SOPA debate: Who’s involved and what are the stakes?

A look at the politicians, companies and lobbying groups involved in the dispute over Stop Online Piracy Act.

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What is the Stop Online Piracy Act? As Brad Plumer reports, "At a basic level, SOPA -- and its Senate analogue, the Protect IP Act -- would enable copyright holders and the Justice Department to get court orders against sites that 'engage in, enable, or facilitate' copyright infringement. That could include, say, sites that host illegal mp3s or sites that link to such sites (the revised House bill focuses primarily on foreign sites like, oh, Pirate Bay). Courts could bar advertisers and payment companies such as PayPal from doing business with the offending sites in question, order search engines to stop listing the accused infringers, or even require Internet service providers to block access entirely. The bills contain other provisions, too, like making it a felony to stream unauthorized content online."

John Adkisson / Reuters

The bill was introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex).

Dennis Brack / Bloomberg

The movie industry in Hollywood is one of the key groups that has backed SOPA and/or PIPA. As Plumer reports, "The bills garner staunch support from groups that rely on copyright, such as the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, which has been convinced that online piracy cost jobs."

/ Associated Press

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia held a blackout of its Web site on Jan. 18 to demonstrate its disapproval of SOPA. Reddit and Boing Boing also participated in the blackout. Other companies did not completely cut off their sites, but instead posted anti-SOPA and anti-PIPA messages on their homepages.

Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images

Twitter has been an opponent of SOPA but did not participate in the blackout. Hayley Tsukayama reports, "In a tweet reply to O’Reilly Media’s Alex Howard Monday, Costolo said that 'closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish,' " referring to suggestions that Twitter lacked the backbone of the other services by not shuttering its virtual doors in protest. Costolo followed up by saying, “Not shutting down a service doesn’t equal not taking the proper stance on an issue. We’ve been very clear about our stance.” Instead of pulling down the micro-blogging service -- which many people use to run their businesses, organize activities and communicate important information -- Costolo said the company will look into how it can use the platform to encourage discussion about the bills.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

On Jan. 12, the White House waded into the SOPA debate, posting a statement that said, "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet."

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

Web company Yahoo quietly quit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2011 over the trade group's support of the legislation.

Mark Lennihan / AP

Google has also threatened to pull out of the Chamber of Commerce because of disagreements over SOPA. On Jan. 18, Google's homepage features a redacted version of its logo and a link to more information about its opposition to the anti-piracy bill.

PAUL SAKUMA / AP

In November, eBay joined with eight other tech companies to take out a full-page ad in the New York Times expressing their opposition to SOPA.

Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg

The American Civil Liberties Union has spoken out against the anti-piracy legislation. The advocacy group wrote on its blog, "Of course we should try to do something to protect original online content from those who would try to steal such works for their own profit. But we must also do whatever we can to make sure ALL online content gets the protection of the First Amendment, which states that 'Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.' Unless both concepts are given equal attention, any law attempting to protect copyrighted material will either fail or be ineffective."

/ Associated Press

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has backed a bill that would serve as an alternative to SOPA. As Brad Plumer reports, that bill "would focus on curbing the flow of money to foreign sites dedicated to copyright infringement, but would be considerably narrower."

Harry Hamburg / AP

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., posted a message on his Facebook page on Jan. 18 that he no longer supported SOPA. He had been one of the measure's key proponents on Capitol Hill.

Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP

On the day of the SOPA protests, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner commented on the debate. “Listen, this bill is in committee,” Boehner told reporters. “They’ve had a number of hearings. This is going through a markup. And it’s pretty clear to many of us that there’s a lack of consensus at this point. And I would expect that the committee would continue to work to try to build a consensus before this bill moves.”

Joshua Roberts / BLOOMBERG

On Jan. 18, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote this anti-SOPA message on his Facebook page: “The internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world. We can’t let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the internet’s development. Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet.”

/ Bloomberg

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