Mr.Host is firmly against SOPA- the Stop Online Piracy Act.
SOPA is a bill that gives the U.S. Department of Justice unprecedented legal authority to effectively shut down local and foreign websites, that it deems enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.
While we support the stated goals of the bill, we think the bill as drafted exposes law-abiding internet and technology companies to all sorts of unknown liabilities, and threatens first amendment rights of US citizens- Not to mention privacy rights of internet users all over the world.
SOPA would allow judges to order U.S. internet services providers to block access to sites, order search companies like Google to de-index sites, and bar payment processors and online advertisers, like Paypal and Google, from doing business with these sites.
We believe this kind of legal reach is far beyond what should be allowed by any government body.
SOPA directly effects Mr.Host and our customers through it’s ability to order ISP’s to block sites that it believes are guilty of copyright infringement. Mr.Host, along with hundreds of other web hosting companies all over the world, offers shared hosting services to their customers. If a web hosting customer intentionally or un-intentionally uploads something to their site that is considered against SOPA, an order could be passed to all US ISP’s to block that web hosting company- effectively making all sites hosted with that company “disapear” to all internet users in the U.S.
These types of blocks will inevitably blackhole more than the intended target, which means internet users in the U.S. will not be able to access these sites, and site owners will not be able to do business with one of the largest markets in the world, effectively shutting them down.
The list of arguments against SOPA is growing every day, and the number of companies against SOPA is huge- yet the U.S. House of Representatives is still set to continue the debate after the winter break.
We here at Mr.Host urge all U.S. citizens and business owners to contact their local representatives and let them know you’re against it.