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You Are Still Fighting the Battle Against SOPA

by | Updated on: Mar 23, 2019 | Social Media | 0 comments

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Congress has sidelined the controversial anti-piracy bills and business owners can now have their peace of mind. Right? Wrong! The battle against SOPA and PIPA is far from over. There are indications of other similar proposed bills that can pose threats to the free flow of online information. The PROTECT IP Act or PIPA and the Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA that were tabled last month, were designed to punish website publishing and/or selling pirated content. As expected, Internet companies as well as some Congress members argued against the bill that they might affect the flow of online information negatively.

SOPA

But there is nothing to be happy, at least not yet. What you are seeing is only the tip f the iceberg. If the indications are true, these bills are going to influence how online businesses are being conducted. And the business owners should be aware of the following issues.

The SOPA-style legislations like the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement or TPP and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement or ACTA can potentially impact the intellectual property law in a way similar to these anti-piracy bills. Moreover, these new bills may impact the way disputes are handled over the usage of content that are copyrighted.

ACTA is an agreement between multiple nations. This bill, if passed, could force Internet service provider across the world to act as Internet police. Negotiations on this bill started back in 2007. Though this bill is still to become a law, several countries that also include U.S. Japan, Australia and over 20 European Union member states have already given their consent to this agreement.

TPP is also a trade agreement between multiple nations aiming to extend restrictive IP laws across the world.

Internet surveillance too could affect the free flow of online information negatively. The U.S. Government already has a lot of powers when it comes to Internet surveillance, thanks to the U.S. Patriot Act and its 2008 amendment of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. These acts allow FBI to gather financial, telecommunications and credit records of a person/ enterprise without a court order. In addition, government can “wiretap” communications made via Internet without providing any written record. And small businesses have more to worry about than the possible threat of infringement of sensitive and confidential information unknowingly. It may even raise security issues. The data that are been rifled through and stored by the third parties will be stored at their end, which can be threatened by hackers.

Besides, the revised SOPA-and PIPA style anti-piracy bills are likely to reemerge. And if they do, the bills are likely to affect both online and offline businesses. But it’s all about anticipation as of now, and best thing business owners can do is to remain informed on such issues, until the final verdict is made.

Author:- Debajyoti Banerjee is the Founder, Director & CEO of Seven Boats - A leading digital marketing agency & digital marketing training institute in India since 2011. He is a TEDx Speaker, Google & LinkedIn Certified Digital Marketer & Trainer, Brand Strategist, Consultant & Entrepreneur. B. Tech in computer engineering & post graduate diploma in Marketing, Debajyoti has 18+ years of domain experience and successful track records in digital marketing services & digital marketing training with 500+ clients & 100K+ students in 165+ countries. He has been invited & felicitated by 25+ Top B Schools & universities including London Business School, AICTE ATAL FDP, UGC-HRDC, IIM Shillong, IIM ROHTAK, IIT KGP, IIT Guwahati, Calcutta University, Ranchi University, St. Xavier’s, Brainware, Techno India, JIS Group, Jaypee Group, Shikshayatan Foundation, IIEST Shibpur, Bhavan’s, ICFAI Business School, GITAM Deemed University, Swami Vivekananda Group of Institutions & many more. He has been awarded with more than 20 national awards and he has received notable media coverage. Learn more

 

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