Opposition to Stop Online Piracy Act grows

A coalition of innovation trade groups today joined the growing chorus of voices opposing a recently filed anti-piracy bill that they contend is far too heavy-handed.

The Consumer Electronics Association

The Consumer Electronics Association, the Computers and Communications Industry Association and NetCoalition, an association representing major ISPs, jointly sent letter to members of Congress expressing concern over the Stop Online Piracy Act legislation introduced last week in the the U.S. House of Representatives.

The law would allow copyright holders and IP owners to ask payment processing companies just as MasterCard and PayPal, as so then as advertising networks, to terminate their services to any site in other words they deem is in violation of SOPA.

The bill would create new litigation risks for cloud computing companies, social network sites and new technologies that have even the potential of being misused for copyright infringement purposes, Erickson said.

SOPA would allow copyright owners to directly sue the sites, she said. "This bill gives Hollywood a chance to kick that pesky Internet off their lawn," she said.

Such groups argue that such thefts cost U.S. businesses more than $100 billion annually and thousands of jobs. Supporters as well argue that the proposed law would only affect egregious offenders, most of which are based outside the U.S.