SOPA and PIPA look like they are dead in their current forms (good for the internets, ldo), but there's also danger in European form, in the guise of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which is being pushed through the European Parliament at the moment. Since its conception in 2008, this scurrilous piece of legislation has arguably been a greater threat to the open internet than SOPA and PIPA, as it is world wide - the USA and various others are already signatories, and it's currently being discussed in the EU Parliament whether the EU should also become a signatory to the agreement.
There is a great amount of good in ACTA, it builds sensibly on provisions in the longstanding TRIPS agreement on intellectual property rights, but once again, the doctor isn't treating the disease, and the enforcement methods are arcane, ill conceived and represent a clear danger to the open internet.
Note also, of course, that the current signatories are all first world countries. Good luck stopping or hindering IP infringement without the sincere and focused support of the 'second world' - growing economies like Brazil, China and India.
The carrion cry is once again being delivered like a Mount Sinai sermon from the record labels and movie companies and its translation is basically this: 'We do not understand the internet, and therefore we would like it to go away.'
You cannot shut off the internet just because it doesn't fit your business model. These companies have had years to come up with a better plan and they've failed. We should let them die rather than compromise the entire open internet to save them.
Read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreementhttp://www.stopacta.info/
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