The Effect of the Stop Online Piracy Act [SOPA] and Protect IP Act [PIPA] in the Philippines

January 16, 2012 · by Sonnie · Ask Sonnie, Blogging, Web 2.0

We have been preoccupied with local issues lately, given the “impeachment trial of the chief justice”, the “bourne legacy shooting in Manila” and the “its more fun in the Philippines” tourism slogan .

But there is major development in the US that can potentially affect online biz and online publishers in the Philippines, and that is the Stop Online Piracy Act [SOPA] being deliberated in the US Congress and the Protect IP Act [PIPA] on the US Senate. Both have similar provisions and objectives, run after online pirates that are outside US shores. This infographic provides the salient features of the bill:

The bill may appear supportive of responsible online behavior because it aims to protect US creative artists, authors, musicians, movie producers and alike from online pirates outside US shores. If this bill will be passed, sharing and networking sites like YouTube, DailyMotion, Facebook and Vimeo, blog sites like WordPress.com, Tunblr and Blogspot.com could be held liable for the contents uploaded and published by it’s users.

Likewise, sites outside the US who was found to be containing or hosting contents, links, audios, videos and images violating their copyright law will be blocked in the US. Accounts to facilitate e-commerce and online ads like google adsense shall also be cancelled.

But these bills were being opposed by almost all biz whose interest is in the web, and digital activists because of it’s threat to fair trade and e-commerce, censorship and curtailment to the freedom to speak and to express.

What are the effects of SOPA and PIPA to netizens and companies outside US Shores?

As publisher, your creative content shall be pre-screened by YouTube, WordPress.com, Blogspot and alike before they will publish your material. Presently, these hosting, sharing and networking sites do not hold your content in moderation because they are shielded from lawsuits from copyright holders. Provided, they will take down your content if found to be in violation of terms of use or when copyright holders filed a complaint. However, If SOSA or PIPA will be enacted into law, these companies can be sued for the activity and content of it’s users [you].

As webmaster, if your site is found to be hosting or containing materials in violation of US copyright laws, your website will be blocked and inaccessible to users based in the US of A. This mean you will lose traffic from US, will not be indexed by US based search engines. Unable to generate revenue from the US market, and will not allowed to advertise or do [online] business in US.

Companies who have digital presence are also at risk if copyrighted materials such as music as the back ground of a video presentations, images in website, or images in an uploaded powerpoint presentation. If comments or links in contain copyright materials, the website or social networking accounts will also be penalized , even though, these alleged copyright violations are done by users or subscribers who just left a comment, shared link, images or audio.

NOTE:

I was invited to guest at ANC program “future perfect” to discuss SOPA/PIPA but opted out since sked will not permit

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11 Responses to “The Effect of the Stop Online Piracy Act [SOPA] and Protect IP Act [PIPA] in the Philippines”

Gerry January 16, 2012 at 10:23 AM

U.S. is doing something to protect itself in order to survive just like almost all other governments doing it in one way or another. I respect their right to do it and can accept any economic loss I may incur, provided their actions don’t violate God’s law. I’d simply innovate the way I do business. For example, sending out unsolicited email was not prohibited sometime in the past. It is a “crime” to do it today, but astute email proponents have developed new techniques. Being apprehensive about things like the US passing certain copyright laws is not the right reaction.
cr0cus January 16, 2012 at 5:47 PM

I’m thankful that censorship is taking place, and I hope that the other big nations would follow suit and connect the dots around the world – including the Philippines.

With a lack of laws (and the corresponding punishment), I can just imagine that those cybercrooks would saturate in Asia and mess up our online lives.
Sonnie January 16, 2012 at 7:54 PM

@Cr0cus- and @Gerry- as long as, this will not encroach into the principle of fair use and our freedom to express,
Sir January 18, 2012 at 3:37 PM

Censorship is never the answer. How could people want censorship? The moment this movement is passed, freedom of speech and expression dies instantly.

The moment an anonymous user posts on a comment a link to a copyrighted material, your site is immediately shut down and can be sued for infringement and all; so I can’t understand why you Mr cr0cus would want this law to take place. Just imagine the internet with no wikipedia since the site has a large content of audio/video clips and samples of a lot of artists’ material. The site also makes use of linking to other sites that host copyrighted media. That alone can be grounds for the US to seize your website. The moment you are accused, they can have the power to have you extradited to the States for trial. So don’t be relieved in support of SOPA.

https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/SOPA/Blackoutpage
Sonnie January 19, 2012 at 9:11 PM

@Sir- agree, the cost of this bill is way too high…