Yesterday many websites blacked out for the day in protest of legislation pending in Congress that is intended to fight copyright infringement on the web. Wikipedia is a vocal opponent of the law, SOPA, so I thought it would be appropriate to link to its page explaining the law.
Basically the law would allow the Department of Justice (federal prosecutors) or copyright holders to seek court orders shutting down any website that links to copyrighted material. This is a vast change from the current law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, that instead relies on a notice and take down system: the copyright holder gives notice to the website of alleged copyright infringement, and as long as the website takes down the infringing material, it cannot be sued. Websites argue that SOPA would effectively shut many of them down, because the risk of being sued is too great. The law would also have a chilling effect on innovation because new websites would not start for fear of enforcement of SOPA against them.
On the other hand, supporters of the law argue that copyright infringement is a real problem for our economy. There is also a deep-rooted philosophy in our nation, stemming from the Constitution, that innovations should be protected by the law, so as to create incentives for more innovations. When I ask my classes about copyright law, most students speak out in favor of protecting what people create. Yet, most of us enjoy the free access to information, much of which is copyrighted, provided by the internet. This is a long-standing tension created by intellectual property laws: protecting innovations can lead to a chilling of innovation and creation.
What do you think of SOPA? Is there a better way to protect copyright holders?
6 Comments
Yuchen Qin posted on January 21, 2012 at 4:24 pm
Now that it is a time of cloud computing, everything is shared immediately by computer and other devices through network, it is harder to protect copyright. The protection of copyright could be done by issuance of permits to the websites who want to use the information which is copyrighted without being afraid of of enforcement of SOPA against them.
Nick Li posted on January 21, 2012 at 10:51 pm
What I have to say may be irrelevant in terms of business law concepts, but everyone who I know who uses the internet is against SOPA. I may be mistaken, but the people who are supporting SOPA seem to be the executives of these big corporations, a la the “older generation” who are less tech- savvy and have no idea of the significance SOPA would have on the internet. No, I do not have a solution to the internet piracy issue but I feel these SOPA supporters are stuck in the past and refuse to adapt to change.
R.I.P. Megaupload
Madeline Steiner posted on January 22, 2012 at 9:12 pm
This law is trying to prevent the film, music, and publishing industries from losing money due to piracy and counterfeiting, which we all know is a problem. However, by making web companies liable for users’ actions (like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), it could really hurt these industries more than help them. Artists gain a lot of popularity through YouTube and a lot of advertising is generated through Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.
Jinfeng Cai posted on January 24, 2012 at 11:40 pm
I agree with what Madeline said. What I know is that this law is trying to protect copyright holders as well as publishing industries. However, there are many big companies like Wikipedia and Google strongly against this law. I am assuming that many web companies would go out of business and the whole industry would be hurt if Congress passes SOPA.
Stephanie Nowak posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:39 pm
I agree with Jinfeng’s comment above with respects to the businesses that would be hurt by this law. I do support and believe in a system that would prohibit copy write infringements, however the more pressing issue with SOPA is the way they intend to protect voices. Shutting down sites does not enforce a lesson or an ability to alter the use of information. In this way the SOPA act will only discourage new sites and completely eliminate existing ones. Where will there be growth then? I’m not too convinced I have my own solution, however, creating additions steps to publishing information may be a more appealing route than harshly shutting down sites.
Sophie Park posted on February 29, 2012 at 2:30 pm
I definitely feel like SOPA is right in trying to protect copyrighted materials, but in reality the use of social media with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest all create the fast sharing of media. I am speaking in terms of music and the copyrighting of their albums. Without YouTube, a lot of artists would never have gained the same attention they do now had it been for only music album releases and concerts. It is this copyrighted material and the fast-paced behavior of this generation that truly creates the fame and fortune of music today, and like Nick Li said, these business men in favor of SOPA are stuck in an older generation mind set.