Fight SOPA, Save the Web

H.R. 3261, The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), targets websites that distribute infringing materials by having the Department of Justice (DoJ) block those websites.

If SOPA were to become law, there is a long list of reasons why it would threaten the functioning, freedom, and economic potential of the Internet, but here are PK's main concerns:

• By short-circuiting the legal system, it gives rightsholders a fast-track to shutting down websites.
• By creating conflicts between "DNS" servers, it would make you more vulnerable to hackers, identity theft, and cyberattacks.
• By sanctioning government interference with the internet, it would make the internet more censored, akin to that of China and Syria.

To make it worse, SOPA is ineffective. So the question is, is an ineffective bill worth the risk of damaging free speech and the functioning of the Internet? We say no.