Why SOPA Is Such A Big Issue
1. The Government Would Get All the Power
In the initial version of SOPA, the bill would have allowed the U.S. Justice Department to summarily pick Web sites to take down, after getting a court order, and no one or nothing could have stopped it. Critics said that could have given the government far too much power.
Talk about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has been everywhere lately. That's because several major Web sites, including Firefox, Wikipedia, Google, and others, publicly protested the bill. Since then, the lawmakers behind both SOPA and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) have decided to postpone deliberations on modifying them in the hopes of reaching an accord with critics. Even though those bills have been put on hold, there's a good chance that they will come back in some form or another. Simply put, SOPA is a major issue that could have a profoundly negative impact on the Internet. Here's a look at why SOPA is such a major issue for anyone who uses the Internet.