It may soon not be too easy to download music from your favorite online sources. Two new proposed government acts might keep “intellectual property” out of reach for the masses. Read on for the details.
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), recently proposed by the House of Representatives and the Senate’s Protect IP Act are becoming a serious threat to those who enjoy online music. Both acts give permission to the government to blacklist any site they deem to be illegally offering songs and music videos.
It’s to be assumed the acts would be in place to protect the rights of musical artists and the like. However, for those who use the internet as their main listening source, this could mean the end of that. Even sites such as Youtube could pay the price. It would also mean the loss of the ability to post a sampling of an artist’s upcoming work. But with influential companies like the United States Chamber of Commerce, the American Federation of Musicians, and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) backing the proposals things are not looking good.
On the opposing side are brand names like AOL, eBay, Facebook, Google, and others. They collectively wrote an open letter to the House and Senate. If this succeeds, it could stop the acts from coming to fruition, but SOPA may have a very good chance due to its bipartisan support. They only way around it would be a veto from President Obama.
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