Love a movie or song but don't want to pay for it? There's probably a way to just steal it off the Internet... for free.
That very problem has become an issue for the U.S. House of Representatives. Although the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, isn't even completely written, the very idea of the bill is already stirring up some online controversy.
SOPA, introduced to the House back in October, would basically give U.S. Law Enforcement and copyright holders more power to fight online piracy. Opponents are arguing though, the bill would violate the First Amendment and cripple free speech. Some 7,000 websites like Wikipedia, Mozilla, and Reddit are protesting by shutting down Tuesday night and Wednesday for 12 to 24 hour periods.
District 13 (R) Congressman Mac Thornberry said he sees the need for some kind of regulation, but the question is 'how much is too much'?
"I think there definitely is a problem because all sorts of intellectual property is being ripped off but at the same time, we don't want to go too far in trying to regulate and undermine some of the free speech aspects of the internet," he explained. "Hollywood, the movie industry, a lot of those type folks are very interesting in doing something to protect what they produce and at the same time the internet and service providers are worried about too much regulation so it's still going back and forth."
Thornberry also said because the bill is still being worked on, he felt the House wouldn't act on it for several more weeks. It's also being said that some will continue protesting the act by "going silent" on Facebook and Twitter Wednesday.
