H.R. 3261, the "Stop Online Piracy Act"

While the Stop Online Piracy Act has a lot of bipartisan support, it’s also garnered quite a bit of lawmaker opposition — particularly from California politicians, who are joining Silicon Valley opposition to the bill.

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on a proposed bill to combat online piracy. Five proponents were invited to testify, compared to just one opponent. The decision to invite just one dissenter -- Google -- to testify seemed designed not only to present a lopsided picture of the bill, but also to provide sponsor House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and his allies with a punching bag.

Is Google really saying payment companies should decide whose websites should be shut down?

The tech sector came out resoundingly this week against the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bipartisan bill that chips away at critical legal protections that foster online innovation and open communication. I point all this out because, if you were watching the House hearing on SOPA, you'd hardly guess there were so many concerned parties.

Here’s a quick cheat sheet on the issues around the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Google is being used as a “piñata” by lawmakers looking to blame the search giant for online piracy, said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA).

The House Judiciary Committee held an important hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act with a hugely stacked deck of witnesses -- Google's lawyer was the only one of the six to object to the bill in a meaningful way. And it wasn't hard to see why. This wasn't a hearing designed to elicit complex thoughts about complex issues of free speech, censorship, and online piracy; despite the objections of the ACLU, dozens of foreign civil rights groups, tech giants like Google and eBay, the Consumer Electronics Association, China scholar Rebecca MacKinnon, hundreds of law professors and lawyers, the hearing was designed to shove the legislation forward and to brand companies who object as siding with "the pirates."

China operates the world’s most elaborate and opaque system of Internet censorship. But Congress, under pressure to take action against the theft of intellectual property, is considering misguided legislation that would strengthen China’s Great Firewall and even bring major features of it to America.

Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Mike Honda (D-CA), all representing the Silicon Valley, oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill they argue would undermine legal protections that foster online innovation and create jobs.

Hollywood’s in a showdown over its TV shows, movies and music with an up-and-coming opponent in the Washington arena: the Silicon Valley gang. And that can only mean a huge payday for lobbyists.

Facebook, Google and other Silicon Valley Internet giants put aside their competitive battles and jointly warned federal lawmakers against anti-piracy legislation they fear ...

The director of the U.S. Copyright Office says that unless Congress continues to take serious steps to combat online piracy -- like the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) -- the nation's copyright system cannot be sustained.

The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is pushing back against critics like Google and Facebook who say that impending piracy legislation is a draconian mistake.