The Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA has taken a major blow as one of its proponents withdrew its support for the measure that would let US authorities to seize the domain names of web sites suspected of copyright infringements. The Business Software Alliance or BSA decided that the proposed legislation has gone too far.
According to BSA president and CEO Robert Holleyman, the SOPA was made to punish the serious offenders. However he believes that the bill gives too much power to the authorities in limiting access to web sites.
SOPA would allow the US government to block web sites across the globe. This would affect not only the .com domain, but also .org and .net domain names, which at present are used by organizations outside the legal jurisdiction of the United States.
Holleyman added that free speech, due process, and privacy of individuals could be compromised. He maintained that communications and security of networks are vital for a healthy online economy. There were worries that some provisions of SOPA could be abused by the authorities.
BSA joins other organizations who realized that SOPA has gone too far. The European Parliament opposed the passing of the copyright infringement legislation. At least 60 civil and human rights groups wrote a letter to Congress asking its members to reject SOPA.
