SOPA Puts Internet in the Crosshairs

Washington — The House Judiciary Committee is set to hold its first hearing today on the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261), otherwise known as “SOPA.”  CDT opposes the bill.  The following statement can be attributed to David Sohn, Senior Policy Counsel of CDT:

“Today’s hearing can’t and won’t even scratch the surface of the far-reaching problems posed by this legislation.

“This is a bill that would eviscerate the predictable legal environment created by the DMCA, subjecting online innovators to a new era of uncertainty and risk.  It would force pervasive scrutiny and surveillance of Internet users’ online activities.  It would chill the growth of social media and conscript every online platform into a new role as content police.  And it would lay the groundwork for an increasingly balkanized Internet, directly undercutting U.S. foreign policy advocacy in support of a single, global, open network.

“Fighting large-scale infringement is an important goal.  But SOPA would do far too much collateral damage to innovation, online expression, and privacy.  Congress needs to listen to the full range of stakeholders and seriously rethink how it should address the problem of online infringement.”

For a resource list of the growing opposition to SOPA, see : http://www.cdt.org/report/growing-chorus-opposition-stop-online-piracy-act