Just what is the SOPA bill you may wonder? SOPA stands for Stop Online Privacy Act. It was a bill introduced in the House of Representatives on October 26, 2011. The 70 page bill would authorize the Department of Justice to be able to seek court orders against websites outside the US jurisdiction accused of infringing on copyrights. The United State Attorney General then could order US directed internet service providers, ad networks and payment providers like PayPal to suspend doing business with those sites found infringing on copyrights.
What does this all mean for you?
- The United States government could block websites that you visit daily
- Your website or blog could be blocked
- Search traffic could be blocked
- Ads could be blocked
- Social networks are at the greatest risk where people express themselves
- Email providers could be forced to censor links that you send or receive
- Links and content you share on social networks will be monitored and censored - those social networks like Facebook would be directly liable
- If you run ads on your blog or website you could lose that revenue
- If you receive revenues through PayPal or other payment processors that could be blocked too
- You would have just 5 days to shut your website down or it will be shut down for you by the government if they find you guilty
- If you post a logo on your blog and the company doesn't like it you may be accused (even though you may link to them directly)
- A child singing a song on YouTube - would that be considered a violation? What about other things your child may do online? Where does the line end?
- Long lasting effects on the internet could be felt and the internet as we know today could be changed forever
