I don't like to get too political, but this bill is a pretty big deal.
If it passes, it could be detrimental to the internet, even for you non-USA folks.
I'm not going to go into too great of detail, but this bill is dumb. The government essentially wants to censor anything anyone ever feels is "infringing on copyright" or "harmful."
Here's a summary from OpenCongress:
And to further your understanding, here's SOPA for dummies.
Paul Tassi explains the big issue pretty well:
"The fine print of the law says sites that distribute copyrighted content could be subject to summary censorship, ie Torrent sites and the like. But it also encompasses any sites that LINK to copyrighted content, which is the bomb that blows up any semblance of sense this bill might have had."
If you'd like to read the full bill, you can check out http://www.keepthewebopen.com
If you live in the United States, PLEASE find some way to contact your congress members.
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
Regardless of what you do, spread the word. As gamers, this bill is entirely against our interests and doesn't even help the companies that are pouring money into the pockets of our congress members.
I've been watching the hearing over the past two days, and it's clear that only four people know what they are talking about. The problem has been barely advertised to the public, and when it has been, it gets way oversimplified. Ads running state that "online piracy is bad and is taking our jobs away, so you should vote for SOPA."
The worst part is that, at least in the committee, it seems like 1/3 are against the bill, 2/3 are for it.
EDIT: the meeting was originally adjourned until next year, but Hollywood and the big media jerks are pushing to get it passed; we now only have until next Wednesday to drill into the heads of our congress members that they need to vote against it.
...And because it's necessary:
