This Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee will vote on
H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, (SOPA) in an effort to jam this bill through Congress before the end of the year. The bill is pretty much certain to pass out of committee, but
you can help stop it from going to the floor with your opposition.
There's a whole host of corporations behind this effort to push the bill through Congress as fast as possible. As Markos wrote about SOPA, "This is the holy grail of the entertainment industry—to destroy the internet, and thus, destroy the biggest danger to their business." If they get their way, sites like Daily Kos will be in jeopardy.
A bunch of grassroots organizations, and a handful of tech companies, are trying to put the brakes on this bill. Those efforts have had some success, as Rep. Lamar Smith, the bill's chief sponsor in the House, and chair of the Judiciary Committee, has done a quick rewrite of the really egregious bill.
The changes to the Stop Online Piracy Act, revealed Monday, narrow the definition of rogue websites dedicated to infringing activities. It also makes clear that provisions would apply only to foreign sites -- an effort to alleviate concerns that the new law would create liabilities for Internet service providers and force them to police domestic sites.
A number of changes are intended to address concerns that the legislation would interfere with the architecture of the Internet, as it would require that foreign sites be blocked by preventing them from resolving to that Web address.
It's not enough for Google, who's chairman Eric Schmidt says that the legislation still amounts to making criminals out of Internet users. "By criminalizing links, what these bills do is they force you to take content off the Internet. By doing so, it's a form of censorship." It's a form of censorship that Congress is still trying to ram through while they think no one is paying attention.
But we are. This issue is just too important to rush through last minute without proper and considered deliberation.
Let supporters start again next Congress, and have the legislation fully vetted as it makes its way through the legislative process. Slapping up a bunch of band-aids to try and fixed flawed legislation is dangerous business, and too much is at stake.
Tell your Member of Congress to oppose H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act.