The Internet, as well as technology innovation, is threatened under the proposed Stop Online Privacy Act. SOPA’s main purpose is to fight the theft of copyrighted material and the creation of counterfeit goods, but the act has some serious consequences.
SOPA would gravely damage Internet innovation because it violates the First Amendment, hurting whistle-blowing and other free speech. It would greatly damage sites such as eBay because the popular auction website offers copyrighted material to bidders. It could also hurt sites like Amazon, where customers purchase used books, movies, etc.
It would threaten whole internal computer networks because it targets an entire website, even if a small portion of it contains or links to copyrighted material. The legislation would give judges authority to block entire websites that offer infringing material to customers within the United States through what is called IP blocking.
SOPA could undermine the domain name system (DNS) by requiring Internet service providers to filter websites.
Finally, it doesn’t provide transparency because much of the action would go on behind the scenes, and it would not hold any person accountable. I suggest lawmakers vote down this legislation, and if they do not, realize the Internet as we know it will not be accessible.
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