SOPA: It’s Not Dead, It’s Just *MOSTLY* Dead.

There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.

Miracle Max – The Princess Bride (1987)

So we have lots of people and publications declaring SOPA and PIPA dead.

I have news for you: Cancel the parades, parties, and dancing. SOPA and PIPA are NOT dead. I repeat, SOPA AND PIPA ARE NOT DEAD.

What has happened to SOAP and PIPA, is that they are simply in a procedural hold in both houses of Congress. In plain English, the bills have been moved from the stack of crap coming up for votes to a filing cabinet drawer. At any time these bills can be pulled out of the filling cabinet and put back in the stack of crap. As a matter of fact, I suspect these bills will be pulled out at a later date when nobody is looking because SOPA and PIPA are not about stopping piracy, they are about control.

You hear supporters of SOPA and PIPA, such as the detestable hagfish that is Bill Maher – and oh yes, he supports SOPA - claiming it will have no effect on domestic Internet sites as it only targets foreign sites. This is not true. It is a bold faced lie. As a matter of fact, both bills have a disproportionate effect on domestic sites versus foreign ones.

Here’s a great video in plain English from the well known and well respected Khan Academy explaining exactly how SOPA and PIPA work and will destroy the Internet as we know it.

You see the picture and quote by Miracle Max from the Princess Bride up there? Under SOPA and PIPA this site could be taken offline WITHOUT my being able to defend myself or know who my accuser is, EVEN THOUGH I am using those items within US Copyright Law Fair Use Standards 17 U.S.C. § 107 (listed below).

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 17 U.S.C. § 106 and 17 U.S.C. § 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

So let’s look at my use versus fair use:

1. Well, this blog is non commercial and this post is definitely intended to be educational. We pass there.
2. It is a movie that was released world wide and is well known. We pass there.
3. It is a cropped image of a single character and a single line of text spoken by that character. All in all, a tiny fraction of the original work. We pass there.
4. I would argue that it increases the value of the original work by keeping it in the public eye. It certainly does not detract value from the original work. Again, we pass.

So I am legal in under the current copyright laws, yet under SOPA and PIPA, I could – mind you, could – be taken offline by a single complaint. I stress the word could because this is a small site and would most like slip under peoples radar, but you never know. But for large sites like, um, oh I don’t know, YouTube for example, they are going to be gone very quickly after SOAP or PIPA passes.