SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act)

          The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a United States bill introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith  to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Its intent is to more heavily enforce copyright infringement across the web, holding severe consequences for any site owner whose property is found to be in disobedience.Provisions include the requesting of court orders to bar advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with infringing websites, and search engines from linking to the sites, and court orders requiring Internet service providersto block access to the sites. The law would expand existing criminal laws to include unauthorized streaming of copyright material, imposing a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A similar bill in the Senate is called the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).

            SOPA is an anti-piracy bill working its way through Congress that would grant content creators extraordinary power over the internet to the point of potentially creating an "Internet Blacklist". while exacting a huge cost from nearly every site you use daily and potentially disappearing your entire digital life. Its Advocates, largely those in and supporting the entertainment industry, believe the bill is needed to crack down on increasing levels of online piracy, particularly from foreign websites. And the dissenters believe that SOPA goes against First Amendment rights, is a form of Internet censorship and would limit information accessibility on the web.

                Modern teaching and learning environments make extensive use of web-based content from a variety of sources and through a variety channels. While much of the content is licensed from publishers with appropriate accommodations for academic uses, a good deal of content may reside on websites that do not have the proper copyright permissions for every image, audio, or video clip to which they provide access. SOPA  limits our access to open information on the internet.  Our students need to learn how to analyze and evaluate information from multiple sources and perspectives, and SOPA could make it difficult for this to happen.  Websites that allow users to post comments, communicate on message boards, upload and share content, or encourage the open sharing of information and ideas can easily be shut down by a single post or comment linking to the wrong website. The ability to openly collaborate and communicate with a global community of educators is what makes online professional learning so powerful, and these proposed laws could seriously hinder the possibilities.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2088860/SOPA-protest-4-5m-people-sign-Googles-anti-censorship-petition.html