DailyKOS Takes on SOPA, PROTECT IP

Left-leaning political blog DailyKOS joins the editorial pages of the New York Times and Los Angeles Times in opposition of the House's Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate's Protect IP Act. In a post titled "Congress is close to destroying the internet (no hyperbole)," DailyKOS says that it is not hyperbole when they say that lawmakers, big Pharmaceutical companies, and the recording, and movie industries are out to destroy the internet. Sites that rely on social media, content sharing and user-created content from places like Facebook, Reddit, tumblr, Sound Cloud, and YouTube would be devastated by these laws if they were to pass.

On the plus side, they note the opposition of Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, who has put a hold on the bill in the Senate and promises a "full filibuster" if necessary. Wyden has been joined by Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Rand Paul of Kentucky. In the House, Nancy Pelosi and Ron Paul have publicly said they oppose SOPA.

Here is the best part of the post, which gets right to the heart of what SOPA's and PROTECT IP's purpose is:

"This is the holy grail of the entertainment industry—to destroy the internet, and thus, destroy the biggest danger to their business.

While the entertainment industry already has outsized tools to fight piracy, they don't want to deal with the hassle of having to send takedown notices to individual infringing sites. It's hard work, going after YouTubes of dancing babies and stuff! And, of course, they don't have jurisdiction over many foreign-based sites. So, if they can't stomp out all piracy, plan B is to destroy the internet."

Finally, they encourage those who oppose these bills to go to AmericanCensorship.org to learn more about these laws will actually do to affect what you do on the internet every day.

Source: DailyKOS