What’s all this noise around a pair of bills called The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA)? It doesn’t really matter to you, right? After all, you’re in the staffing business, not creating content or running an e-commerce site. So how Congress monitors and legislates copyright infringement on the Internet isn’t a big concern to you. Maybe it should be.
These bills have serious potential to negatively change – and impact – the Internet as we know it. That’s why thousands of websites went “black” Wednesday, showing only a “strike” image, in place of the normal content.
Both bills give the mainstream entertainment industry the power to censor sites that allegedly “engage in, enable or facilitate” copyright infringement. The language in the bills is vague enough so as to effectively target sites you use every day, such as Wikipedia, Facebook and Google. That makes these bills a serious issue of censorship, not piracy prevention, as is their ostensible purpose and design.
I don’t know of too many people – or really anyone now that I think about it – in the staffing industry who spends more time working on and around the web and the online environment than TempWorks CEO Gregg Dourgarian. So I went to him for a quote about just how SOPA and PIPA might impact staffing.
“Although SOPA as currently written in the legislation before Congress would have little direct impact on the staffing industry, we are an industry of innovators, not just entrepreneurs. As such, we are always pushing the envelope in terms of creating a more successful staffing model. Therefore, we need to be on guard against just this kind of big-brother type legislation or legal action. The threats can come from anywhere, in the form of unjustly awarded patents, draconian laws and other things that would shut down labor fluidity. It doesn’t only hurt us, it also impacts the vast community of temporary workers and organizations that depend on us.”
“Although SOPA as currently written in the legislation before Congress would have little direct impact on the staffing industry, we are an industry of innovators, not just entrepreneurs. As such, we are always pushing the envelope in terms of creating a more successful staffing model. Therefore, we need to be on guard against just this kind of big-brother type legislation or legal action.”
In New York Wednesday, thousand of members of the technology community had a protest outside the offices of New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand who support the legislation.
A tech site known as GigaOM quotes Clay Shirky, an NYU professor and technology author, as saying that SOPA should be labeled the “First Amendment Sunset Act,” because of the way it affects Internet user’s ability to speak freely. He feels the mainstream media industry is trying to create an environment that ultimately discourages free speech and debate.
“What they’re (Senators Schumer and Gillibrand) saying to us is this: everyone’s got a choice, the Internet, the First Amendment, corporate control of public speech. Pick two,” he said.
There was a bit of a surprise Wednesday when Fox News reported that Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a co-sponsor of the PIPA bill, joined the chorus speaking out against the copyright infringement bill that could restrict the freedom of the Internet.
“I have decided to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act. Furthermore, I encourage Senator Reid to abandon his plan to rush the bill to the floor,” Rubio posted on his Facebook page. “Instead, we should take more time to address the concerns raised by all sides, and come up with new legislation that addresses Internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the Internet.”
“We should take more time to address the concerns raised by all sides, and come up with new legislation that addresses Internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the Internet.”
In fact, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, and U.S. Representative Darrel Issa of California, have been championing alternative legislation, the Open Act, against two bills that they believe will radically alter the Web.
“This is going to turn websites into Web cops,” Wyden told Computerworld at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Instead of “three guys in a garage” launching a Web-based business “you’re going to be three people with an upstairs full of lawyers telling you whether or not you are going to be able to operate a Web site.”
Speaking of CES, here’s what Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro had to say after he wasn’t allowed to testify before the House committee working on SOPA:
“The bill attempts a radical restructuring of the laws governing the Internet. It would undo the legal safe harbors that have allowed a world-leading Internet industry to flourish over the last decade. It would expose legitimate American businesses and innovators to broad and open-ended liability. The result will be more lawsuits, decreased venture capital investment, and fewer new jobs.”
Tell us what you think. Do you think it could impact your business? Or do you feel I’m off base when I made the assertion right off the top that “you should care.”
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
We users wikipedia and other sites are not pawns. We resent them shutting down and getting in our face because of their views.
Who are the real bullies here? It’s not the lobbies or the companies that want to protect their legal rights. It’s the immature shits that run the latest thieving internet craze.
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Well, i believe that they should target the thieves, the pirates, not the social websites and knowledge platforms. They are big assets and contribution has been done at such a level in them that life would be hard without them for scientists, professionals, students and almost everybody.
I was thinking, that they almost know the source of piracy, that are majorly torrents, why have they given licenses to those websites. I believe that if they just block the torrent websites, they can stop half of the piracy.
Again i would say, piracy has many forms, not just this online piracy. Million and billions of pirated dvd’s of movies, softwares, music are sold all over the world, but for this they cannot stop Sony from manufacturing the blank DVD’s. Its not Sony that made the pirates burn pirated copies, its the Pirates, Stop them, not the service providers.
If hope i made my point.
Thanks
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Yeah like the social websites you are so cute and innocent. NOT! They know damn well the game they’re playing is to make it easy for pirates.
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Hmmm “we are not pawns.” I am kind of shaking my head in wonderment at your comment, and resentment towards Wednesday’s web site blackout.
The point of the exercise, which ironically, seems to have been completely lost on you, is to call attention to the fact that if these bills do in fact become law, that “black” home page you saw on Wikepedia and other sites you may frequent would not be a one day thing. That under the thinly veiled and poorly written copyright infringement legislation thousands of sites many of us now use could be shut down forever.
So if you use Wikepedia, good for you. I would think this new legislation might concern you, and that you would appreciate the one day content blackout that called lots of attention to this issue.
As for your allegation of Internet “thievery,” I am kind of curious. Just how much are you paying for your Wikepedia access? ‘Cause mine’s free.
Here’s another breaking news update.
PIPA support is crumbling after yesterday’s widespread Internet protests as 26 new senators oppose the bill, seven of which were former co-sponsors, reports Ars Technica.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said he had “legitimate concerns about the impact the bill could have on access to the Internet and about a potentially unreasonable expansion of the federal government’s power to impact the Internet” and that the Senate should “avoid rushing through a bill that could have many unintended consequences.”
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah described the bill as “simply not ready for prime time.”
I have to laugh, we are not pawns.
They didn’t remove functionality from Google and Wiki could still be accessed via mobile. It was an online demonstration and an impressive one at that!
thieving internet craze? their views? it’s called innovation and free use of internet
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As Staffing relies so heavily on the web today, this has a huge potential impact. If multiple candidates were to use a Disney stationary on their resumes and upload those to say Monster or CareerBuilder, those websites could be held liable for the infringement.
This results in greater scrutiny required on the part of the website, which could impact the quality of resumes and information about candidates; as well as frustrate job seekers to the point they find another source. There would also almost certainly be a price increase for companies using the service to help cover the costs of hiring the ‘content police’ or even attorneys to have on retainer for the impending lawsuits.
The Staffing Industry is currently dependent upon the internet, from recruiting all the way to web based technology such as databases and payroll systems. To gamble that increased regulation of such a vital business tool will not negatively impact Staffing, and hundreds of other industries we serve seems foolhardy.
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I was hoping some staffing pros would come to the comment section with some specifics on just how this would impact them – and the industry. Thanks for doing that Steven. And here’s some more news just out today.
Senate and House leaders announced they are postponing work on SOPA and PIPA in the wake of large online protests that spurred several congressmen to rethink the legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today that he is postponing Tuesday’s procedural vote on the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith said his committee is postponing consideration of PIPA’s House companion, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”
I don’t think many of us would argue that strengthening protections against copyright infringement and intellectual property theft is a good thing.
We do need protection from content pirates in India and China and Russia, but we need to craft legislation in such a way so as to not stifle expression.
And we need to make sure that we think through al of the potential ramifications of a bill before it becomes law. This is far from over obviously. Stay tuned.