SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) is a bill currently in the US Congress, with the stated goal of curtailing copyright infringement, but with the actual effects of setting up a government firewall to block out unwanted sites, and giving the US jurisdiction over foreign sites that have anything to do with infringement of US copyright.

It is repellent.

A Reddit user discovered a document [PDF] hosted by the Global Intellectual IP Center ("Global"), from before the introduction of SOPA, urging Congress to enact such a measure. Among those corporate sponsors is Nintendo, who is demonstrably and justifiably upset about piracy, and committed to taking all the wrong steps to stop it.

Other companies signing off in favor of this anti-"rogue site" legislation, in the interest of protecting their IP online include Sony -- Sony Electronics, Sony Music, and Sony Pictures, separately. EA is also listed, along with Rite Aid (what?) and Zippo (what?)

Okay, so you already know how we feel about this thing. If you feel the same way, you can write or call Congress. November 16 saw concerted "Stop Censorship" efforts (Tumblr black-barred everyone's dashboard in protest, for example), but you can, of course, still contact your representatives. If you're outside of the US, uh, cross your fingers and hope you don't lose all the US-based visitors to your sites.

[Image: Infographic from AmericanCensorship.org]