Stop Online Piracy Act

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The Stop Online Piracy Act ( SOPA ), also known as HR 3261 , is a bill that was introduced in the US House of Representatives on October 26, 2011 by Republican Representative Lamar S. Smith of Texas and a group of twelve supporters . Similar to the draft PROTECT IP Act that was introduced to the Senate on December 5, 2011, the law should enable American copyright owners to effectively prevent the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content . The deliberations on the law in the Justice Committee of the House of Representatives aroused strong, controversial international reactions, which ultimately led to a halt in the adoption process.

content

The law would have allowed the US Department of Justice and copyright owners to seek injunctions against web site operators that violated US copyright law. The applicant should choose the purpose of the measure. For example, an order could have prohibited advertising agencies and payment services from working with the owners of the websites concerned and thus prevented further business from being carried out.

The display of the website in search engines could also have been blocked. The law would have made downloading protected content a serious criminal offense . Those internet providers who would have acted against presumably illegal internet sites would have been granted impunity . At the same time, any copyright owner who knowingly misrepresents that a website is committing such violations of the law could have been prosecuted for this.

Positions

The English-language Wikipedia was on 18 January 2012, a protest page against SOPA and PIPA .

Supporters of the law said it was there to protect copyrights ("intellectual property") and related businesses and jobs. It was also necessary to provide authorities with the means to enable them to enforce copyright law in relation to foreign websites. Large media groups and their interest groups such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) stood out as supporters. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer stated during the hearing that patients could not always recognize websites that either advertise a false brand or are completely counterfeit.

SOPA-negative art

Opponents said it was a censorship that would gag the Internet. In addition, the law is not compatible with the fundamental right to freedom of expression , as it makes whistleblowing significantly more difficult or practically impossible. The legislative proposal was criticized, among other things, by potentially affected companies such as Google , Yahoo , Facebook , eBay as well as by civil rights activists and journalists. In a motion for a resolution on the EU-US summit in November 2011, the European Parliament also underlined that “the integrity of the global Internet and freedom of communication must be protected by refraining from unilateral measures to withdraw IP addresses or domain names ”.

A group of politicians from both major parties in the USA proposed the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act ( OPEN Act ) as an alternative to SOPA , which should also take action against copyright infringements, but without endangering the freedom of the Internet.

On January 14, 2012, an official statement was released by three White House officials who opposed the bill. Victoria Espinel, Aneesh Chopra and Howard Schmidt said that even in view of the dangers of online piracy, they could not support a law that restricts freedom of expression, increases security risks and undermines the dynamism and innovation on the Internet.

Protests

According to press reports, Internet companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon considered the option of temporarily switching off their web offers completely in protest.

On January 18, 2012, there were extensive protests. Among other things, the English language Wikipedia was made inaccessible for 24 hours at 5 a.m. coordinated world time (6 a.m. CET ) by overlaying almost all pages (but not those about SOPA and PIPA themselves) with a black protest notice via JavaScript . Also Reddit , Boing Boing , xkcd and many more pages taken similar measures. The Google logo showed a censor bar that day .

Avaaz collected over 3.4 million online signatures against the scheme that threatens freedom of expression and freedom of the press ; it was his most successful campaign to date. In the United States, the protests were a. a. The reason for this is that the large American broadcasting companies, as supporters of the law, have so far hardly reported on it.

Legislative process and outcome

After the bill was introduced to the US House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, the Justice Committee held a hearing on November 16, 2011. A House spokesman said committee chairman Smith plans to have the bill debated in Congress on December 15, 2011. The matter is still under negotiation and he is open to change. On December 12, 2011, the chairman of the committee submitted an amended SOPA bill for the December 15 hearing.

After a long debate in the Judiciary Committee, the hearing on December 16 was initially postponed to the earliest possible date after the congressional holidays in mid-January 2012, but shortly afterwards it was rescheduled for Wednesday December 21, 2011.

The chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives, Lamar Smith, announced on January 20, 2012, four days before the originally scheduled vote on SOPA, that the SOPA draft would not be advanced for the time being due to severe criticism. A willingness to compromise on the part of the US government regarding the changes to SOPA and PIPA was clearly emphasized by Senator Harry Reid, who also pointed out at the end of January 2012 that a solution could be found in the coming weeks that would be acceptable to both parties. The discussion on the Cyber ​​Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act ( CISPA ), which politician Mike J. Rogers published in November 2011, can be seen as part of this effort . The bill, which was adopted by the US House of Representatives in late April 2012, was also controversial, but was well supported by companies such as AT&T, Facebook, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Symantec and Verizon.

Background to international politics

The US trade agency publishes an annual report on how other states deal with intellectual property rights, the so-called Special 301 Report . An ambassador dispatch made public by Wikileaks on February 25, 2008, states that the USA threatened Spain to be incriminated on this list if Spain did not pass certain laws against “Internet piracy” “by summer 2009”. These should be in line with laws that have already been passed in “France and / or Great Britain”. In Spain it was the Ley de Economía Sostenible , or “ Ley Sinde ” or “Sinde Law” for short ( because of the Minister of Education Ángeles González-Sinde ). After the influence of the USA became known through Wikileaks, the legislative proposal was initially rejected in Spain, but on December 30, 2011 a similar decision was made and immediately mentioned by the USA in the “ 301 Report ”, but continued observation and the whereabouts of Spain announced on the list. Commentators see great similarities between SOPA and “ Ley Sinde ”. In this regard, Christian Stöcker speaks of "Worldwide Internet laws" and refers to parallel laws or legislative proposals in Great Britain ( Digital Economy Act 2010 ), France ( Haute Autorité pour la diffusion des œuvres et la protection des droits sur internet , in short " Hadopi "), New Zealand (section 92a of the" Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 "," S92A "for short). The USA also exerted massive influence on S92A, as was also made public through ambassador dispatches. The controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) provided for similar measures .

Web links

Commons : Stop Online Piracy Act  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. HR 3261, STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; October 26, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / judiciary.house.gov
  2. ^ House Introduces Internet Piracy Bill ; Washington Post ; October 26, 2011
  3. Protect IP Act Pros and Cons: Everything You Need to Know Upcounsel, accessed on August 23, 2020.
  4. Dave Thier: SOPA Got Stopped: Stop Online Piracy Bill Actually Dead , forbes.com, January 20, 2012, accessed February 9, 2012
  5. ^ The US Stop Online Piracy Act: A Primer ; PC World - Business Center ; November 16, 2011
  6. Beth Marlowe (November 17, 2011): "SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) debate: Why are Google and Facebook against it ?" , Washington Post . Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  7. Testimony of John P Clark ( Memento of the original from November 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; November 16, 2011; Page 3. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / judiciary.house.gov
  8. Albanesius, Chloe (November 16, 2011): “SOPA: Is Congress Pushing Web Censorship? News & Opinion, PCMag.com. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
  9. Chloe Albanesius (1 November 2011): "Will Online Piracy Bill Combat 'Rogue' Web sites or Cripple the Internet?" .
  10. Trevor Timm (November 2, 2011): "Proposed Copyright Bill Threatens Whistleblowing and Human Rights " . Electronic Frontier Foundation . Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  11. Eric Engleman: Google Founder Attacks Piracy Bill Set for House Panel Vote , bloomberg.com, December 14, 2011
  12. Elizabeth Flock: SOPA denounced by newspaper journalists, too , washingtonpost.com, December 14, 2011
  13. JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the EU-US summit on November 28, 2011 European Parliament on November 18, 2011
  14. cnn.com: SOPA supporters don't want to compromise ( Memento of the original from January 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , December 9, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tech.fortune.cnn.com
  15. ^ Macon Phillips: Obama Administration Responds to We the People Petitions on SOPA and Online Piracy , In: White House Blog, Jan. 14, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
  16. Victoria Espinel, Aneesh Chopra, Howard Schmidt: Combating Online Piracy while Protecting an Open and Innovative Internet  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Official White House response . @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / wwws.whitehouse.gov  In: whitehouse.gov, undated. Retrieved January 15, 2012: “While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet. "
  17. Die Welt on January 4th, 2012: Hollywood infuriates network activists. Retrieved January 9, 2012 .
  18. CNET on December 29, 2011: SOPA opponents may go nuclear and other 2012 predictions. Retrieved January 9, 2012 .
  19. Wikimedia Foundation: English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout . (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 17, 2012 ; Retrieved January 17, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / wikimediafoundation.org
  20. http://www.avaaz.org/de/save_the_internet
  21. ^ Matthias Finger: SOPA Protests in the USA (MP3 file; 2.02 MB) . In: broadband . DeutschlandRadio Kultur. January 14, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
  22. USA House Of Representatives Committee on The Judiciary (November 16, 2011) ( Memento of the original from December 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Hearing on: HR 3261, the "Stop Online Piracy Act" . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / judiciary.house.gov
  23. ^ SOPA Goes for House Debate December 15 ; Washington Post ; November 21, 2011.
  24. Managers Amendment ( Memento of the original dated December 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 142 kB), December 12, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / judiciary.house.gov
  25. ^ David Kravets: Stop Online Piracy Act Vote Delayed . Wired. December 16, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
  26. ^ Lamar Smith: Statement from Chairman Smith on Senate Delay of Vote on PROTECT IP Act . United States House of Representatives. January 20, 2012. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 7, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / judiciary.house.gov
  27. hw: SOPA / PIPA: Web censorship off the table - for now . chip. January 20, 2012. Archived from the original on January 24, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 23, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / business.chip.de
  28. 112th Congress (2011): HR 3523 (112th) . In: Legislation . GovTrack.us. November 30, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2012: "Cyber ​​Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act"
  29. Florian Kalenda: Controversial US draft law CISPA slightly defused , ZDNet.de, April 17, 2012, accessed on April 23, 2012
  30. US House of Representatives waves through controversial Internet law . Süddeutsche.de. April 27, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  31. [1] and other cables.
  32. Ralf Streck: Wikileaks overturns Spanish law on website censorship. In: Telepolis. December 22, 2010, accessed January 18, 2012 .
  33. - ( Memento of the original from October 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 39f. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ustr.gov
  34. Katrin Haase: Anti-Piracy: USA urged Spain to enact “Sinde Law”. (No longer available online.) In: Musikmarkt. January 9, 2012, archived from the original on January 23, 2012 ; Retrieved January 18, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musikmarkt.de
  35. Christian Stöcker: Worldwide internet laws: US corporations let the network be censored. In: Spiegel Online. January 17, 2012, accessed January 18, 2012 .
  36. America writing our laws? In: The Standard. March 3, 2011, accessed January 18, 2012 .
  37. ^ Matthew Lasar: WikiLeaks: MPAA behind Aussie ISP lawsuit (but don't tell anybody). In: ars technica. September 2011, accessed January 18, 2012 .