SOPA and PIPA Far From Dead, Despite Concerns Of White House And Changes To Bills
Although the White House this weekend expressed "serious reservations" about elements of the pending anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA, and House leaders have said they will not conduct hearings on their bill any time soon, the legislation is far from dead. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said this weekend that he hopes to open debate on the Senate's version later this month. And House sponsor Lamar Smith said he will continue work on that chamber's version. Internet protests planned for tomorrow, in which some of the web's largest sites will go offline for 24 hours, are expected to go ahead as scheduled.
The two bills - the House version is known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and the Senate's is the Protect IP Act (PIPA) - have been under fire from consumer groups and Internet rights activists for months. Although ostensibly designed to protect the intellectual property of American publishers and manufacturers, opponents say the bills are so broadly written that they could limit the free exchange of information on the Internet, harm consumer rights, and undermine Internet security standards. In a letter to Congress in November, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, and U.S. PIRG said SOPA "could close off online exchanges that provide lower prices for consumers; reduce online security, and allow for anti-consumer practices by online service providers."
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If you'd like to show your opposition to SOPA and PIPA, you can write to your representatives using this form provided by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Link: http://consumerist.com/2012/01/sopa-and-pipa-far-from-dead-despite-concerns-of-white-house-and-changes-to-bills.html
List of companies/organizations protesting SOPA/PIPA: http://operationsopa.blogspot.com/2012/01/list-of-companiesorganizations-that-are.html
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