Public Outcry ove the Stop Online Piracy Act - SAM VAN EICHNER, 3L - IPLS Co-President/Managing Editor

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has generated outrage amongst lay Internet users and Silicon Valley corporations alike. The proposed legislation was recently introduced in the House of Representatives, alongside the PROTECT IP Act, a similar proposal introduced in the Senate. To understand SOPA, some background on Internet mechanics is helpful. A server is basically a big computer. When an Internet user types in a domain name—www.facebook.com, for example—that domain name must be translated into a numerical IP address, which occurs by way of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) Domain Name System (DNS) server. Those servers communicate with one of a handful of DNS root servers, most of which are within the U.S. These DNS root severs are overseen by the Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the Department of Commerce (DOC). SOPA would permit the Department of Justice (DOJ) to commence actions, either in personam against “a registrant of a domain name used by a foreign infringing site [or] an owner or operator of a foreign infringing site,” or in rem “against a foreign infringing site or the foreign domain name used by such site.” If a court issues ISPs would have to “take technically feasible and reasonable measures to prevent access by its subscribers located within the United States to the foreign infringing site (or portion thereof) that is subject to the order.” ISPs would have to remove foreign infringing sites from their DNS servers, rendering those sites practically inaccessible. SOPA also creates a private cause of action whereby IP owners can sue ad networks and search engines and force them to block access to sites deemed infringing. SOPA stands in stark contrast to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That Act created a “safe harbor” for ISPs hosting infringing content, under which ISPs would not be liable provided they had no knowledge of specific instances of infringement. That safe harbor is expressly carved out in the SOPA, but would be rendered irrelevant once a court order brought the infringement to the ISPs attention. More troubling are SOPAs practical implications. Many claim SOPA will stifle innovation. Others predict a decrease in .com and .org registrations, and the loss of U.S. control over the Internet, as the SOPA would stir reactionary efforts to internationalize the DNS. Also a cause for concern is SOPAs enforceability. One could access foreign infringing sites even after they are removed from ISP DNS servers; the DNS server is essentially a phonebook, and just because a number isn’t in the phonebook, that doesn’t mean it can’t be found. As Albert Einstein said, “nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.”