Item — HN Reader

Something that occurred to me when reading this that had not occurred to me before.

This could open up a new channel for attacks against web sites. Forget about those that are just posting content with the intent of sharing. What about those that simply post/upload copyrighted content with the sole intent of bringing your site down.

Another thing that occurred, was that there is so much of this going on today, that unless people drastically change their habits, or courts are very selective with who they prosecute, every owner of every site on the web will end up in court.

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While the wording isn't set in stone yet, SOPA targets foreign entities, meaning the site has to be owned by someone outside the US. It also creates private rights of action, meaning individuals and corporations bringing their own suits in court, not just government prosecutors.

So if SOPA passed today, every site on the web won't end up in court, but a big rightsholder with good crawling technology like Getty (the stock photo company with a litigation machine already in place) has a whole new way to prosecute-en-masse... this time with the ability to cut off payments and advertising for domains that would've simply ignored their threats in the past.