Monday, January 16, 2012

I'm starting to think that we shouldn't fear SOPA that much anymore

Because according to Kotaku, voting on the bill in the House of Representatives has been delayed and apparently won't proceed unless there's a consensus. This wouldn't be the first time that SOPA - the Stop Online Piracy Act - has been delayed. It was put on the shelf last month, ostensibly because of the holidays, but more likely because of the sheer opposition and shitstorm forming about the bill. SOPA, for those who don't know, would (provided it became law) empower the government to force ISPs to change the DNS infrastructure that the internet itself is built on in order to blacklist any websites accused of piracy or participating in piracy. The music and film industries are the primary supporters of the bill, while internet, tech, and video game companies fundamentally oppose it. Of course denizens of the internet also disapprove of the bill. The White House has also voiced its opposition as well, but only after it became apparent than the anti-SOPA crowd was prevailing. The opposition has been so intense that the other day Texas Representative Lamar Smith (Republican, douche rocketeer) stated he would water down the bill by removing that provision.

In truth, I don't think SOPA will ever be voted on. Instead, it'll be left on the shelf and like many poorly thought out or unpopular bills, forgotten. If that happens, then good riddance to bad rubbish.

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