Kaylin Robinson
TBS Staff Writer
The Stop Online Piracy Act has been all over the Internet for the past few months. Although SOPA is said to be sent back to the drawing board by Congress, the threat it presents to downloaders is long from over.
“I heard about it a few months ago, but I thought it was a joke. It took a really long time to get viral, and when it did people started freaking out. It’s scary how long the government hid it. Like, they don’t want us to do anything, because they know we will,” Jacob Davis, E.T.A. freshman, said.
If you didn’t hear, SOPA basically gives producers and owners of big companies (Warner Brothers, for example) the right to completely shut down websites if they see something of theirs they don’t want on there. Megaupload, a popular piracy web site, was shut down recently. However, the legislation by Congress is not limited to illegal downloading.
“Basically, people now have the right to shut down any site they see their stuff on and they don’t have to go to court to do it,” Jonathan Peacher, D.A.T.A. sophomore, said.
SOPA is said to be the beginning of a broader censorship of the Internet. This act takes away simple First Amendment rights guaranteed the United States Constitution, and every one is looking past it.
“If it passed, our country would turn into something like China, where it’s out of our hands as to what we see on the Internet,” Michelle Richardson, freshman, said.
SOPA is only the beginning. There are other acts similar to SOPA, but more brutal to the downloading populous. Keep up to date on these changes now. Don’t leave these acts unnoticed. They need attention by the public before it’s too late.