MLP speaks to the Santa Fe Reporter on SOPA bill in the House

It’s not about intellectual property, it’s about internet freedom. Supporters of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act, claim to have a bill that would bring an end to online content piracy and stop the $25 billion a year loss that the US film industry incurs due to illegal downloading and streaming. In order to realize those profits, the domestic film industry is willing to spend a fair share of its $89 billion annual intake to persuade Congress to allow film corporations to police our Internet. Immediately, the phrase “let the fox run the hen house” comes to mind. In the Santa Fe Reporter, Media Literacy Project Executive Director Andrea Quijada contends, “If corporations feel there’s a website infringing on their content, they can go to the internet provider and have them take it down.” In approving SOPA, Congress effectively deputizes corporate content creators with the authority to cripple sites that are simply suspected of infringing on their content, with no due process in place to ascertain the validity of the accusation.

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