SOPA is a threat to American Internet leadership

SOPA’s Internet censorship provisions will kill jobs and kill America’s Internet leadership, but SOPA can’t kill foreign infringement of American property rights. In the Internet age, copyright, trademark and patent issues are important to address by making trade-offs that balance the interests of all stakeholders. Everyone takes a little bad with a little good, and fairness is achieved. SOPA’s censorship, however, is all bad with no good. Nobody wins, except those who want the government to have broad regulatory power over the Internet.

There are alternative to censorship for defending America’s interests abroad. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is the model to follow. There was no need to censor anything for the online poker market in America to be reduced from a bustling world competition to a few defiant firms. All it took to make trouble for online gambling houses was to attack the funding. The UIGEA is a successful model that could be applied to create a working, effective intellectual property enforcement law. Darrell Issa would do well to emulate it when he proposes his own SOPA alternative.

Neil Stevens is a freelance software and web developer in Southern California. He contributes in his spare time to RedState.com and UnlikelyVoter.com.