SOPA, bill to stop online piracy, hits minor snag in House

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas

/ Getty Images

A controversial measure aimed at stopping online privacy that critics contend would kill the Internet as we know it hit a minor snag on Friday, when a key backer delayed a vote on the measure until next week.

Republican Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, decided against holding a committee vote that had been expected on Friday. The panel later scheduled a vote for Wednesday, December 21.

The Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, aims to prevent Internet users from stealing content that does not belong to them but a growing chorus of opponents say the legislation is a sledgehammer that would stifle free speech.

SOPA would give the Justice Department the power to shut down so-called "rogue" offshore web sites that sell pirated materials on the Internet, including music, movies and pharmaceuticals. The major Hollywood studios and media organizations, support the legislation. If the bill makes it through the committee, it would still have to pass the full House of Representatives and the Senate before it would go to President Obama's desk.

"The impact of intellectual property theft by rogue sites is felt in countless ways and across every creative genre, from romance authors, to church and gospel music songwriters, to independent filmmakers," said Sandra Aisters, executive director of the Copyright Alliance, an industry group representing content producers. CBS Corporation, which owns CBSNews.com, is a member of the Copyright Alliance.

But most of the major players in the technology industry, including Google and Facebook, are strongly opposed to the legislation because they say they would be forced to police their websites for possibly illegal content. Google, which owns YouTube, says the language is so broad that videos of teenagers dancing would be banned because of the copyrighted music playing in the background. And that would stifle innovation, they say.

Public Knowledge, a Washington based advocacy organization pushing for an open Internet, slammed the panel's chair for pushing the legislation without understanding the bill's unintended consequences.

"SOPA, as written, would threaten the functioning, freedom, and economic potential of the Internet," said Sherwin Siy, deputy legal director of Public Knowledge, adding that scheduling a vote "when many members may well be absent demonstrates a clear desire to continue dodging the questions raised by experts, members, and the public."

[sharkboy234]

tell the democratic party to vote out S.O.P.A. Democrats Block the votes in the senate floor now!

[doncheech164]

this bill is to shut down activist and the public along with the defence bill to arrest citizens and throw them in concentration camps with no charges,lawyer,ect. welcome to 1930s germany,this is how its done..one step at a time by a handful of people in power.
george orwell was only off by 27 years. merry christmas

[Stardancer7777]

This is a lot like killing a mosquito with a shotgun! Yes, people should not be allowed to pirate copywrited materials but censoring an entire website because of one ninny doesn't solve the problem. If an entire website is doing the pirating, than they deserve to be blocked. But people drawing fan art which THEY GIVE CREDIT where its due is not a reason to shut down a site. C'mon, folks, this isn't supposed to be China!

[a1012853]

They can give the bill a misleading name like "Stop Online Piracy Act" to get public support from people who don't look at anything beyond the name, but in reality it will do very little to stop online piracy. Online pirates will always be 5 steps ahead of any legislation, all this does is burden legitimate sites which attempt to comply with the laws and allows corporations to wield powers which should be in the hands of judges. It effectively takes it to the point where user submitted content will be too dangerous for any legitimate site to allow and the entire internet will be relegated to little more than corporate advertisements.

[terrorbyGOP]

When you live in a world where there is no hope for protection against criminals, vote for an anti American GOP economic terrorist pimp for the 1% who are robbing you.

[Eric_Jaffa]

SOPA threatens Net Neutrality.

It lets ISPs block their users' access to any website they suspect has material which violates copyrights.

If SOPA passes, you may try to visit one of your favorite websites, only to have it not load, because your Internet Service Provider suspects it has copyright-infringing material. Meanwhile, millions of other people can still visit that website because their ISPs don't believe it has copyright-infringing material.

We need Net Neutrality. ISPs should only be allowed to block websites when they receive a specific order from a judge to do so.

[terrorbyGOP]

So, you believe in laws against murder only being applied if the victim gets to a judge BEFORE being killed.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Lerianis4]

Totally different, terrorbyGOP and you had to do some severe spinning of your head to see reasonability in that opinion.

[Onideus]

This bill has ALREADY BEEN PASSED! TWICE! First as CDA or the Communications Decency Act back in 1996 and then later it was passed as COPA or the Child Online Protection Act.

Getting passed in CONGRESS however doesn't mean squat, because ultimately it's up to the SUPREME COURT to decide and, well, they ~already~ curb stomped the last two incarnations so it's not like this is gonna be any different. It's blatantly unconstitutional, just like the LAST TWO that were passed.

First it was "decency", then it was "won't someone think of the children?" and now we've got "scary pirates" in the latest incarnation, but it's all the *SAME* freakin bill, just slightly reworded and with a new acronym... CDA... COPA... and now SOPA. I mean, what, do they think the Supreme Court isn't gonna notice it's the EXACT SAME BILL THEY ALREADY BOOT STOMPED?!

*epic face palm*

What an incredibly stupid waste of tax payer money.

Hurr de durr, have you all been living in a cave or are you so young you were still sucklin on yer mama's teat back in 1996? Tha'fawk you people have a short attention span. I mean, hurr de durr, Blue Ribbon Campaign anyone? Surely I couldn't have been the ONLY person on the Internet back in 1996. o_O

[StacyConteh]

Frankly, I have long ago given up on government officials. Despite what anyone says they are all liars who only look out for their own gain. As far a I'm concerned this supposed 'bill' to cut back on piracy is not all that surprising. What else can you expect from politicians!