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Internet Wars: SOPA, PIPA and CISPA Essay

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The Internet has found a new enemy, in form of cyber-security legislation that has wide-ranging privacy implications. A bill introduced to the House of Representatives late last year could become the centerpiece of the next SOPA-style struggle between the tech community and Washington, D.C. SOPA, or Stop Online Piracy Act, was introduced in a sub-committee at the House of Representatives last fall. SOPA was a United States bill introduced to expand the ability of the U.S. Law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit good, mainly to stop pirating music and movies. PIPA was a similar law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holder’s additional tools to curb access …show more content…

The broad base of support for this bill shows that Congress recognizes the urgent need to help our private sector better defend itself from these insidious attacks,” said CISPA sponsor Rep. Mike Rogers in a statement published on his website(Rogers-Ruppersberger Representative pg. 1). Even with all the hype of it being a positive thing, CISPA falls far short of solving such an important issue. The CISPA bill already has over 100 co-sponsors and the backing of some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent companies, including Microsoft and Facebook, support which SOPA never enjoyed(Rogers-Ruppersberger Representative pg. 1). CISPA changes the already existing National Security Act of 1947 to allow private businesses and the government to share information about cyber threats, including “efforts to degrade, disrupt or destroy” vital networks or “threat or misappropriation” of information owned by the government or private businesses, such as intellectual property(Fitzpatrick, Alex pg. 1). CISPA focuses on defending companies from cyber-attacks and theft, While SOPA focused on giving broad tools to copyright holders and law enforcement authorities to go after pirates and copyright infringement. CISPA addresses how information would be shared between private companies and the government to catch malicious persons breaching networks to steal information or attacking

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