous or ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, getting the word about the bill out, as well as providing the few voices of dissent in the congressional hearings for the bill. In a rare moment of solidarity, the Tea Party has denounced it for government overreach and as a danger to free speech and the free market, just as some OWS groups have derided it as Washington's latest attempts to sell out to lobbyists and corporations. Business experts have been fast to point out it would devastate one of the economies fastest growing sectors in favor of outdated business models, and legal experts have pointed out the potential to further flood our legal system with frivolous lawsuits. As a whole, the reaction has been overwhelmingly negative, and the reaction from nearly all but the entertainment industry has been of one of both anger and fear.

And why should they not be? Even ignoring the massive potential for abuse, which given past patterns by both the government and entertainment industry, will happen, the bill itself is worded in such a way it could effectively kill the Internet as we know it. The Congressional hearings showed full well that most of the congressmen supporting this bill have little idea of how the Internet works, and under this law, it would be up to their discretion what sites qualify for blacklisting. The entertainment has shown time and time again its disdain for all things digital, as anyone who has ever pulled up a pulled YouTube video knows, and their pattern of litigating individuals for millions of dollars for at most music worth a few hundreds of dollars does not bode well for what they would do with the powers SOPA would allow them. Considering that there are already laws on the books that allow them to protect their intellectual property, make no mistake this is yet another power grab by the entertainment industry at the expense of the American consumer.

Worse, implementation of this bill would require the restructuring of how the Internet actually functions, and would require creation of a system not too far removed from the ones used in dictatorships like Iran or the PRC, giving the USA it's very own Great Firewall of China. Now if the thoughts of the US government is able to shut down Web sites at the slightest provocation, where elected representatives invoke fears of "overseas pirates" to defend the interests of domestic industries, and where Internet companies like Google must cave in to the demands of government censors or risk being shut down doesn't send shutters down your spine, the fact it spits in the face of the Constitution to do so should. While the bill's advocates have been quick to point out the constitutionality of Copyright law, and I will confess that I am no constitutional scholar, I would hope that copyright law would take a back seat to more fundamental freedoms, like for example, providing for the general welfare, or of course, freedom of speech and expression. Even if the bill passes and is in time struck down by the Supreme Court for constitutionality, it would still be enough time to cripple to Internet, much akin to how the Affordable Healthcare Act caused health insurance costs to rise long before it either took effect or went before the Supreme Court for review.

In the end, that is the reason more than anything why the bill needs to fail: SOPA will not stop piracy, allows for massive potential for censorship and abuse, and in the end making the Internet less safe and reliable, and one that violates the constitution in doing so. It would be a blow to liberty and the economy that we as a nation can ill afford.

The Internet is a modern marvel that has changed every aspect of society for the better. It allows global communication in the blink of an eye, the free exchange of knowledge and media, as well as allowing anybody to share their own thoughts or creations with the world. It has already proven to be the strongest part of the global economy, providing 2.6 jobs for every one it replaces, as well as making up the majority of global GDP growth in the last few years, something which is all the more important in this midst of this global recession, and will likely only grow more in the future. Perhaps most importantly, it is the greatest engine of freedom of speech and expression in the history of humanity, with international movements like the Arab Spring, and domestic ones like the Tea Party or OWS popping up overnight thanks to the freedom the Internet allows. Beyond any shadow of a doubt, the Internet is rapidly becoming the heart and soul of the modern world, and allowing the government to monitor or censor it so Hollywood can sell more movie tickets or music CD's is akin to killing to goose that layed the golden egg.

Whether you be Whig, Republican or Democrat, this is something we as Americans and members of the free world can and must stand together in opposition towards. It will hurt the economy, hurt the lives of our citizens, and stands in direct violation to the values of free speech and promoting the general welfare that our nation embodies. I urge every one of you to contact your Congressional Representatives and tell them you will not stand idly by while they trample on your liberties. Join groups that oppose it, and get the word out about this bill before it passes. If you are reading this right now, I hope you understand that the last thing we can afford to do nothing.