I doubt SOPA will have any effect at all.
Really? You don't think having the ability to shut down an entire website just because one user uploaded something will have
any effect? Then you severely underestimate the corruption present in the realm of business.
Picture this: Big Company sees a website that it decides it doesn't like. Someone from Big Company uploads a file to said website. Big Company shuts down website. No warning, no due process, no real justification. And it's legal under SOPA.
Even more disturbing is the very real possibility of online "protection" rackets. In this scenario: Big Company (or anyone, for that matter) contacts a website and says something like this: "Hey, we got a proposition for ya. You pay us a certain amount of money each month and we'll make sure nobody uploads anything...troublesome...to yer site, see? And even if they do, we'll look the other way while you deal with it. If ya
don't pay us, we can't guarantee you any protection. Cuz, y'know,
anybody could join yer site and upload something...troublesome. So, ya better pay up, see?"
That
will happen, in one form or another, under SOPA.
I do believe something needs to be done about online piracy, but SOPA is not even remotely
close to something that should come anywhere
near happening. It's nothing more than an "Online Terrorism Authorization Act".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjOPXpd9PSU&feature=player_embedded
Saw this over on the Steam forums and didn't see a thread about it here.
Kinda crazy.
Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken them so long to declare war. I'm not personally a fan of hackers, but I hope Anonymous gives
all SOPA supporters pure hell.