The real reasons why SOPA and PIPA are real bad

Following last week's Backspin, reader Alex Gonzales (Sweetwater, Texas) wrote to me: "Just read your SOPA article and I guess I'm just not seeing the big picture. If the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) could put an end to online piracy and stop a lot of those damn viruses, maybe even stop hackers -- what's bad about that? You say bad for business, bad for Internet -- but how? How is stopping/policing the bad stuff on the Internet bad? Give me some real reasons as to why [SOPA/PIPA] is bad. And don't tell me to go read the SOPA/PIPA bills in their entirety."

By Mark Gibbs | 28 January, 2012 02:20

Tags: constitution, doj, due process, Intel, law, Motion Picture Association of America, movie piracy, mpaa, music piracy, PIPA, piracy, Protect Intellectual Property Act, Recording Industry Association of America, riaa, security, SOPA, Stop Online Piracy Act, US Department of Justice