I’m concerned about the “Stop Online Piracy Act”. There is a ton of information online regarding SOPA so I won’t post it here. I hadn’t heard much about it until the past few weeks because of the huge amount of negative publicity I was seeing on Reddit. I figured the proper thing to do would be to write a letter to my congressman, Scott Garrett. I wrote about how I think it will hurt Open Source projects, do more harm than good. etc. It was a pretty nice letter, I should have saved it (UGH!). Here is the reply:
Dear Friend:
Knowing of your interest in the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261), I would like to take the opportunity to update you on this legislation. Understanding your ideas and concerns is important because it helps me to better represent you and the Fifth District of New Jersey. I value your comments and appreciate the opportunity to respond.
As you know, H.R. 3261 was introduced by Congressman Lamar Smith (TX-21) on October 26, 2011. This legislation would allow the Attorney General to file injunctions against foreign websites that steal and sell American products and innovations. This legislation would also increase penalties on individuals or companies who illegally import military goods or counterfeit medicines, and improve coordination between U.S. intellectual property (IP) enforcement agencies. You may be interested to know that H.R. 3261 has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where it awaits further review.
Like you, I believe that theft of IP is damaging to American innovation and entrepreneurs, and hampers job creation. While I am not a member of the House Judiciary Committee, I do look forward to reviewing the committee’s findings on H.R. 3261. Please know that your correspondence is important to me and that I appreciate your views. Should legislation concerning the Stop Online Piracy Act come to the House floor for a vote, I will consider it with your thoughts in mind.
At first, I was very pleased to get a response so quickly! I honestly didn’t expect any reply at all. After reading it I wasn’t entirely happy with the completeness of his reply. From the language in his letter it seems like he would be in favor of SOPA. However, the response does seem rather high level and perhaps misinformed, and he does state that he will review once it leaves the committee. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt for now, if the bill ever is presented to the House I will be contacting him again.
For some further reading, the Bergen Record has some Opinion letters regarding this topic.
First we have an Opinion article from December 12, 2011 Opinion: No free speech right to pirate software
Now we have two letters in reply to this article The Record: Letters, Dec. 17, 2011 The letters I am referring to are the last two letters on the page.