4 ms·

I find it interesting that technical arguments will be heard but there will be no debate about liberty and the 1st amendment.

• skymt 15y ago
  Is there really an obvious 1st-amendment issue here? SOPA is a censorship tool with great potential for abuse, but as written and intended it targets IP infringement, a very narrow category of speech that our society has already decided to censor. The 1st amendment will come into play when Congress wants to censor more, not merely censor better.
  • nextparadigms 15y ago
    If I'm not mistaken SOPA can take down websites that merely link to infringing sites. I believe that is very dangerous for the Internet, because it's what it's built on, and it's also very dangerous for freedom of speech. Linking is speech.
  • gergles 15y ago
    Prior restraint is the biggest 1st-amendment issue possible (as expressed by SCOTUS in several opinions), and shutting down sites based on a say-so and a court order that the site "looks infringing" is prior restraint.