@Ted Clayton - It's going to be interesting to see how all this plays out. Indeed, we live in exciting times! We need to continue to speak out, speak often, and speak loud -- so that our freedom of speech & press is not censured.

The US Constitution allows Americans "freedom of speech" in that we are allowed to organize & speak out against our leaders & those who occupy office. It does NOT guarantee free speech across the board if it involves copyright infringement. That's a very serious matter.

Just like health-care reform proposals, the bills they are trying to pass to stop Internet piracy are lengthy, prepared by those who do not comprehend how business owners & entrepreneurs use the web (and social media) to promote their business, and the preparers do not rely on the Internet for their main source of up-to-date world information.

We feel they are, once again, going to WAY OVERSTEP our basic rights to conduct business in our everyday world marketplace.

According to the Laws of the Land, those who are deliberately breaking the law, flagrantly circumventing true copyright laws and, in essence, stealing others' intellectual property & work SHOULD be brought to justice. In full agreement with "Ted Clayton," it's "just wrong."

Conversely, to come up with an all-inclusive set of "do's & don'ts" for the entire Internet seems preposterous and doomed at conception. Government is not capable of regulating what they do not understand; as evidenced time & time & time again!

It's one thing to shut the doors of a company pirating music & movies for unjust gain. It's another thing entirely to cancel social media accounts and remove Wordpress posts because, let's say, someone has a "Black Eyed Peas" song in the background without permission from the record company.

We'll see how it plays out and hope to have have an active part, or a vote, in the matter. We don't want our business (My Positive Perspective) of helping others overcome adversity, to be hindered in our efforts to reach people in need...because of overzealous governmental regulations of the Internet.

What if we use the wrong music on a YouTube video? What if...social media sites & servers like Facebook, YouTube, Wordpress & others are forced into micro-managing accounts? Our target audience will be cut off at the knees; and all we're trying to accomplish online is helping others!

They always seem to "...strain out the gnat but gulp down the camel." If these Bills are passed, it will hurt small business owners for sure, and the BIG abusers of the system WILL find yet another way to keep making their money. *shaking my head*

This makes sense, "WordPress, and various communities built on the open & free Internet, should publicly speak out against the protection of outlaws. Otherwise, we are handing a ever more-menacing club to interests & powers, who will use it against us."

HOWEVER, there is another side of the debate that feels we ALL have the the right to communicate in whatever way we feel is necessary and it's wrong to be censured at all. Instead, they should just bust the main offenders & shut them down. I thought that was already happening with "Pirate Bay?" If they can do that, then why do they need to make up all these regulations anyway? Maybe they need to enforce the already existing Laws & just do their job(s) better?

Like a FB status: "IT'S COMPLICATED"