Recently, the Internet has been ablaze with news of SOPA and PIPA. While the acronyms sound cute, the reality is anything but. Both SOPA and PIPA are anti-piracy bills that is working its way through the US Congress and can potentially grant IP owners power to shut down a foreign site against whom they may have any copyright claims. Of course my explanation is just a quick summary of the whole bill but I'm sure even a 12 year old can see the potential for abuse if the Bills are passed in the US.
Proponents of SOPA, like Rupert Murdoch, claims that the bill can help stop piracy of movies and have attacked various entities from Obama to Google for their opposition to the bill. (Personally, after the phone hacking cases that Murdoch's companies were involved in, its like a case of the pot calling the kettle black). My knowledge of this bill come from RPS, a gaming website which had highlighted the effect SOPA may have on gamers. Now, I don't pirate games. I bought all my games legally (mostly via Steam). But with so many games requiring online activation and constant Internet connection nowadays, all it take is an overzealous IP owner to threaten to shut down the game publisher's host site or (heaven forbid) Steam itself to really ruin my day. As a legal paying customer of games, all I see from SOPA/PIPA is one more headache/obstacle that we gamers can do without. Furthermore, the idea of the Internet being control by a country and several large corporations who may only have their own profitability in mind leaves a bad taste in my mouth. So I really hope that the American public wake up and express their fullest opposition to these Bills towards their respective congressmen to see that the Bills are defeated.
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