> Anyone on the pro-SOPA side can say exactly the same thing about e.g. Google. One of Google's major divisions, Youtube, was built in part on piracy.
If we're being objective about this, then we should acknowledge that YouTube still carries a vast amount of illegal material. These days they get safe harbour because of the DMCA takedown provisions, but Google are still knowingly providing a tool that is and always has been widely used to break the law.
The thing is, the big studios may be able to afford people to monitor such popular sites full time and have a well-oiled takedown process, so the DMCA provisions balance things out for them. The small, independent outfits can't and don't, though, and the bottom line for them is that the law says they have exclusive rights but in practice those rights aren't enforceable.
The provisions of SOPA/PIPA are obviously over-the-top, but there is a legitimate reason for some of these organisations to complain about the current situation.
If we're being objective about this, then we should acknowledge that YouTube still carries a vast amount of illegal material. These days they get safe harbour because of the DMCA takedown provisions, but Google are still knowingly providing a tool that is and always has been widely used to break the law.
The thing is, the big studios may be able to afford people to monitor such popular sites full time and have a well-oiled takedown process, so the DMCA provisions balance things out for them. The small, independent outfits can't and don't, though, and the bottom line for them is that the law says they have exclusive rights but in practice those rights aren't enforceable.
The provisions of SOPA/PIPA are obviously over-the-top, but there is a legitimate reason for some of these organisations to complain about the current situation.