Anyone from outside the US can safely ignore this post, though the details may provide a scary glimpse of what may be coming in your fair countries as well. I try not to get into politics too much, but as this bill could effect the livelihoods of several of our readers I felt this was worth discussing. I may not be following the right people on twitter, but I have not heard much discussion of the bill outside some of my libertarian-leaning friends. In short, a bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives that is intended

To promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes.

You can see the full text of the bill at OpenCongress. The language of the bill is very vague (the cynic in me suspects intentionally so) but seems it would grant fairly sweeping powers to the government (and to ‘qualifying plaintiffs’) when it comes to dealing with alleged perpetrators of copyright infringement.

If you don’t have time to wade through it, you might be interested in what the Electronic Frontier Foundation has to say. Or maybe Justin Bieber’s take will be more to your liking. Mike Masnick has also had quite a bit to say, including an open letter to Chris Dodd that’s co-signed by some prominent internet developers and venture capitalists.

That’s all I really have to say. I strongly believe anyone who works in the information technology industry should read as much as they can about this bill, and form their own opinion. And if it’s not a favorable opinion, you can participate in American Censorship Day on ¹¹⁄₁₆.