Exactly how will SOPA affect the internet and why are people against it?

[CrazyMercenary751]

I understand that SOPA is supposed to stop piracy and copyright things but why are people so much against it? Are there only uneducated foolish teenagers against it because they think it will close their facebook page? Please just explain this thing to me in an easy way.

[Linds]

The problem with SOPA, is it will go one step further than going after illegal movie, music and vidoe game downloads. Site like facebook could be taken down and you know how youtube has a ton of fanmade videos of their favorite tv shows, you can say goodbye to those.

Anyone that's just an average blogger who reviews video game and shows clips. (and they're doing it just for kicks. They get no money for it) You can say goodbye to those too.

Oh and you know how some people on yotube post videos of them singing Beatle Songs or whatever. That would fall under SOPA, so those videos would be taken down. Basicly it would kill youtube and many of the social media sites.

And this whole process could very well destroy the mainframe of the internet.

And one of the bigger problems is the guys voting on this are a bunch of old guys who have no idea how the internet works. They don't even understand their own bill or how the whole outcome will effect the future of the internet.

[bcnu]

Every single statement in Linds answer is completely and categorically false. It will do no such thing. Lawful uploads are still lawful. Civil copyright infringement will still be handled by copyright owners suing in federal court, if they care and can afford it.

Many people are totally misinformed by the mass hysteria around the SOPA, which also contains most of the text of "Bill S.978 or the Commercial Felony Streaming Act".

According to its own definitions, it ONLY affects people who commit "willful copyright infringement for commercial advantage or private financial gain". It adds "public performance" to the list of federal felonies, where it is ALREADY a felony to upload (publish) copyrighted materials of others without a license. SOPA will provide economic tools for US Attorneys to persuade US companies to freeze payments to offshore criminals involved in copyright piracy, not to mention US-based scofflaws.

The hope is that enhanced law enforcement (your tax dollars at work) will assist copyright victims to assert their rights and to shut down those pirating copies for profit and not paying any royalties to the copyright owners.

[Connor]

Censorship of the freedom of speech. An unconstitutional law really.

[Jacob]

Its a very bad way to stop a legitimate problem.

[clint_slicker]

SOPA is very bad news, even Business Software Alliance has opposed it and if the software industry’s anti-piracy goon squad doesn't like copyright legislation you know it has to be seriously flawed.

The easiest way of thinking about it is the Chinese firewall system that limits the Chinese from visiting anti-government website, only SOPA is a lot worse than that.

The Standford Law review has put if well (http://www.stanfordlawreview.org/online/...k-internet )

To understand why it is so bad you have to understand how the internet work. Without any proof, just a simply allegation, can force all US internet service providers, domain name registries, domain name registrars and operators of domain name servers to block either the offending page or the whole web domain from the DNS system* - effectively wiping the site off the internet map.

How is this bad, firstly If I stated a website held copy write data of mine it could be taken offline, no court hearing, no third party judging whether its a valid claim or not.

What will happen, simply different versions of DNS will appear meaning that the standard DNS blocking system wouldn't work, your computers wouldn't be able to view half the web unless it was through a ISP with a compatible DNS system. The new version of DNS that includes security will fail to be implemented as standards will change as companies find ways round this block.

From a legal standpoint the proposed laws are almost certainly unconstitutional since it can be used to deprive first amendment free speech rights without any access to a court hearing and with little or no evidence presented of a crime – indeed overseas website owners may not even be informed before a site is taken down.

[Leofa]

At least w/ SOPA King B Hussein Obama will not need to sit and wait w/ his internet kill switch. It will be done automatically. In addition please consider this;

FEMA camps and NDAA are the real thing. (just like an Orwellian Utopia) You'll be gettin' the eff out of dodge to avoid some kind of urban uprising because of a disaster or emergency and about 30 or 40 miles out of town traffic will stop. military stormtroopers will walk through stopped traffic and warn people to stay in their cars. when you get to the roadblock ahead you will be told to get out of your car (leave all of your belongings and your keys in the car) and wait in a holding area. You will then board a bus and go to one of their internment facilities where you will be in-processed. Hopefully you will not get to play any of their games (waterboarding, solitary confinement, etc)

As for the NDAA (just signed into law by Barack Hussein Obama) that will be used to authorize the whole thing, did you read the book or see the movie "1984"? that's what it is. It allows any federal agency to declare an emergency and use the military forces to impose martial law. What they are doing in the mid east (door to door searches without warrants or any due process whatsoever) is only a rehearsal of what they have in store for us here. This is an article I wrote for another section.

Do the police need a warrant to search me or my property? Under aspects of the US Constitution, all persons are protected from unwarranted searches and any other form of arbitrary harassment. Unfortunately modern courts have misinterpreted the intentions of the founding fathers who authored the US Constitution and Bill of Rights to give the police the power at their discretion to use "probable cause." Police should not be allowed to lawfully act on suspicions or whims, and any action against any person should be deemed unconstitutional. This also includes any electronic surveillance such as wiretaps, directional mics, etc. Of course under aspects of the "Patriot Act" they will claim that it is to protect us from terrorists. They also claim that states need to implement a REAL ID program so that sheeple can be digitally mapped for easy identification to once again... protect us from terrorists. Meanwhile, the southern border is wide open to basically let in whoever wants to come for whatever reason.

The fact is this; the enforcement of drug and firearm prohibition has allowed the government to turn this country into a pig powered police state and everyday it is becoming more and more like the USSR. You might like all of this "protection" but personally I prefer to protect myself. If you are the kind of person that wants to give up your liberty for security then please go somewhere else like China or N Korea