The SOPA, which is currently being debated in Congress, has lost the backing of the BSA, a group made up of tech giants like Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
Some may wonder why the BSA would not back the SOPA, which would seem a good thing for tech giants. BSA CEO Robert Holleyman wants to bill investigated first to see if its passing would cause unneeded consequences.
BSA members argue that if passed, the bill would give too much power to the Justice Department and violate US citizens' rights and privacy. The SOPA would allow the Justice Department to order Internet service providers (ISPs) to block websites that contain pirated material. The BSA says this violates piracy and free speech rights.
Citation:
http://www.techspot.com/news/46381-sopa-loses-backing-of-tech-giants-amid-policy-concerns.html
5 comments:
This is really interesting. American's are always concerned with how much freedom we have, in every single aspect of our lives. Even those who oppose things like online piracy sometimes don't back good things like SOPA just because of how much government interference can be involved yet that is the very thing that would protect us, our government. I find the idea of government involvment on the internet very fascinating because I lived in China over the summer and we had no freedom with our internet usage. It's amazing to be able to experience the two extremes from using the internet in the US and using it in China.
I agree with the BSA we already have enough government intervention into our lives. And in response to what Danielle said it is up to us to protect ourselves its not governments job to protect us. According to the U.S. Declaration of Independence the government is responsible only to protect our life, and liberty (freedom) so therefore we are then free to pursue our own happiness. When we start letting government protect us we loose the ability to be self reliant and protect ourselves. In America we are supposed to be skeptical of government. However this only works when we are a moral and virtuous people. America needs to return to our founding values before we loose the freedoms we currently enjoy.
While privacy is not necessarily protected under the Constitution there has been legislation since then which provides there is some recourse. I strongly oppose censoring the Internet as the Internet is one of the largest examples of free speech! If Congress passes this bill then it is a smack in the face of Lady Liberty and one step closer towards a totalitarian gvt.
Posted by JonEric Roman
I think it's admirable that these companies are putting the freedoms of their countrymen above profits.
It would be very simple for them to support this bill with the hope that it will lead to increased revenue as users would have to resort to legitimate means of viewing content. However, they seem to be more concerned with preserving our liberties and I think there is something to be said for that.
The government is already so involved in so many other things, that I agree with the BSA and not backing it. All these companies are so involved in increasing their own revenue and because it doesn't deal with their freedom being invaded, that anything to benefit them is all that matters.
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