I'm sure you've all been hearing about SOPA and PIPA and how they will destroy the internet as we know it. I've seen some of you are also confused and misinformed so hence this topic. Feel free to ask questions about SOPA and PIPA here, mainly about SOPA though. Hakker, resident legal expert, and myself, with some grounding in laws concerning technology, will attempt to answer them as best as possible and add to this FAQ. Please do not discuss SOPA/PIPA here, there's an opinion topic in this section for that.

What is SOPA and PIPA?
Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) are two pieces of legislation currently being considered by the United States legislative system. The former is a House (US House of Representatives) bill, the latter is a Senate bill.

Where can I read SOPA/PIPA?
You can read SOPA here.
We are still looking for the full text of PIPA.

Why are people so up in arms against them?
There are many reasons why SOPA and PIPA can be harmful. Here are a few:

• They give individuals and corporations unprecedented power to silence speech online.
• The poor phrasing and choice of words in the bills are conductive to loophole abuse.
• The bills would not stop piracy at all.

But the supporters say that the bill is legit and that they won't abuse it all!
That's not a question but if you haven't noticed, current US legislation called the DMCA is regularly abused and it's nowhere near as bad as SOPA could be. Don't believe me? Read all about it

Some examples of people who are given power?
The Office of the Attorney General and 'qualified' plaintiffs, or more commonly, the MPAA and RIAA.

What can they do to websites?
The following are the actions which must be taken upon receiving the order from the Attorney General's office regarding an infringing site:

• Require U.S. sites and search engines to remove all links to the foreign site.
• Require U.S. advertising services to no longer serve ads linking to the site, or display ads (e.g. AdSense) on the foreign site.
• Require U.S. payment networks to cease any transactions between the foreign site and U.S. customers.
• Require U.S. service providers to block customer access to the foreign site (DNS blacklisting).

Where's the bad phrasing and poor choice of words?
Here's an example, there's the definition of Foreign versus Domesticas defined in SOPA, Title I, section 101. Here's the definitions for brevity.


In the real world, this is slightly more complex. You see, you can have a website with a primary server cluster located in the US of A and still have registered domain names through foreign registrars. Suppose that is true and your site is also hosted via a third party content delivery network. Now when people outside the US access your website they are most likely connecting to the third party network that is not located in the US. SOPA does not acknowledge this complexity and simply decides between Domestic and Foreign using only domain names. There are more but I lack the citations for them and this is getting pretty long.

Why do the bills not actually stop piracy?
Because both SOPA and PIPA contain no provisions to actually remove copyrighted content. They focus solely on censorship. And as we all know, there are always workarounds. In fact, I believe the US State Department funds development of censorship circumvention. Ironic isn't it?

How does it impact innovation and the economy in general?
Well, for one thing, the barrier to creation of a website or product is very low due to the open nature of the internet. SOPA and PIPA will force these up and coming companies to spend precious money on legal counsel regarding the bills. New websites and products will have to spend longer to include in-built censorship technologies. Ad networks will have to calculate the risk of displaying ads on a foreign website. This means that the barrier to entry is higher costing more to do business in the US. People generally go where the money is, and if it's cheaper to start a business elsewhere, people will do it there. I mean, why is so much stuff labeled "made in China"? Because it's cheaper to.

Hey, I noticed that SOPA had this in it, "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to impose a prior restraint on free speech or the press protected under the 1st amendment to the Constitution."
Not a question but SOPA actually does violate the 1st Amendment.

How does censorship on the internet work?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation have a great article for your perusal here. They also have a number of articles concerning SOPA and PIPA if you're interested, further reading is available there.

If you're not from the US can you still sign petitions to stop/delay SOPA and PIPA? If not what's the best legal action we can take to help prevent it from going through?
Hakker says: Unless the petition specifies, you don't have to be an American citizen. Most of these petitions aren't of the legal kind, all they can hope to do is sway the opinions of politicians who are doubtful about their stance. Because of the lack of laws involving the internet so far, it's gonna be pretty hard for non-Americans to get directly involved.

So does the SOPA bill(s) have any power or right over closure of website domains or actions on the Internet In other continents and countries?
Nope. SOPA only censors but otherwise does not directly shut down a site.

Hey, X part of this FAQ is wrong, has a typo, or needs clarification. Can you fix it?
Sure, give me citations if required.

What if I still have questions?
Ask away, and in due haste, you shall receive.

If you're not from the US can you still sign petitions to stop/delay SOPA and PIPA? If not what's the best legal action we can take to help prevent it from going through? (Other than liking stop SOPA on Facebook =S)

Unless the petition specifies, you don't have to be an American citizen. Most of these petitions aren't of the legal kind, all they can hope to do is sway the opinions of politicians who are doubtful about their stance.

Because of the lack of laws involving the internet so far, it's gonna be pretty hard for non-Americans to get directly involved.

I was under the impression that online petitions wouldn't be official to begin with, so if I happen to come by one i'll just sign it and be on my way (of course with specific precautions). Although I won't go out of my way to find them, with this verification in mind. Thanks for the input

I heard that it's already passed, and the closure of Megaupload only makes me more convinced. Is it true? Is it already over?

quite the contrary. for now, lamar has pulled back the bill realizing the degree of support against the bill.
however, US retarded congressmen have a new act, the "protect children from internet pornographers" act which would pretty much destroy US privacy in the united states

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1981

what the f*** is up, us govt

So does the SOPA bill(s) have any power or right over closure of website domains or actions on the Internet In other continents and countries?

Nope. SOPA only censors but otherwise does not directly shut down a site.

http://www.laquadrature.net/acta
oh god why

wtf what is wrong with the governments of the world
look at ACTA. europe, fight against it

And here is a lovely SOPA/PIPA flow chart for visual learners

why is this an announcement? does anyone who uses thsi forum care?

because people keep making stupid posts about it

because everyone SHOULD care.
thinking it doesnt affect you/couldn't affect you is retarded.

canada, and many other countries are similarly creating legislation trying to crack down on internet piracy but unintentionally destroying internet freedoms as a whole.

I think the sopa law never passed

i dont care