SOPA or the Stop Online Piracy Act is a bill that will expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted content and counterfeit items. If this comes into effect, the US government can force advertising networks and payment facilities to stop doing business with questionable websites. The government can also force search engines such as Google or Yahoo to de-index sites. The law would expand existing criminal laws to include streaming of copyright material, imposing a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Proponents of SOPA claim that it will protect intellectual property rights and help in better enforcement of copyright laws especially against websites that are located offshore. Currently, the US government can do very little about warez and other illegal sites hosted in countries such as Panama, Hong Kong, etc.
On the other hand, SOPA directly threatens free speech, innovation, and enables the government to block access to entire internet domains due to infringing material posted on a single blog or webpage. They believe that SOPA would bypass the “safe harbor” protections from liability presently afforded to Internet sites by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Library associations have expressed concerns that the bill’s emphasis on stronger copyright enforcement would expose libraries to prosecution. Other opponents state that requiring search engines to delete a domain name could begin a worldwide arms race of unprecedented censorship of the Web and violates the First Amendment.
SOPA can also make proxy servers and the Tor project illegal. TOR is used by many in oppressed countries to make their voices heard. SOPA can make it illegal to run TOR nodes and relays in the US. However, TOR could still survive because many nodes and relays are located in European countries and elsewhere.
Many industry leaders have opposed the bill. Google has collected over 7 million signatures of people opposing the bill. Many high traffic websites such as Wikipedia have altered their webpages to express concern and raise awareness about the issue. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a rights advocacy non-profit group, confirmed the protests were the biggest in Internet history, with over 115 thousand sites altering their webpages.
Currently the bill has been postponed. On January 20, 2012, Rep. Lamar Smith postponed plans to draft the bill, saying “The committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation … The House Judiciary Committee will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution.