SOPA and PIPA
Have you heard of SOPA or PIPA?
Do you even know what these two acronyms stand for?
I watch the news most everyday and my husband reads the paper everyday. We had not heard anything about SOPA or PIPA.
The first I heard of SOPA or PIPA was when I went to Craigslist.org to post a couple of things that I wanted to sell.
After doing some research I am finding that most people who know anything about SOPA or PIPA are wondering if the US Congress is declaring war on the Internet.
So just what is SOPA or PIPA?
SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act (it is also called E-PARASITE Act, which is short for “Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation”) and is a bill before the US House Of Representatives. PIPA is a US Senate Bill and stands for Protect IP Act.
Other Countries Have Proposed Similar Legislation
Other counties have tried to pass “Three Strikes and Your Out” laws that would remove sites from the internet after the sites repeatedly violated copyright laws.
These two Bills are the United State Congress’s version of those laws. The U.S. Bills will be much worse than anything proposed by other countries if passed into law.
SOPA is the House of Representatives version of the Senate’s bill, PIPA.
How Does This Affect Internet Users And Blog Owners
I have read a lot of information on these Bills and I read both of the Bills. I will be honest with you and say that I am not very good at reading Bills filled with legal mumble jumble but, between reading the Bills and other website’s opinions, I have come to a couple of conclusions that I will share with you. You are then welcome to read the Bills for yourself and make your own opinion.
As I understand it these Bills heavily target what are referred to as “rogue” or “pirate” sites. “Rogue” sites are sites that an individual, company or corporation perceives as infringing on copyrights or trademarks.
You may not think this will affect you much. My first thought was that I do not go to sites that do this type of business. Then I got to looking into it more and what I found was quite interesting.
Rogue Site Lists
Monster Cable has a list of over 1200 websites that they perceive as “rogue” sites. Among the sites that Monster Cable list as “rogue” sites are eBay.com, Craigslist.org, Aol-shopping.com, buy.com, Costco.com, losangeles.backpage.com and other cities on backpage, Facebook.com, macy.com, Sears.com and sell.com. These are just a few of them. I just scanned over the list and picked some that I recognized.
Group M has a list that is over 2000 websites long. I do not recognize as many sites on this list as I am not into a lot of music and movies but, I am sure my kids would recognize a lot of them. There are sites like Complex.com a popular lifestyle magazine for men ages 18 to 34, archive.org which is the internet archives, soundcloud.com a site for musicians to promote their own music, bittorrent.com which is Bitt Torrent’s corporate page and Vimeo which is popular web video site similar to YouTube. These are just a few of the sites on this list.
These are the list of “rogue” sites from only two companies. With one to two thousand websites per list you can only imagine how many sites have been declared as ”rogue” sites by someone. The question is whether these sites are really ”rogue” sites or if they are just sites that these companies do not like. Either way if SOPA and PIPA pass all of these sites could be blacklisted.
It seems to be the opinion of many people that with the passing of SOPA or PIPA any individual, company or corporation would be able to identify a so called “rogue” site and have it removed from the internet with out any court order, there by eliminating their competition.
None U.S. Websites
If you live outside the U.S. your sites are not completely safe as these Bills have far reaching repercussions for the internet. If your site is identified as a “rogue”site then it will be banned in the U.S. Which will mean that no one living in the United States will be able to visit your site any more.
When will the votes be?
On Tuesday 24th January 2012, the US Senate will vote on their internet censorship bill.
What Can Be Done?
If you live in the U.S. you need to contact you Senator and Representative. Tell them how you would like them to vote on these Bills.
If you live outside the U.S. you can tell anyone you know in the U.S. about these Bills so they can take action.
Promote this post or any other post about Internet Censorship on all of the Social Media so more people will become informed.
Websites To Go Dark In Protest
There is also a growing movement to go dark on January 18, 2012 (I also read somewhere that sites might go dark on January 23rd as well) between 8am and 8pm in protest against this these Bills.
There are several plugins you can use on your site if you would like to participate in this internet wide blackout. These plugins will put a page up on your site explaining what the Bills are and why your site is blacked out. I personally have not decided it I will participate in the blackout or not.
To find the plugins just search wordpress plugins in your admin area of you blog for SOPA and about 7 or 8 will popup.
What Do You Think?
Leave me a comment on your thoughts about these Bills.
If you read this soon enough are you considering going dark?
I would love to hear others opinion on this subject.
About Dee Ann Rice
Hello, I am Dee Ann. I love working on the internet and blogging. I enjoy learning and love to teach others what I have learned. I have traveled and lived all over the world and have friends most everywhere I have ever gone. I love meeting new people sharing with them what I know and learning what they know. I really believe that by sharing we all make it where we want to be faster.
16 Responses to “SOPA and PIPA”
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Good for you Dee Ann, spreading the word about this bill. I thought the same thing when I first started hearing about it. I thought this doesn’t pertain to me until I started understanding more of what you shared here. Can you image what will happen to us as marketers if they pass this bill?
I mean seriously, like they seriously think sites like Facebook, eBay, Costco and Sears are rogue sites! Who comes up with this stuff anyway. Can’t they concentrate on more issues then this?
If they would investigate sites that are only here for illegal reasons then I would say heck yeah, pass the bill but that’s not the case.
I did my part and put the SOPA plug-in up on my blog so that people will know I’m against this bill but I very seriously doubt I’ll contribute to the blackout.
Thanks for sharing this though Dee Ann and although I’ve written my congressmen, they prefer you show up in person. That’s kind of strange that a letter has always been sufficient in the past.
I’ll be sure to spread the news on this post. Thanks for spelling it out more.
Adrienne recently posted..Do You Have A Facebook Fan Page?
[Reply]
Dee Ann Rice
Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 11:02 am
Adrienne,
I was shocked when I started really looking into these two Bills. If you said something on your website that someone did not like your site could become a rogue site and be blacklisted or basically removed from the internet.
This will change the internet as we know it today.
How stupid is it to make you have to come in to express your opinion to your representative. They are in Washington DC most of the time I would have to go some 3000 miles and it must be almost as far for you. I always thought that a letter worked.
I am sending mine right away. I just became aware all of this was going on.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted..Is Your Blog Backed Up?
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If the congress would pass these bills, then, that would be the end of the business world. Seriously, I can’t think of anything why congress would focus on this. There are lots of issues which are more important than this, you know.
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Dee Ann Rice
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January 20th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
I think that there are big lobbying bucks behind these bills with is why congress is pursuing it.
It will be the end of the internet as we know it today if these pass.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great week end.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted..Just A Bit Of Sunshine
[Reply]
Informative post Dee Ann!
I had been hearing so much about SOPA and PIPA, but to be very honest, no post really explained things in detail and well as you did
It certainly made things so very clear.
Though I do not live in the US, but I guess people out there must be eagerly waiting for the decision that may be passed today or then on the 23rd of January.
Thanks so much for help spread the word around, and I shall help further by doing so from this post as well. Those were indeed great links shared about the banned or rogue sites as well and am sure would help many.
Thanks for sharing
BTW- I think there is some error showing up on the commentluv plugin so nothing showing up about the latest post- may be you would need to sort it out
[Reply]
Dee Ann Rice
Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
Harleena,
Even though you do not live in the US these bills can still affect you. There is not much you can do about it but tell others who do live in the US to contact their senators and representatives.
The result of these bill is far reaching.
I am not sure what is wrong with my Comment Luv. I looked at it and everything seems fine on my end. Let me know if there is still a problem.
Have a great weekend.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted..Is Your Blog Backed Up?
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Hi there. It’s nice to be back here for some updates about those bills. I noticed that you also joined to the protest. Your site was blacked out yesterday. Anyway, I couldn’t wait for the congress decision about it.
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Dee Ann Rice
Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Yes, I did join the protest. I think it is important that we all do our part.
Thanks for stopping by.
Dee Ann
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[Reply]
I started reading about these bills recently but the way you have explained was really easy to understand. Now I know what they mean and why I should even care about them.
Born outside of the US, I understand what it means when someone tells me NOT to use social networking because it may come in your way of naturalization or citizenship. There is a time when a non-US born resident applies for a security clearance and he has to declare all his social profiles and may even have to shutdown a few due to indirect or direct links to “unwanted” individuals.
These bills sound the same and it is good you brought this to all our notice. I hope someone takes notice and doesnt pass them in the senate.
Praveen Rajarao recently posted..The Naked Truth About Nico Julius
[Reply]
Dee Ann Rice
Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Praveen,
I had no idea that you had to declare all of your social sites when applying for citizenship to this country.
I think these bills will be worse though. I am afraid that it will end the internet as we know it.
Glad that you understand the bills better now.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted..Is Your Blog Backed Up?
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I read about it a few days ago, myself and did close down my blog for most of the day yesterday. The whole idea just pisses me off – it’s like closing down the Internet and leaving us no where to make money. Bunch of bull, in my opinion.
Happy to hear though that many of the senators have now changed their minds. I sent my senator a letter – he was FOR it, not sure if he changed his mind or not, but it really made me mad to see he was all for it…I got really ticked…so I had to go focus on something else. Our state is the worse around – highest property taxes in the US, highest income taxes and all this other crap…so many stupid laws and then this.
Well, as you can see it has me pretty upset, so I will do my part again on the 23rd (hopefully I will remember) and shut my blog down and focus on something more positive
Thanks for the explanation – getting the word out is important.
Have a great weekend!
Linda
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[Reply]
Dee Ann Rice
Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Linda,
I love how you say what you think. That is why I like your blog so well.
I agree with you completely. This is really stupid and we all need to be proactive about it.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great week end.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted..Is Your Blog Backed Up?
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Hey Dee-Ann
Thanks so much for sharing this. I was really confused as to what it was about & didn’t take the time to look into it so this is helpful. It’s spurred me on to what to understand it for myself. I’m not based in the US but like you said it would most certainly affect me.
From what I understand the black-out seemed to have some impact for the time being so well done to anyone that got involved!
X
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[Reply]
Dee Ann Rice
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January 23rd, 2012 at 11:49 am
Bailey,
I was confused as well which is why I wrote the post. That way I researched it and figured out just what was going on for myself. I could also help others understand in the process.
Yes, they have put a hold on the voting at least temporarily. I suspect this is just while they regroup.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted..Is Your Blog Backed Up?
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I would really not like such drastic changes on the Internet. It would be interfering with our freedom. I don’t know how I am going to contribute to the protest but I definitely would like to.
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[Reply]
Dee Ann Rice
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February 7th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Anita,
Sorry I am so late getting back here.
We have a reprieve for a while. They have put the vote on this off for the time being. At least until they regroup.
I am sure it will come up again though.
Thanks for commenting and have a great week.
Dee Ann
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