Hide Notes 

Slide 1: ==== ==== Love The RevoLution http://www.lovetherevolution.net ==== ==== The Stop Online Piracy Act, known colloquially as SOPA, is a United States bill meant to protect copyright holders against online intellectual property violations. The bill would make web hosting services legally responsible for policing the content on their own sites. For example, Google would have to police YouTube (which it owns) to ensure that all videos are the legal property of the uploader. Furthermore, internet service providers would have to block copyright-violating sites from being viewed and search engines would have to remove them from search results. ISPs would also be encouraged to deny service to sites that offer medication that requires a prescription in the United States. Internet Search Results Will Change One of the most obvious changes that average internet users will notice after SOPA is in internet search results. Any search that would have previously included both foreign and domestic sites that may contain copyright infringing material will no longer appear in the search results. Even direct searches for the domain names of those sites may turn up blank pages, if ISPs block them as the bill suggests. The obvious problem with this is policing what gets nixed and what does not. Because the bill provides immunity for ISPs blocking sites they believe are covered by the bill, there is the potential for blocking sites that are not breaking any rules. ISPs would have to verify the copyrights of every web page they block for this to be truly accurate. If there is not enough policing of these blocks, internet users might find sites being blocked unfairly. Copyright law is very complicated, as there are often exceptions to the established rules with regards to fair use practices, public domain rights, transfer of copyright from one intellectual property owner to another on varying levels, etc. If ISPs are not carefully assessing the rights used by each website they take down and verifying whether the rights to any content were properly obtained, average internet users may find their social networking sites, blogs and personal family websites being blocked over a mistake on the part of the ISP. Process of Removing Copyright Infringing Content Many average internet users have personal blogs or social networking accounts, and SOPA will undoubtedly affect the functioning of these sites. That means that copyright infringing material posted on one person's account on Twitter or Facebook could result in the blocking of these domains entirely. In the past, a DMCA - Digital Millennium Copyright Act - takedown could be issued, which would give the copyright infringing user a chance to remove the content, making it easier for those who mistakenly post illegal content to remedy the situation without legal repercussions. With SOPA, internet users do not get the opportunity to rectify mistakes. The average internet user is not a legal copyright professional, so copyright infringing material is often mistakenly posted. SOPA would make it so the user would not have the opportunity to remove the content before being axed from search engines and ISPs. An entire web hosting service could
Slide 2: presumably disappear without receiving a DMCA takedown notice. The process for fixing and overturning such takedowns has yet to be publicly announced. Censorship Changes on the Internet As it gives hosting providers and ISPs the right to remove sites at their sole discretion, many of the opponents of SOPA cite the potential for widespread censorship as their primary reason for opposing the bill. The way the bill is presented now, it looks like these takedowns will be indefinite unless the sites' owners take action against it. Therefore, what average internet users see in engine searches, direct domain searches and potentially on each individual website can be censored before it reaches their eyes, if it reaches them at all. In general, search engines bury what they consider "bad" websites already. However, these websites are not removed from searches altogether or made impossible to view; a user can still access these sites with a little diligence. SOPA will make that impossible, potentially establishing U.S. government censorship on the internet. "Unauthorized Streaming" And Other New Felonies In the past, the DMCA made it so that companies could do their best to remove copyright infringing content and still remain on the good side of the law. The same went for average internet users who utilized these companies' services. SOPA, however, will make hosting some forms of copyright infringing material a felony. Therefore, users who upload the material on their own sites or companies that leave such material up can be charged with a felony if it is found to be "willful infringement." The vagueness of that term is currently being challenged by the Library Copyright Alliance. "Unauthorized streaming" of copyrighted material is another thing that SOPA would make into a felony, with "streaming" being defined as the transmission of audio or video content. Something as simple as reading a copyrighted book on YouTube to send to a child could be considered unauthorized streaming of copyrighted material and result in felony charges being laid. Other copyright infringing acts, such as plagiarism, are not covered under this aspect of the bill. SOPA is an obvious attempt to protect U.S. internet users and copyright holders from foreign sites that are stealing material that is copyrighted in the United States. The gesture seems to be in the right place. However, these sites can be reported to advertising and hosting services affiliated with them already, and DMCA takedown notices can already be issued. The sites can also currently be reported to search engines, who will bury them in searches. Thus, there is already ample online copyright protection on the books already. However good its intentions may be, SOPA will expand government regulation of the internet to such a degree that censorship becomes inevitable. For those of you who believe that the average internet user should be able to freely access whatever website he or she desires (within reason), be sure to petition your representative not to bring SOPA into law. Future generations may some day thank you for it! Delta Cooper is a self-employed internet writer who likes to research a new topic each and every day. Today, while looking up web hosting reviews for businesses, he came across discussions about SOPA and decided to write about it.
Slide 3: Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Delta_Cooper ==== ==== Love The RevoLution http://www.lovetherevolution.net ==== ====