0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.
Members of Congress are trying to do the right thing by going after pirates and counterfeiters but SOPA and PIPA are the wrong way to do it.1. SOPA and PIPA would censor the WebThe U.S. government could order the blocking of sites using methods similar to those employed by China. Among other things, search engines could be forced to delete entire websites from their search results. Thats why 41 human rights organizations and 110 prominent law professors have expressed grave concerns about the bills.2. SOPA and PIPA would be job-killers because they would create a new era of uncertainty for American businessLaw-abiding U.S. internet companies would have to monitor everything users link to or upload or face the risk of time-consuming litigation. Thats why AOL, EBay, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo and Zynga wrote a letter to Congress saying these bills pose a serious risk to our industrys continued track record of innovation and job-creation. Its also why 55 of Americas most successful venture capitalists expressed concern that PIPA would stifle investment in Internet services, throttle innovation, and hurt American competitiveness. More than 204 entrepreneurs told Congress that PIPA and SOPA would hurt economic growth and chill innovation.3. SOPA and PIPA wouldnt stop piracyTo make matters worse, SOPA and PIPA wont even work. The censorship regulations written into these bills wont shut down pirate sites. These sites will just change their addresses and continue their criminal activities, while law-abiding companies will suffer high penalties for breaches they cant possibly control.There are effective ways to combat foreign rogue websites dedicated to copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting, while preserving the innovation and dynamism that have made the Internet such an important driver of American economic growth and job creation. Congress should consider alternatives like the OPEN Act , which takes targeted and focused steps to cut off the money supply from foreign pirate sites without making US companies censor the Web.