Opponents of the Stop Online Piracy Act wail that it will allow the U.S. government to shut down any website it doesn't like and will pave the way to unbridled censorship on the internet. But the U.S. government needs the power to restrict websites who break the law for the same reason it needs the right to put criminals in jail, and SOPA merely gives them this power. It doesn't allow the government to shut down any law-abiding website. The government gained the power to prosecute criminals when America was founded, but that didn't give it the power to put innocent people in jail. Similarly if SOPA passes, the government will gain the power to restrict access to criminal websites (such as those dedicated to illegal file sharing and copyright infringement), but not the power to restrict the honest people on the internet. The court system was created to make sure the government imprisoned only criminals, and the same system will protect innocent websites from being restricted. The internet wasn't around when America was founded, and so the American system has no power to restrict criminal activity online. The SOPA is intended to correct this shortcoming and to give the U.S. government the power to protect its citizens from internet criminals. How can anyone but a criminal have a problem with that?
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