Why President Obama May Sell-Out the Internet and Sign SOPA

Mike Masnick has written a chilling Dec. 27th, 2011 blogpost for techdirt, explaining why President Obama might just sign SOPA into law.

Opponents of SOPA - an innovation-killing Internet-censorship bill, that is backed by the big movie studios, old media and money and the AFL-CIO and opposed by almost all the major Internet players and pioneers as well as free speech and human rights advocates - may have been lulled into thinking that President Obama is a friend of the Internet and therefore he will ultimately do the right thing.

They may be wrong.

Mike Masnick does a great job of weighing the competing behind-the-scenes interests:

The Motion Picture Association of America ("MPAA") wants the power to shut down "rogue sites".

But free speech advocates and the people who created the Internet say SOPA goes way too far.

And inside government "the State Department is strenuously opposed to the bill [because]...it would do significant harm to their efforts to push internet freedom and openness around the globe."

While the Justice Department and ICE "would gladly support [their new powers under] SOPA"...

Ultimately, as Mike Masnick observes, the decision may boil down to the fundraising imperatives of an election year.

"Any bill that has the support of the MPAA and the AFL-CIO is red meat for [the President in an election year] when it comes to fundraising."

Conclusion?

"[T]he signals suggest pretty strongly that if the bill landed on his desk today, President Obama would sign it into law with little hesitation -- and declare it a victory for the economy and American jobs."

Before it's too late, you can sign this petition.