Oppose SOPA

The Issue

There are many problems with the bill but the most significant issue with the current iteration is that the government grants immunity to businesses who unilaterally block sites they feel are distributing pirated materials. While businesses do have the right to block sites, the recourse to that action is to have your day in court. This bill allows corporations to become judge, jury, and executioner with the full protection of the law. The actions that companies can take could include blocking traffic by Internet Protocol Address at the subnet level, effectively blocking all traffic from the US to potentially large blocks of addresses outside the country. This will have a chilling effect on democracy movements around the world by blocking the major Internet infrastructure of companies like Google and Twitter, which are being used to communicate vital information between the members of these groups. This bill is a clear and present danger to Free Speech and Due Process which are concepts core to the American political and judicial system.

This petition had 3 supporters

The Issue

There are many problems with the bill but the most significant issue with the current iteration is that the government grants immunity to businesses who unilaterally block sites they feel are distributing pirated materials. While businesses do have the right to block sites, the recourse to that action is to have your day in court. This bill allows corporations to become judge, jury, and executioner with the full protection of the law. The actions that companies can take could include blocking traffic by Internet Protocol Address at the subnet level, effectively blocking all traffic from the US to potentially large blocks of addresses outside the country. This will have a chilling effect on democracy movements around the world by blocking the major Internet infrastructure of companies like Google and Twitter, which are being used to communicate vital information between the members of these groups. This bill is a clear and present danger to Free Speech and Due Process which are concepts core to the American political and judicial system.

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Petition created on January 9, 2012