Letter: SOPA, PIPA push unsettling

Out of all the bills introduced in Congress, I can't think of any that are as infamous as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), which would have given Congress the power to block any representation of intellectual properties. They have become unsettling to a lot of sources, including sites like YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia and others, like even our own President Barack Obama.

Although I oppose these bills, I can respect what they tried to do: protect intellectual properties from being copied illegally, effectively making more jobs available in our country and continuing the flow of revenue to the original owners.

While being beneficial in some areas, the bills are not so kind to others, especially the Internet. If SOPA and PIPA ever saw the light of day, thousands of sites would be blocked by the national firewall, even for the smallest infringement. Because of this, many content-sharing sites would have no choice but to shut down, destroying more jobs than they seem to make and putting us in an even worse economic situation.

All in all, SOPA and PIPA have the opportunity to help our economy, but they also have the potential to destroy the Internet and its thousands of employees, therefore making our economy worse.

Zach Willert

Marysville