Protect IP Act
The Protect IP Act, or PIPA is the US Senate's version of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the US House.
Contents
Overview
In short, the Protect IP Act is a bill of legislation passed by the United States Senate grants the US attorney general greater accessibility to regulate web sites featuring pirated content and counterfeit goods. [1] By restricting access to websites with counterfeit products or illegal content, the government hopes to promote integrity and ethical business practices by websites on the internet. This bill also allows the United States Department of Justice greater legal access to consider the ramifications of such illicit activities and punish websites participating in them. Theoretically, this legislation will help prevent the sale of counterfeit goods online, however in reality there were unforeseen consequences and issues we are now presently taking into consideration. [2]
Controversy and Issues with the Protect IP Act
Internet Rights groups have been advocating against the Protect IP Act because they believe it is a violation of our rights to free speech and restricts internet creativity. [2] They even went as far as comparing the act to censoring and filtering policies of the Chinese government. Another issue brought up by domain name scholars appears to be the ease with which users and counterfeiters could circumnavigate and avoid the enforcement policies brought about by the Protect IP Act. In addition, the bill is receiving criticism from popular newspapers such as The New York Times and Los Angeles Times for the vagueness and lack of specificity in the definitions of illicit activities and sale of counterfeit goods in the Protect IP Act. Another significant issue is the damage and restrictions caused by DNS filtering. Overall, there seem to be many issues that need to be addressed by the United States Senate in future modifications of the Protect IP Act. [2]
