Wow. This may be the most
significant fallout yet from the hacker data dump of Sony emails. And no one saw it coming...
In a blog post Thursday,
Google said that the e-mails revealed a campaign that sought to stifle
free expression and to revive the Stop Online Piracy Act. That bill,
which died in Congress in 2012 after massive populist and tech industry opposition,
was criticized by many free expression advocates who said it would set a
dangerous precedent for censorship in its effort to stop access to
stolen material online.
Among the main concerns of opponents were
that SOPA would allow creation of an Internet "blacklist" that could be
abused to keep average people from finding sites that the government
found objectionable.
"We are deeply concerned about recent
reports that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) led a
secret, coordinated campaign to revive the failed SOPA legislation
through other means, and helped manufacture legal arguments in
connection with an investigation by Mississippi State Attorney General
Jim Hood," said Kent Walker, the company's general counsel and senior
vice president.
Google also launched a campaign Thursday asking users to "take action" by telling the MPAA to stop trying to revive "#zombieSOPA."
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