This man wants to change our Internet.
The Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, would give the Justice Department the power to punish websites that violate copyrights, much to the dismay of web companies and Internet users, including the Reddit and Tumblr communities, who argue that it’s a form of censorship. The bill was introduced in the House by Texas Republican Lamar Smith, who has not always been so good at following the rules he’s now championing, as Vice points out today: The image that was once used as a background on his official campaign website doesn’t appear to have credited the photographer, who even allows the use of his work with attribution under the Creative Commons license. To the gallows!
