DorkShelf.com opposes the proposed US SOPA/PIPA bills. It is our belief, along with many others, that this legislation poses an imminent threat to a free and open internet and would do very little to curb piracy or copyright infringement.

Given the intentionally vague wording of the bills, the possibility of abuse of such laws and powers would be an inevitability. Sites like ours could be summarily blocked in the United States (and perhaps elsewhere due to the dangerous precedent such laws would establish) for alleged copyright violations with little or no due process. Violations could include linking to a trailer on YouTube or another video streaming site that has not be expressly authorized by a movie studio, or having a commenter unknowingly link to a site that contains pirated or copyright infringing material.

These draconian policies would literally frighten existing website owners and new entrepreneurs out of business due to the legal implications at play, stifling both innovation and creativity in the process.

We are not alone. There are many companies against SOPA/PIPA, including Google, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. Some of these sites are even going dark for today out of protest.

You can learn more about this proposed legislation at AmericanCensorship.org