Graphic Policy

It was reported today by GamePolitics that along with a few other organizations Marvel Entertainment and it’s parent company Disney both support the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that’s currently being debated in the House of Representatives.  The legislation is widely opposed by those in the technology field and people of all different political persuasions as it’d stifle free speech and turn average citizens into criminals.

Among those who support SOPA: Marvel Entertainment, News Corporation, Go Daddy, Disney Publishing Worldwide, Gospel Music Association, and some odd support from unions such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). Law enforcement also seems to think SOPA is a good idea: the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) as does lobby Americans for Tax Reform.

Since that article ran GoDaddy has reversed their position based on the pressure of boycotts.

The legislation is broad in it’s current wording and would make it easier for copyright holders to bring lawsuits against infringing websites and shut down the flow of money to them.  When Congress comes back into session we’ll have a much longer post as to how this legislation is broken and why it needs to be stopped.  This legislation threatens fansites and the very idea of user generated content.

You can learn more about the legislation right now and take action here.

We’ve reached out to Marvel for comment.

Full disclosure: Brett consults for the ECA, the parent organization of GamePolitics and is working against SOPA

Tags: disney, marvel, piracy, sopa, stop online piracy act

This entry was posted on December 23, 2011 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Random. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.