The SOPA

The goal of SOPA (and its Senate counterpart, the PROTECT-IP Act) is well intentioned to fight copyright violators and counterfeiters who run sites beyond the jurisdiction of US courts. However it’s an overly aggressive attempt (and a costly one) by the government to censor the internet and poses serious concerns about preserving free speech.

These bills empower the attorney general to seek orders mandating thousands of (ISPs)Internet service providers to block customers from visiting purported infringing websites, compelling search engines to redact their results, excluding the targeted site, and requiring ad networks and payment processors to terminate business with the alleged site.

It expands the President’s authority to police the internet and derogates the ability of the judiciary and federal courts to handle intellectual property enforcement which they have done effectively for decades.

Essentially, ISPs, could, for instance, implement tactics used by the Chinese Firewall to target traffic going to a blacklisted site and simply block it.

What the bill can't do is block numeric IP addresses, so you could still access the censored site, if you know the numeric IP address which defeats the whole purpose of the bill.  So this bill will not forestall piracy but will censor any web site that facilitates or promotes pirated content. This includes sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, and many more. Something as minor as posting a copyrighted image to your Facebook page can warrant a violation. One can submit an appeal, which is ineffective most of the time, within five days, but it’s better sense to remove the questionable content to avoid expensive legal proceedings.