Sunday, February 12, 2012

Contemporary Controversies- Online Piracy 4

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/columnists/victor_landa/article/Pending-anti-piracy-bill-already-outdated-2651702.php

Victor Landa presents a different rationale that explains why SOPA would be inappropriate for it's intended purpose. Instead of arguing the ethics behind the act, or whether or not it allocates too much power to the media moguls or the government, he argues about why the structure of the acts themselves set them up for failure. Landa argues that SOPA is too broad to be useful to combat piracy. He explains that the act requires service providers to shut down any website under their control that are linked to piracy or any redistribution of personal materials. This, in affect, leaves a grey area of what crosses the line of what is pirated and what is not. Landa gives the example of a boy posting a video and using his favorite song as background music, would that fall under the SOPA umbrella of piracy? Would Facebook then have to disable the boy's account in order to avoid legal persecution? Landa also presents a fact that is quite interesting, the representative from texas that initially pushed SOPA, Lamar Smith, receives most of his financial backing from the Motion Picture Association of America, an organization that would theoretically have the most to gain from an act like SOPA passing due to the countless finances they lose when consumers can easily download they films as opposed to buying them. Overall, Landa explains that he does not necessarily support with either those who push nor those who appose SOPA, because he agrees with the ideas of both sides. However, he believes the act itself inadequately addresses the problem that it is trying to fix. He says, "SOPA is using a 20th century idea to combat a 21st century problem."

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