Try going to a website where you can watch the latest Hollywood flick for free in a couple of years.
You may find that the page won’t load.
That’s because the House is currently pondering the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) which would block access to unauthorized copyrighted content on foreign websites.
The bill is in response to rising pressure from media industries to do something about pirating, or the reproduction of copyrighted materials without authorization. This is a major issue for producers and distributors of content like movies.
A study produced by the Motion Picture Association of America estimated that the losses caused by movie piracy are massive – 1.3 billion dollars in the U.S. and 6.1 billion dollars worldwide every year.
Obviously, there is no doubt those numbers may not be conservative. The study was founded by a group that wants to show large losses to convince the government to take action.
But even if those numbers are a little high, it’s very likely that piracy takes a massive toll on many companies.
So how is this connected to our country? Most pirates operate abroad. They typically hail from China, Thailand and Russia, according to the same study.
The international nature of the issue represents a challenge for content providers who think their copyright may have been violated. They can’t simply sue the pirate. Many foreign courts could care less about claims from a U.S. copyright holder.
So the U.S. has to take action to protect its own companies. The government’s solution is a provision in SOPA which allows it to require internet service providers to block access to pirated content on a foreign website.
Many people are very upset with this idea. They say SOPA allows for censorship of the internet.
True censorship, like what exists in China, is broad. Entire topics like “Tiananmen Square” and “revolution” are not found on search engines.
But SOPA will only block access to specific portions websites – only those that violate copyrights. This law would not prevent people from ever seeing a particular movie or listening to a certain song. It merely requires them to legally obtain it from a store or website.
The spirit of censorship is to hinder the flow of information but this law actually encourages people to share ideas. Copyrights, which SOPA aims to protect, encourage artists such as moviemakers to share their content with the world by guaranteeing that they will harvest the benefits of their work. Writers who create movies, actors who bring stories to life and the studios who finance productions deserve to be paid. If it weren’t for them, movies wouldn’t exist.
This law is right for art and for America. Yes, it seems scary that the government could block access to certain websites. But it needs to be done to protect content makers.
This being said, the government needs to have safeguards in place to make sure that the law isn’t abused. They should certainly publish a list of every website that was blocked with an explanation.
This way, the integrity of a free and transparent government can be balanced with fundamental property rights, which was very near and dear to the founding fathers.
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