In an effort to eliminate any and all intellectual property infringement online, the entertainment cartel has this recurring wet dream of being allowed to interfere with the internet. Late last month US Representative Lamar Smith (R-Texas) unveiled the latest iteration of the cartel’s wet dream with his Stop Online Piracy Act (.pdf; 164KB) (SOPA).
SOPA, like its evil twin in the US Senate, the PROTECT-IP Act (.pdf; 61KB), would require internet service providers to monitor their customers online activity and “disappear” certain websites and “blacklist” entire domains. Ironically, Smith’s SOPA opens with the statement that the legislation should not be “construed to impose a prior restraint on free speech.”
Where the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) — an extremely misguided piece of legislation in its own right — expressly does not require affirmative policing of copyright infringement, SOPA raises the stakes with just such a requirement. In short, SOPA would allow commercial entities to force advertisers to block advertising on internet sites alleged to contain infringing material. Corynne McSherry, writing for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, notes “the bill seems mainly aimed at creating an end-run around the DMCA safe harbors.”
SOPA would shutter not only internet services that are alleged to infringe a third-party’s intellectual property but those services that allegedly “engage in, enable, or facilitate” infringement or that allegedly have acted to “avoid confirming a high probability” of infringement. Under SOPA, any copyright holder can allege infringement against any internet service to payment processors such as Visa Mastercard, American Express, Paypal, etc.), advertising services, and search engines. Upon notification of the allegation, these businesses have five days to stop processing payments, stop serving advertising, and remove the allegedly infringing website from their databases, respectively. Never mind that all of this is based solely on a single allegation, no court has actually found infringement, and the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA would negate the allegation.
Opponents to the proposed legislation have taken advantage of the new White House petition website, within which the Obama administration promises to respond to grievances if 25,000 signatures are received. Unfortunately, Obama administration responses to previous petitions have been flat, canned, and non-responsive.
SOPA is scheduled to be heard by the House Judiciary Committee on 16 November. The PROTECT-IP Act is stalled in the US Senate.