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Attn: USA voters! Have you written your Congresspeople about SOPA?
@bagarad (14283)
Paso Robles, California
December 28, 2011 6:35pm CST
SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act which gets, I believe, a final vote when Congress gets back from its break. If it passes, many of the sites from which we earn money online might be put out of business along with Google, Twitter, Facebook HubPages, Gather, maybe even myLot. Read more about it here, http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/272580/20111225/sopa-bill-2012-things-know-controversial-legislation.htm, and then if you would like to stop it, please write any Congressperson you support or have the opportunity to vote for. The ones who think they will profit most from this are the Hollywood producers, writers, and musicians, but it's not evident that those who can't get pirated work will buy the original editions. They are more likely to go without. The ones who stand to suffer most are sites that support themselves through Google ads -- independent blog sites, social networking sites, writing sites, etc. Zazzle will also likely be affected.
The SOPA law is so vague that it leaves room for selective enforcement, which could lead to censorship if a government chose to prosecute a site that published work that criticized it. It could shut down sites that allow people to publish politically incorrect opinions by finding or even having someone post something that could get the site shut down for violations of copyright or trademark laws, since almost every site that allows people to post writing will at times gets people posting things that are violations in ignorance, and if even one person posts something that's a violation, the site can be removed from viewers in the USA. This is also an issue on Zazzle, where it's very easy to violate a trademark or use a saying on a T-shirt that's not original or in the public domain and not even realize you are doing it. There is already a way to deal with these issues. Zazzle will just remove the product, but under SOPA, they could be shut down if they don't catch it right away before someone reports it to the government. That would be true for all print on demand sites where many of us earn a few extra dollars.
Did you know this bill has been rather quietly sneaking its way through Congress without any mention in the main stream media? Wouldn't this same media love to see the Internet shut down so their newspapers and magazines would sell again?
2 people like this
6 responses
@zukichucha (991)
• United States
30 Dec 11
This is a shame! So many of our rights are being stripped that it is ridiculous. We are going from a democracy to a dictatorship with the government telling us what we can and can not do, what to eat, etc. hopefully, this will not happen for everyone's sake!
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
31 Dec 11
If everyone just hopes, it won't make a difference. I have written and called the Congressional office of my Congressman and another whom I support. I assume both are planning to vote for this. They need to hear from more of us that sites we depend on for our earnings must be protected from accidental or undetected violations if they deal with them promptly when notified. Many of our Congressmen probably don't see the harm in this bill and think they are merely protecting the rights of copyright holders and preventing piracy -- something we could all support were it not so vague and open for abuse in the wrong hands.
@zukichucha (991)
• United States
31 Dec 11
You are right that we all need to take action. I am going to do my part and others should do the same. Complaining about something amongst each other is not going to change anything. We need to make our displeasure known. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
29 Dec 11
If Congress can profit from it, it will be passed no matter what we do. Like another said, the media might profit from the bill and that means positive coverage in re-election campaigns for those that vote for it.
We have no say anymore, it's all greed of Congress that determines what passes and what doesn't. That doesn't mean I won't protest this insane bill but I know that until we the people rebel against all the corruption in D.C. we'll have no say in what laws are made or how they are enforced.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
30 Dec 11
I just saw that Go-Daddy has caved to public pressure and no longer supports SOPA! Maybe we can't change the minds of Congress but if we can harass the people who line their pockets we can maybe get something done!
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
29 Dec 11
I think most Congress people do not realize how bad this bill is and I wager that most haven't read it. They may sincerely think it will protect American jobs, since that's how it's being pushed. I think many are sincere in thinking this is the right way to protect intellectual rights, but they are sincerely wrong. Some think Obama will veto this, but I think he is beholden to the celebrities he is constantly inviting to perform at the White House, and most of them contribute to his campaigns. He talks a good line about the freedom of the Internet, but I can't see him going against his Hollywood friends who are behind this bill.
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
11 Jan 12
Oh, go ahead. Vent. It's good for your heart to get it off your chest. Unless it just gets you more upset to think about it. I would guess, though, that the place to vent would be Congress.
@marsha32 (6631)
• United States
29 Dec 11
I have an online friend that is all over this. Her other thing is that the government will see everything we do online.
I'm just not really sure what to think of it.
I do know that I would be crushed if I lost my websites that I use to earn money. I've spent many years working towards my goal of "making a living" online.
I sell some crafts, but that doesn't make me near the money that many of the other websites that you list do.
I'm not too active here on mylot...so little in fact that I've not even reached minimum payout here in over 5 years LOL
I really need to work on that!
Marsha
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
29 Dec 11
Hi bagarad,
Though on some context I feel this will be something useful for making Internet safer and better, there is something as you mention Vague too involved and I fear some of the great and better sites may too face the wrath.
Here in India they are coming up with some more restrictions - Though a majority of the websites dont get hosted in India, they are planning to restrict content. Recently there has been a hue and cry when some negative and a little towards ugly comments were posted on Facebook by some organizations-Political- to defame the Politicos in power... Now they (the ruling politicos) are in touch with Facebook, Twitter and a few other social media sites - An unhealthy stuff no doubt.
I feel all of this is politically motivated somewhere as if they really want to clear up with the mess on Internet, there are so many other things that they can initiate but that doesnt seem to happen.
1 person likes this
@airkulet (2700)
• Philippines
29 Dec 11
In Blogosphere I can see some of my friends have been transferring their domain to other company because Godaddy shows a support on this law SOPA. After hearing that some huge transferring Godaddy withdraw their supports to this Law but the number keeps on increasing, good thing that I don't buy on them because I also don't agree with SOPA, any website can be shutdown without proper due process if they are reported for infringement. I can see that the LAw can be abuse and will be use by some for a political reason,
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
29 Dec 11
That's right. And that's why every major Internet player is against this law. There have to be protections built in for holding a site responsible for one dumb user or one with criminal intent. These sites already police themselves, just as myLot does, as soon as they are aware of a violation.
1 person likes this
