SOPA: Where to Begin?

                  There was a whole lot of reading pertaining to SOPA, and there is a lot to say about it more bad than good. The best way to explain what on God's green earth is SOPA? SOPA also known as, Stop Online Piracy Act would mean that the internet and everything that we ever wanted to or try to download, from music to writings to programs would be regulated by the U.S. Government. This is a bad thing. Why is this a bad thing you are probably going to ask? It's a bad thing, because in essence we enable the government to stop anyone to illegal download any and every type of recording music, movie, live recording, trafficking illegal material, or otherwise. But this is not what make it grimey. What makes it grimey is that, they are making the ISPs and search engines to do there dirty work. Which from the summary from the explanations is just not cool at all. I get the benefit of it, which is to protect copyright infringement and intellectual property. But is this the only reason to have SOPA, because if that's it then we have laws already in place for that. Those of which our professor proficiently knows to the letter, and has every right to know. Since he is awesomely knowledgeable in this section and his expertise on the matter is flawless. But this is not to focus on his expertise on the matter of copyright, though he does make some good points concerning the matter. I'll get to that in a moment, just be patient and read along.
               
                    The readings pretty much explain everybody's feelings about SOPA, and though I would say that it would be pointless for me to say something about it I will put my two cents in. The very Act is stripping our rights ie. "Freedom of Speech, internet rights, and innovative opportunities" as pointed out in the article in, PublicKnowledge.com. There is not much I can say that is positive about the Act. And yes there are dozens of quotes that I can use from the readings, but that would also be unfair. Unfair in the sense of trying to looking at both sides, thought the Act itself is one-sided. This where I will let Professor Herman do the talking, because he make a valid point in the beginning of his piece from his SOPA excerpt. Where he states,
                            "Still, it is already clear that the debate over copyright will never be the same again.                                    Whether an SC ally, an SFU supporter, or one without any clear allegiances, any scholar who cares about copyright law—or the policy process in general—now cannot help but be intrigued to see how the copyright debate plays out going forward.The SOPA blackout and its aftermath have left several key legacies in the politics of copyright going forward. First and most obviously, the internet community and the general public have now mobilized around this issue to a previously unimaginable degree." (Herman, 12)
                 
                    This debate will be probably continuous for a bit, and most likely will take a while to sort out, but one thing remains clear. I, nor anyone else will be losing any sleep on whether or not  to download anything since we either have to pay for it or we have to use Utorrent. But don't tell anyone I told you that, just keep that to yourself. And I will leave you with a quote from our own Professor Herman concerning copyright and the internet saying, "As its biggest fans has been saying for years, the internet is good for more than committing copyright enfringement". (Herman, 21) 

Works Cited:

1. http://www.publicknowledge.org/concerns-regarding-coica-pk-2-pager

2. Herman. Bill D. "A Political History of DRM and Related Copyright Debates, 1987-2012. Yale Journal on Law and Technology