Quote:
UK already has this
No, we don't. The Digital Economy Act (DEA) is a lot nicer than SOPA. This is why:
- Copyright holders must have the IP address of the offender.
- Invalid notices can be
ignored. ISPs don't even have to write down why they ignored it.
- Email (usually) sent to offender, telling them to stop it. (user's personal details will not be shared with the copyright holder without a court order)
- Repeat offenders (act is vague on how this is classified) will have their internet restricted/removed (again, vague).
-
Offenders can simply swap ISPs and the whole history of this has disappeared. The SOPA tries to do the opposite. It tries to take down the website access rather than restrict user access. ASCII art ftw:
British DEA
break here ___________[site]
V |
[user]---[isp]---------[site]
|__________[site]
The user-ISP link is broken, but user's can just swap ISP. ISPs are responsible for upholding copyright.
American SOPA
break here
____V______[site]
|
[user]---[isp]---------[site]
|__________[site]
The country-site link is broken in the DNS, but users can just type the IP address of the site. Sites are responsible for upholding copyright.
Of course this is a crude representation (since it's not the ISP->Site link being broken, but the whole set of American IP addresses being affected).
It's a terrible act if it goes through, but as one guy put it: "I see SOPA as a stimulus package for Asia and Europe and their Internet economies." (this is in reference to the fact that sites can just migrate elsewhere and avoid all this stuff)