The "Stop Online Piracy Act" (full text) could pass this week.

Read more about it here and here and here and everywhere else.

Wikipedia has a good summary.

If you only read one thing, read this.

This bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a felony. It also gives immunity to ISPs who take action against websites for suspected infringement.

This is a bill written by the entertainment industry in yet another 100% guaranteed to fail attempt to stop people from pirating their generally shitty content. They are so profoundly lazy and unpatriotic that they would rather cripple the internet, potentially subjecting countless people to censorship or prosecution or monitoring by the government, than make any real attempt to innovate their business model to deal with the new reality.

Fuck them. Call Congress. Fight for the Future will connect you.

Content owners don't have to give it away and they don't have to look the other way when people steal their content, but this is clearly not the right approach. Don't criminalize your customers. Figure out how to give them what they want and still make a profit. It will not be the same as it used to be. Deal with it.

The DMCA already provides copyright-holders simple ways to go after people who publish their material. They can send a takedown notice, and the content must be removed or the notice contested. Under SOPA, instead of just going after the infringing content, these companies can go after the revenue stream for the entire site. THIS IS BAD.