Digital Assassination

Making Sense of Alphabet Soup

December 13, 2011

Good primer from Jennifer Rubin on the differences between SOPA and PIPA, and the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (the Open Act), two very different approaches to dealing with copyright infringement on the Internet.

The first two would grant a government agency the unlimited authority to shut down websites without judicial oversight.  The second, sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), OPEN, addresses legitimate concerns about SOPA/PIPA to “focus more specifically on the real problem without knocking down robust, protected speech in an indiscriminate fashion.”