PIPA, SOPA & LyricsXpert

_ Have you heard of the PIPA & SOPA bills? We would like to take a moment to lay out the facts regarding the SOPA and PIPA bills, and demonstrate how they affect you.
Read on. Click around (everything in green is a useful link). (Click here for a down-to-earth, interesting blog on PIPA & SOPA)                               

PIPA

_ PIPA stands for Protect IP Act. It is the reincarnation of the 2010 COICA (Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act). Basically, PIPA would give major companies and the US government the ability to take action against any website they deem guilty of ENABLING copyright infringement. This applies to websites owned and run by people outside of the US too.

How will they “take action,” you ask? By making your internet-life miserable:
  • ·         Access to websites accused of “enabling copyright infringement” would be blocked.
  • ·         Search engines, blogs, etc. would be sued for promoting the aforementioned sites.
  • ·         These website owners would also have their livelihood taken away by their advertisers being forced to remove their content from the websites.
  • ·         Large companies would have free reign to sue any new website created after this bill is passed simply by accusing them of potentially failing to prevent copyright infringement.

SOPA

_ SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act. SOPA is the “new and improved” version of the 2008 PRO-IP Act.
If passed, SOPA will mean that:
  • ·         Private companies will legally have the ability to put together a blacklist of websites they think are enabling copyright infringement. These websites will have any income frozen and exactly 5 days to remedy the “issue” before they are shut down.
  • ·         Payment processors for websites will have ultimate power to stop payments to any website they work with if they have a strong suspicion of copyright infringement enabling or outright occurring.

How will this all affect Me?

_ Blogs will be shut down because of the use of a picture, a logo, lyrics, songs, etc. – even if the “illegal” item is used in a COMMENT by another user.

Do you have a video of your child, niece/nephew, sibling, friend, parent, etc. singing or playing their favorite song on Youtube?
Get ready to potentially face pressure from Youtube to take it down (at least) or at worst, legal action.

And of course, information pages we all rely on, like Wikipedia, would obviously cease to exist.

How can I help?

_ Although congress has "postponed" voting on this legislation because of users like you flooding them with complaints, the bills are not completely off the table yet.
Join LyricsXpert in the fight against censorship by the US government and big business!
By signing online petitions, calling your state representatives, staying informed, and talking to everyone you know about this you help the cause.
These bills are a serious threat to our 1st Amendment Right of Freedom of Speech. Don’t let our online voices be silenced.

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