Political Science - Coursework Example

SOPA and PIPA College: SOPA and PIPA Both Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PIPA) are public policy issues that make the law consistent. The government is entitled to policing any public policy in order to ensure that it is well implemented. Therefore, whenever public policies are not implemented, there is the possibility of violation of the policies at hand. However, in the case of SOPA and PIPA, it is a violation of rights (Shirky, 2012).

This is because the government dictates on the content being distributed to the public. Thus, denying the social media its freedom to air the content that is suitable for the public. The same applies to the content a person can upload on the internet since it will be monitored by the government and hence one is limited on the type and amount of content to share. Also, crucial information regarding the government is likely to be hidden from the public leading to people living in darkness.I agree with Shirky that both SOPA and PIPA are forms of censorship.

This is because the government is in verge of monitoring everything being distributed which in turns denies the social media the freedom it deserves in running its business. Besides, it is an infringement of freedom of speech to American citizens since one cannot air their thoughts freely (Shirky, 2012). The media companies would want such bills passed into law for two reasons. First, they will have the freedom to produce and share their content freely. Secondly, it is not the government that will police their material and thus they will not be directly answerable to any violation that they make.

Thus, the signing of the bill will affect the companies providing a way for media houses to create, produce and share their content. On the other hand, rejection of the bill will impact directly on media houses since they will have to directly answer to any violation. Either way, someone is going to be directly affected by the bill if signed or not signed. ReferencesShirky, C. (2012). Why SOPA is a Bad Idea. Retrieved from: < http://www.ted.com/talks/defend_our_freedom_to_share_or_why_sopa_is_a_bad_idea.html>