Journalists Hate SOPA Too

A multitude of journalists have finally come out publicly against SOPA, the bill sponsored by Lamar Smith (R-Texas) that fights so-called "rogue" websites that traffic in copyrighted software and counterfeit goods. Wednesday the American Newspaper Editors Association joined online rights groups, consumer groups, and tech companies in opposition of SOPA (and the Senate bill Protect IP) by sending Congress a letter to ask that it stop the bill.

Here is what the group wrote to congress: "Our members use the Internet in ways that could be construed to violate SOPA, and that’s not acceptable. Whether utilizing content contributed by third parties, stepping outside the direct reporter-source interaction to acquire and use information from Web sites around the world, or augmenting our stories through the use of multimedia previously unavailable to print-only publications, ASNE members continue to change the way news is presented. We fear that SOPA will restrict our ability to engage in these activities and stifle our capacity to innovate when we most sorely need the freedom to do so."

The group was not specific about what it thought SOPA would consider copyright infringement on news sites.. Dan Gillmor, a professor of digital media entrepreneurship at Arizona State University, posted the ASNE letter on his Google+ page Wednesday, along with the comment:

"Finally, journalists see the threat from SOPA and . . . this runaway train."

Source: Washington Post