A ‘SOPA’ That’s Hard to Digest

Politicians do not measure the consequences of their actions. This is a great truth in China… as well as in the United States. The latest news that allow us to confirm this statement happened in Washington.

This precious gift to mankind has been challenged in the American Congress, where there were intentions to adopt a global law that harms the functioning of the web.

With the mentioned regulation it was intended, or it is intended rather, to impose a series of restrictions on the freedom of the cyber network. For now, the controversial SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) was removed from the Congress by Republican Sen. Lamar Smith, the main sponsor, after the frantic controversy was unleashed.

It is noteworthy that it was one of the Republicans, in theory one of those opposed to the state’s intervention in private life, drafted an initiative that seeks to close any web site that sees itself involved in the violation of intellectual property.

The trouble is that, if approved, SOPA can destroy a site by simply having copyrighted material without the injured company having any bearing on the action, as often happens with Youtube (and others) in which people outside the corporation upload the contents. In the eyes of the experts, this is a total blockage to freedom of expression.

SOPA does not come by itself. It comes accompanied by PIPA (Protection IP Act), another bill that allows companies with patents or licenses to prevent the passage of Internet users to pages that might have content with Intellectual property. This is also under the glare of those who defend freedom of expression.

The initiatives picked up dramatic characters. So much so that Internet giants like Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo!, Twitter and Facebook showed themselves against the regulations.

The proposal will no longer be brought to vote on Jan. 24 as planned. Pressure from the White House had their results. Washington also found the law counterproductive and said that online piracy is a serious problem that requires a legal response, but that it does not support a reduction of freedom of expression.

As shown, not even President Barack Obama is willing to swallow a poisoned (SOPA) soup.