Michael Geist: Internet belongs to us, U.S. argues
Posted in: Government & Policy at 12/11/2011 19:19
The U.S. Congress is currently embroiled in a heated debated over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), proposed legislation that supporters argue is needed to combat online infringement, but critics fear would create the "great firewall of the United States."
SOPA's potential impact on the Internet and development of online services is enormous as it cuts across the lifeblood of the Internet and e-commerce in the effort to target websites that are characterized as being "dedicated to the theft of U.S. property." This represents a new standard that many experts believe could capture hundreds of legitimate websites and services.
To read this opinion piece by Michael Geist in The Star in full, see:
www.thestar.com/article/1085475--geist-internet-belongs-to-us-u-s-argues
www.thestar.com/business/article/1085475--geist-internet-belongs-to-us-u-s-argues
Also see:
House hearing on Stop Online Piracy Act scheduled
The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will conduct a hearing on the controversial copyright enforcement bill, the Stop Online Piracy Act, on Wednesday, the committee has announced.
Introduced last month, the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, would allow U.S. law enforcement officials to seek court orders to stop domain-name registrars, online ad networks, search engines and payment processors from doing business with websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. The bill would allow copyright holders to seek court orders to block the allegedly infringing sites if their efforts to get online advertising networks and payment processors to stop doing business with the sites fail.
www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/internet/3317835/house-hearing-on-stop-online-piracy-act-scheduled/
