As technology rapidly progresses and the Internet grows, legislation is in need of catching up, but an anti-piracy bill that stomps on people’s rights is no way to go about it.

On Oct. 26 2011, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and 12 co-sponsors introduced the Stop Online Piracy Act, also known as SOPA.

SOPA, and its companion Senate bill, Protest IP address Act (PIPA), were created with a goal of cracking down on websites that participate in copyright infringement.

The goal is fine but the problem is whether or not it will give the government and copyright owners too much say in what online users can and cannot do.

At first there were more Government officials for SOPA than against, but that was before anyone was really aware that these bills were making their way through congress. 

Then sites like Reddit and Wikipedia blacked out for a day to protest these bills and the newfound awareness outraged computer-savvy citizens across the country.

By idly sitting back and letting lawmakers push through SOPA and PIPA it would have essentially brought the nation one step closer to having a government-censored Internet.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) are of course two of the biggest supporters of these bills, as they would protect their music and movies to be illegally viewed and shared.

The most alarming aspect of SOPA and PIPA is that they would allow IP address owners to take actions without having to have a single court appearance. All that would be required is a letter stating the alleged copyright infringement.

Due to websites blacking out and Americans protesting against the bills they have been shelved. Too many politicians got cold feet and didn’t want to upset voters so close to elections. For now our internet remains unharmed