SOPA stalls in the House, but PIPA still looms large in the Senate
By: Jeff Rivera
SOPA, or the Stop Online PIracy Act, has been the focus of much media attention, online protests, and debate between its sponsors and what seems to everybody else in the world. SOPA threatened to allow unprecedented censoring of websites, social networks, blogs, and even online news outlets all in the name of protecting content producers from piracy. Even legal use of copyrighted content could lead to websites being blocked, which made the bill so dangerous.
After massive online rallies by concerned citizens, it appears that the bill has finally stalled in Congress, despite strong support from lawmakers and large corporations. Announced on Saturday that the House would not act on the bill, Internet users everywhere cheered in unison to celebrate a big victory for consumer rights.
The story isn't over, however. SOPA can still be revived, though it appears it may just quietly fade away. The bigger threat comes from PIPA, the Protect IP Act which is set to be voted upon in the Senate on January 24th. The Protect IP Act is equally destructive and provides nearly identical measures for censoring and website blacklisting. As SOPA fades away, opponents of the bill need to reload and put PIPA in their sights.
Here at Gamer Theory we're very concerned about both bills. By nature of our industry, we're constantly writing about and discussing copyrighted content. Despite our legal usage of this content, these bills would still put us at risk for being shut down by copyright holders. A single animated gif or image in our forums from a popular TV show or movie could be enough to cross a copyright holder and we'd be taken offline. The bill is simply that dangerous and would severely limit our freedoms of speech.
To learn more about either bill, check out their Wikipedia links below. Note: As part of a SOPA and PIPA protest, Wikipedia will go dark on January 18th.
The Stop Online Piracy Act
The Protect IP Act
As a show of solidarity, Gamer Theory Media will also be engaged in active protest on January 18th through the 19th. Normal posting will resume on the 20th.
