Who stands where on SOPA/PIPA?

I’ve been pretty vocal on The 3/50 Project’s Facebook page today about the overwhelming risks passage of SOPA or PIPA would have on independent brick and mortars. Here’s a cheat sheet to get you through the muck.

SOPA: Stop Online Piracy Act (the House bill)
PIPA: Protect Intellectual Property Act (the Senate bill)
• Main difference: SOPA extends to also include streaming content
• Main risk: While the initial focus was international pirating of video and music, the bills have been overwritten to include all domestic U.S. sites, including social media, making site/page/blog owners responsible for fan posts and content

A simple example of SOPA overkill making a small business owner responsible for someone else’s unethical behavior: http://bit.ly/AzREYA. (For the stationery store owners and printers in the group, think: Bride brings in her own graphic or monogram design…) 

A thorough yet clear explanation of the most severe parts of SOPA, including a link to the actual bill: http://on.mash.to/z8S6Q8

Wall Street Journal piece on the topic: http://on.wsj.com/xO7CoW

A list of legislators, their stand on PIPA/SOPA, and the amount of money accepted from entertainment and internet industry donors:
House list (SOPA): http://bit.ly/xq3Z0H
Senate list (PIPA): http://bit.ly/w8kclZ

A suggested post for your Congressmen and Senator’s Facebook pages:
If they don’t allow status updates by others, add this to the comments thread of an existing status update post. You won’t be the only one there voicing an opinion on the topic.

As a small business owner, I implore you to reverse your support of SOPA/PIPA. The crush of making small business owners liable for fan posts to their social media sites would be devastating at the very least.

Online interaction is critical to our survival in a marketplace overflowing with big boxes and massive e-tailing sites. Making social media a high risk proposition will turn storefronts dark, demolishing the local tax base of every community in the country.

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As the holder of multiple trademarks and copyrights, I have a strong belief that those who ignore TM, ®, and © should be held to the letter of the law. Period.

I do not, however, believe an innocent third party should be responsible for someone else’s illegal actions.

No small business owner has the time or staff to investigate every photo, design, object, post, profile pic, comment, icon, or other item that crosses their path to see if it showed up somewhere else on the planet first. Insisting the little guys become Intellectual Property Police is not a solution, nor is making them the bearers of someone else’s sins.