The Stop Online Piracy Act has been making news recently, especially today as Wikipedia shuts down in protest of the bill. But while we’ve learned a lot about this particular piece of legislation, its author has gone uncovered.
Rep. Lamar Smith, famed anti-immigrant zealot, is behind SOPA, and it’s really no surprise. He’s built a reputation solely on the idea of going out of his way to limit people’s personal freedoms and stick his nose where it doesn’t belong.
In fact, the similarities between E-Verify, the bill that mandates an intrusive immigration verification system for all employees, and SOPA are easy to see:
- Both bills are roadblocks to what should be basic American freedoms—in one case the right to a free and open internet; in the other the right to work.
- Both bills are faulty in their approach—E-Verify is a system already riddled with errors that waste workers’ time and taxpayers’ money; SOPA is almost impossible to enforce due to the vastness of the Internet and the difficulty in proving intellectual property ownership.
- Both will harm the economy—E-Verify will keep perfectly capable people out of the workforce and costs small businesses thousands to implement; SOPA will cause limited innovation for e-commerce and online marketing.
As we know well, threats to our freedom are threats to our democracy. And it’s those same politicians who are looking to limit both, whether it’s in immigrants’ rights or Internet freedom.
Categories: comprehensive immigration reform, e-verify, economy
Tags: economy, immigration reform
