Lumin Interactive, a marketing and design firm, has created an examination of SOPA and PIPA, which elaborates on the damage the bills could cause if they pass. Most interestingly, though, is how Lumin Interactive found SOPA to be unconstitutional, because it “wipes out prior restraint, making websites responsible for pre-censorship of ANY illegal or copyright material.”
The vague language found in both bills obviously leaves a lot open for abuse. And if a foreign site is found guilty, the results can be damaging for US tech companies. Links will be removed from search engines and advertising on the site becomes illegal, in addition to DNS blacklisting.
The study goes on to show how SOPA and PIPA are intended to target dominantly foreign websites, but since many local websites actually utilize foreign domain name extensions, such as .it and .ly, domestic sites will also be affected.
Check out the entire explanation via the link below, which is as elegant as it is informative. In the end, SOPA and PIPA will not stop piracy, but will introduce an unprecedented level of censorship on the open web!
The <3 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.