Right when we all expected a certain closure on the provisions of Stop Online Piracy Act, the opposition to the bill has been popped by none other the tech giants themselves – Facebook, Google and Zynga.
According to the reports, the biggies have mentioned their opposition against the Stop Online Piracy Act, also popularized as E – PARASITE act, in a letter to the members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Though they support the goal of the act, which is to prevent the lowlife sites from illegally distributing the copyrighted materials, but the tech giants feel that the act would “undermine the effective mechanism Congress enacted in the Digital Millenium [sic] Copyright ACT (DMCA) to provide a safe harbor for Internet companies that act in good faith to remove infringing content from their sites.”
The letter also points out that the act would “pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job creation, as well as to our nation’s cybersecurity.”
Though it may appear outrageous to be against the protection of the copyrighted material but some of the harsh provisions of the bill have caused controversy. For instance the act makes it punishable for anyone to post a video which has any sort of copyrighted material. This includes everything from background music, film clips, clips from national broadcast sports games to even cover songs. Posting the videos of the cover songs has led to the dismay of the website FreeBieber.org, which is worried that the pop-star Justin Bieber could be seriously prosecuted for posting the cover songs of various famous artists on his Youtube channel.
The concerned bill is divided into two parts. The first part lays emphasis on the sites falling outside the U.S. jurisdiction and which freely distributes and facilitates copyright infringement. The second part is concerned with increasing the penalties for all infringements. The hearing on the same has been scheduled for November 16, by the House Judiciary Committee.
From the day it was proposed, the bill has been an apple of the eye for various authorities belonging to the entertainment industry and also the leaders of the political party. The opposition of the same by the tech biggies has balanced both the sides, making it an interesting legal battle.
Tell us what you feel about it. Which side are you? do you think the involvement of the tech giants will swing the decision on their side or is the act inevitable? Will the Bieber and others who had no bad intentions behind their actions, would have to pay the price? Let us know through your comments.
