LiveJournal: Why We Oppose SOPA and PIPA
Since 1999, LiveJournal has been a safe harbor of self-expression and creativity, with the most substantial privacy policies of any social site. We believe the Internet must remain a place that is free to use, free to explore, and free to express.
This is why LiveJournal ardently opposes the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), two bills currently in discussion in the United States Congress; with PIPA up for committee vote this coming January 24. We understand there is good intent behind these two bills - they are, after all, designed to protect copyrighted and trademarked property. But the language of these bills is so vague that any intellectual property owner that feels its copyright has been violated can have a site taken down, without the normal due process of law. Based on this, a LiveJournal user could post content, even an icon, that contains copyrighted material, and the copyright owner could conceivably have LiveJournal - the entire site - taken down without any way for LiveJournal to address or correct the issue.
LiveJournal is a group of communities created, owned and operated by all of you. We have worked hard to uphold the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. We believe the DMCA, while not perfect, continues to be an adequate measure to fight piracy and copyright infringement. SOPA and PIPA are overkill that would have the effect of undermining our collective guarantee of freedom of speech. These two bills are about censorship, and LiveJournal is joining the fight to ensure these bills never come to pass.
We hope those of you in the U.S. will join us in our opposition to SOPA and PIPA by letting your local representatives know where they should stand on this issue.
For more information on SOPA and PIPA, please visit these sites:
This is why LiveJournal ardently opposes the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), two bills currently in discussion in the United States Congress; with PIPA up for committee vote this coming January 24. We understand there is good intent behind these two bills - they are, after all, designed to protect copyrighted and trademarked property. But the language of these bills is so vague that any intellectual property owner that feels its copyright has been violated can have a site taken down, without the normal due process of law. Based on this, a LiveJournal user could post content, even an icon, that contains copyrighted material, and the copyright owner could conceivably have LiveJournal - the entire site - taken down without any way for LiveJournal to address or correct the issue.
LiveJournal is a group of communities created, owned and operated by all of you. We have worked hard to uphold the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. We believe the DMCA, while not perfect, continues to be an adequate measure to fight piracy and copyright infringement. SOPA and PIPA are overkill that would have the effect of undermining our collective guarantee of freedom of speech. These two bills are about censorship, and LiveJournal is joining the fight to ensure these bills never come to pass.
We hope those of you in the U.S. will join us in our opposition to SOPA and PIPA by letting your local representatives know where they should stand on this issue.
- To contact your district’s member of the House of Representatives, go here.
- To contact your state’s Senators, go here.
For more information on SOPA and PIPA, please visit these sites: