S.O.P.A

Sorry for posting late!   

     Stop Online Piracy Act or better know as S.O.P.A. is an United States Bill which would theoritcally help to slow down illegal downloads and also help expand the ability of law enforcement to impose penalties on copyright infringers. The act calls for ISP's to stop allowing access to internet websites that provide the use of copyright infringement. The act also calls for search engines to stop linking to the websites that are allow the illegal downloads. It also allows for the upgrading of the maximum penalty for infringers to spend up to 5 years in prison. S.O.P.A. is directly tied to another act that is highly similar entitled P.I.P.A.
     One problem with S.O.P.A. is that it can only be placed on United States buisnesses and corporations. Unfortunately, the internet is a world-wide thing. Many website hosts and servers are international. Therefore the laws do not extend to them and can not be placed on them. It is also important to note that by passing S.O.P.A. the American government can be seen that they are placing their values on the entire world. The United States Copyright rules are not multi-national and do not extend to other countries. Some countries have similar laws, but they do not correspond.
     Many people argue that S.O.P.A will not only prevent copy right law but will also intrude on peoples free speech. Many people are also worried that the government would be able to block entire domains simply because one person has a small amout of copy right enfringement on their blog. For example people argue that if I were to place a small amount of copy right enfringement on this blog it is plausabile that the Government could potentially shut down the entire Blogger.com domain. This could have some serious consequences and does ultimately hurt the peoples right to free speech.
     As of right now the bill is not up for vote. The bill will come up for vote when there is a general consessus on all of the issues in the bill. This was decided on January 15th 2012.