why is the sopa bill bad for canadians?

[Lid]

and how can sopa potentially put fees on free sites such as youtube?

[Suzanne]

SOPA could drastically impact the Canadian online experience. By granting the American DOJ and litigious copyright holders the right to hold websites, applications and service providers, like YouTube, Twitter and PayPal, responsible for their users’ actions, it is foreseeable that these targeted parties would respond by (a) further restricting and limiting the conditions for sharing content and/or (b) create more stringent guidelines for validating users’ identities.

This means Canadians (and all online users) could see a significant reduction in the amount of content (videos, music, images, etc.) available online. More restrictions and limits on content for which users do not have the permission to distribute could range from streaming an online movie in HD, to sharing a youtube video of a friend’s band covering a Beatle’s song. ‘Net neutrality’ and the goal of equal access to information would take a massive and significant blow.

Legal pressure would force third-parties to comply with law enforcement demands and, in response, users might be requested to surrender and validate personal information when using these online applications and services. This would equate to a reduction in internet privacy and could force online websites and applications to be more exclusive in what is available to their users.

Furthermore, the DOJ and copyright holders would be empowered to seek court orders which target legitimate websites and users, effectively censoring information and free speech through regulatory noise. In effect, SOPA would reduce the sharing of information which could slow down technological and intellectual collaboration and innovation.

[sweiland75]

For the sake of net neutrality, Americans need to encourage their representatives to reject this bill.