SOPA

     Today we live in a generation where almost every aspect of life, such as the news, music, videos, movies, books, articles and more are all found on the internet. The reason why we have access to all these free resources is because people find a way to make sources on the internet where we can access things such as articles and music online for no cost at all. Society benefits from these resources and shares them among each other. When the SOPA fiasco came about one morning, it was a big shock to people everywhere because we all rely on the internet for routines in our everyday lives. Imagine a world where everything you needed wasn't able to be accessed by our many websites on the internet? The majority of people agree that this would be outrageous! (New Study Shows Majority Of Americans Against SOPA; Believe Extreme Copyright Enforcement Is Unreasonable.)

       Well what is SOPA you may ask? SOPA 

"authorizes the attorney general (AG) to seek court orders against a U.S.-directed foreign Internet site committing or facilitation online piracy to require the owner, operator, or domain name registrar or the site name [...] to cease and desist further activities constituting specified intellectual property offenses under the federal criminal code[...]." 

       Basically, the websites that we use daily, for researching articles, music, books and movies would be shut down in order to stop copy write infringement on the internet. Such a popular website such as Google, a search engine used for anything imaginably possible, would be shut down. The original owner of the material would send out a court order to the offenders of infringement and if the the sources and advertisements are shut down when said then they can be granted with immunity from liability. (SOPA Bill Summary and Status.)
      Studies show that the majority of people would be highly against SOPA. Not only will people not be able to use the internet and its resources for free for what they want and when they want but it will also affect business owners. A lot of people have recently started small businesses based on sharing information online. SOPA would put those people out of business and pose a financial burden for them. Studies also show that people use "personal downloading or sharing with friends and family," which they do not believe is a crime at all since it the content is not being used in exchange for money for copies of pirated sources. (New Study Shows Majority Of Americans Against SOPA; Believe Extreme Copyright Enforcement Is Unreasonable.)
     One of the main arguments towards SOPA or COICA (Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act) is the First Amendment that dwells on the idea of Freedom of Speech. The first amendment allows for the the sharing of ideas and information without penalties but with these acts, the circulation of sources and ideas would be cut because of the idea of "Copyright Infringement.""General Search engines and directories that provide relevant links at their users request [...] should not face liabilities or other costs." (Concerns Regarding COICA)
       Herman, express's that "the voices for stronger copyright have more finical and political capital than their opponents and thus tend to win in Congress" but that has "shifted substantially and become much messier and less predictable."(Herman SOPA Excerpt). Thank god, for this because if it was not for the turn of the century of debating then maybe SOPA and COICA may have passed. The majority of society do not mind advertisers and internet sources and if anything find them beneficiary so if they were to have been taken down then what would have the world do without?