These past years the entertainment industry has been fighting a battle to prevent our freedom of speech. SOPA , a house bill which stands for the Stop Online Piracy act was introduced to U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Lamar Smith in 2008. It is a rewritten version of the first failed attempt to bring a law like this about, the PRO IP act of 2008. SOPA' s main goal is to take out anybody who talks about material that is copyrighted. It will give the Attorney General the right to get a court order to force websites and search engines like Google, Yahoo, and YouTube from linking to any websites that offer copyright images. It will also stop payment processors like Visa and MasterCard from accepting third party payments from these websites. SOPA Will also enable companies to create blacklists of websites they think may be infringing on copyright laws. Finally, the website will be given an ultimatum. They have five days to take down material or the government has the right to take it down themselves.
PIPA, the second bill works in conjunction with S.O.P.A. to eliminate all copyright infringement. It was introduced to the Senate in May 2011 by Senators Leahy, Hatch, and Grassley as a new and improved version of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits act of 2010. PIPA will give corporations the right to take legal action any website they believe is disobeying copyright laws. With PIPA, internet providers will have the right to block access to websites that are seen as enablers of stolen material. They will have the right to use websites and enforce advertisers on websites to remove themselves. Additionally, companies will have the right to sue any new websites they believe is not doing a good job at preventing infringement.
Websites like Google and Mozilla are against SOPA and PIPA believing it will affect the internet overall. It has the capabilities of causing security issues with websites. Moreover, they believe that these laws, if put into effect with our freedom of speech. The internet and big companies want to have a monopoly on what we see and hear. They are also comparing companies like Google to pirates because they give users the power to find these links. With SOPA and PIPA, big entertainment companies can take down links and sites overall. The purpose of these laws is to make it harder for sites to sell or distribute music or movies. The entertainment industry is paying to eliminate all internet sharing. So what will happen to Heather in Jenkins chapter "Why Heather can write?" or to fan art? These laws will affect our right to participate in fan fiction, possibly eliminating it overall. Main stream media will take down Heathers website and crush the dreams of other people who decide to be innovative.
Clay Shirky disagrees with the media industry in his TED talks against SOPA. He says, “The threat [of the U.S. bills SOPA and PIPA] is the inversion of the burden of proof, where we suddenly are all treated like thieves at every moment we’re given the freedom to create, to produce or to share.” This quote is essential in the way that SOPA will be able to virtually control what we are able to produce. We are the main producers on the internet and to restrict our right to create is a crime. For example, hit singing sensation Karmin started her career on YouTube doing covers of songs by artist such as Lil Wayne and Chris Brown. If SOPA were in effect at that time the media industry would have the ability to sue Karmin and take down all her work. Ultimately losing an artist hey are now profiting from. With SOPA we would all be treated like thieves for doing something we learned in kindergarten...sharing. He claims that the main goal of the entertainment industry is to stop the public from producing, they want us to only consume images given to us.
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