Do you know why are all the tech companies of note up in arms about the SOPA act? Why have Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Mozilla, among others, banded together to speak out against the SOPA bill that’s currently undergoing hearings at Capitol Hill? Is it simply a matter of wanting to pirate goods without the interference of outside government agencies?
If you’ve been keeping up, no, it’s not. In fact, the tech companies that are so outspoken against SOPA specifically say they are against online piracy, but they disagree with the way SOPA goes about fighting it. Why would that be? What is contained within SOPA that has companies that normally compete against one another teaming up against a common foe? Hopefully, the following infographic will clear the air.
Here’s the resized version, which you can click for a full image:
Here are two of the more important sections, which I’ve clipped out of the overall graphic, which explains the extent of the “why” concerning the potential for a site being block, or, playing on the word of today, censored:
A visitor/user posted a YouTube video of The Beatles performing on the Ed Sullivan Show? It’s your fault for not taking it off, therefore, your site has infringed and is subject to the punishments pointed out in SOPA. So your site’s blocked and your access to ad revenue has been cutoff. Was justice done because you didn’t remove the infringing video in time?
Another point of concern is the broad, sweeping power SOPA provides affects all kinds of US Internet users:
How would you like it if the links you send your friends in emails were subject to censorship, which means the content of them would need to be actively read? Does that appeal to you?
With the existence of this infographic and the video from the previous article, if you aren’t informed about SOPA, then there’s no one left to blame.
The information is out there. Go and get it.