With the US House Judiciary committee on holiday, SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) has dropped off the radar temporarily, especially in light of the recent signing-into-law of the NDAA (National Defence Authorization Act).
In case you’ve been living under a rock, SOPA is the bill that could change everything you know about the internet. Don’t think it will affect you? Do you use Google, YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, DeviantArt, Yahoo, or Wikipedia? Do you watch videos from the Angry Video Game Nerd, That Guy With The Glasses, or other popular internet reviewers? Not from the US? Doesn’t matter, you’ll still be affected.
The bill, in a nutshell, will allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Well, that doesn’t seem like such a bad thing, right? Unfortunately the language of the bill in its current form means that a website could be taken down simply for having a user link to content that might violate a copyright, among other things.
With the Republican candidates for presidency all vying for votes in the upcoming caucuses and primaries, it might interest you to know what each candidate’s views on SOPA are.
Mitt Romney – The current front-runner in most national polls said “that those in Washington that have never worked in the private sector can produce legislation that could kill it” and while it wasn’t a straight answer to his views on SOPA, it suggests that he is against it.
Ron Paul – The second place candidate in most national polls has not been shy about his vehement opposition to SOPA. He is the only presidential candidate to write to other House members warning about the bill.
Rick Santorum – Voted the third most corrupt member of Congress in 2006 by CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington), it’s difficult to get a straight answer from Rick Santorum. We’re not sure we’d believe whatever he says anyway. Oh, he also ranks 29th on the list of Members of the House who have received money from the Film and Music industry, one spot ahead of Rep. Lamar Smith – the man who introduced SOPA.
Rick Perry – Though effort has been made, we’ve been unable to come up with Rick Perry’s stance on SOPA. Not that it really matters since his drastic slide in the polls.
Newt Gingrich – While his official stance on SOPA remains elusive, he did vote against a bill proposed by Congress in 1996 that would have banned porn on the internet.
http://theslorg.com/news/republican-candidates-and-sopa/
