Proposed Law could threaten E-commerce Web Sites

Venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and others have united in opposition to a proposed federal law that could give the government more power to shut down e-commerce websites. The law The Stop Online Piracy Act would give the government the right to blacklist sites which infringe on copyrights and trademarks. That would require search engines and service providers to block users from reaching such sites.

Opponents say this would restrict internet freedom because it would give lawyers and government regulators the power to shut off any website they thought was engaging in copyright infringement. For example, a site could be shut down because it displayed a picture of a copyrighted fictional character such as Superman or Bugs Bunny even if the site was only displaying the image. Sites could also be shut off for posting youtube clips of scenes from movies or TV shows.

Venture capitalists are opposed to this legislation because it would seem to discriminate against startup companies and small companies. Free speech activists oppose it because it could be used against bloggers or critics. The law was introduced in the House of Representatives by Lamar Smith of Texas who is a Republican.

It is unclear if there is enough support for the act to pass in Congress or if President Obama would sign it if it did. There is significant opposition to it particularly from Democrats from Northern California where the .com industry is based. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate but has stalled there.

The purpose of the law is apparently to stop the piracy of movies and TV shows online. The legislation is heavily supported by the Motion Picture Association of America, a lobbying group for the movie industry. The law would also try to ban new technology that would enable users to get around such blocks.

Many managers from sites such as SuperDomains.com (http://www.superdomains.com) and other sellers of web hosting/websites are opposed to this legislation and are confident that such legislation will never pass since it is so difficult to implement on a large-scale.  We'll see how this all plays out in the months to come.

SuperDomains.com Blogging Team

http://www.superdomains.com/