3 reasons why SOPA shouldn't be passed.

We're in the midst of the 24 blackout being staged by Wikipedia and various other online portals.
If you're an active wikipedia user like myself then this image should be pretty familiar to you.

(the workaround for this is ridiculously easy, btw)

All this is happening because of the SOPA or Stop Online Piracy Act, which is a bill that was recently introduced in the US Congress. It's aim is stop online piracy, but the ramifications of such a bill, if passed, are severe.

At this point I must say awareness for SOPA really skyrocketed because of the blackout being staged, but a lot of people are blindly opposing it without knowing what it does, or thinking that it does something that it really doesn't. Either way, its gotten A LOT of attention, and rightfully so.

I am personally against the bill, and would like to speak my piece on the matter.
Here are my 3 reasons why SOPA should not be passed.

1. Too Vague

The bill is simply too vague about how it will address the issue of online piracy on the Internet. I am of the belief that this stems from the notion that practically none of the people who wrote the bill have any technical knowledge or experience in the matter they are dealing with, nor did they consult with any subject experts either. This strikes me as odd because the Internet itself is a relatively new and complex form of media that really cannot be dealt with using existing assumptions from other media.

Because of the lack of technical specifications within the structure of the bill, it can be easily abused by corporations who can interpret the bill to their favor, by removing content from entire online portals based on minor infractions. This brings me to the 2nd reason, which is...

2. Lack of Due Process

If passed, the bill allows companies to seek to shut down websites that potentially promote piracy based on the activities of their users. This effectively removes the safe harbor status that most online social sites have been relying on to stay out of trouble. It also means that website owners are liable for actions they have no control over.

The lack of due process kicks in when no proof is required for authorities to take action against websites which have users potentially (or actually) infringing on copyrights or IP. Once again, this makes the paper extremely exploitable, and can be easily used to affect thousands (even millions) of innocent users should any company choose to stake any claims in this manner.

More importantly, it becomes a tool for which Internet censorship can be recklessly dished out. I don't see myself completely agreeing with the notion of a completely uncensored Internet, but if censorship exists, it cannot be done without due diligence on the matter, which won't happen because of the lack of due process.

(This is probably where all that stuff where people are saying "If SOPA passes, there will be no more YouTube, Twitter, Google, Wikipedia, Facebook and many more sites you love to use!" stems from. It technically isn't true at all, but is one of many possible outcomes.)

3. The Price of Ineffectiveness

This bill will NOT solve piracy - I can say that in all brutal honesty. In fact, piracy can never be completely eradicated, just as unemployment or crime cannot. I am not saying that because of this we don't try to lessen piracy, but that this bill is not the way to do it.

For one thing, all this will really do is move the pirates elsewhere, such as to places where legislation is more lax. Chances are that tech-savvy pirates would easily be able to circumvent blanket banning and DNS blocking (which they have already done, by the way), but in exchange for such provisions, both the integrity and utility of the Internet are being undermined.

In other words, the effects of the bill are too much considering the minimal if not insignificant impact this would actually have on real online piracy.

...
As such, I feel that SOPA really shouldn't be passed. I empathize with its intentions, but a lot more work has to be put into the paper before it comes close to being suitable for passing without causing too much damage to users of the Internet.

As mentioned earlier, I feel that the most important things to be addressed are the lack of technical details to the legislature, as well as the lack of due process, both of which combine to give you a bill that could impose unlimited liability on innocent parties.

Maybe a future bill could be passed that would actually work well towards curbing piracy, or perhaps the solution lies outside the realm of the legal framework.