Intellectual Property

Technology is now the foundation to any society and in America; digital products (mp3 files, videos, books, etc.) are protected as intellectual property. Theft of any intellectual property would have similar (and in some cases more severe) consequences as stealing a car or shoplifting, however, some countries that fall behind in the development of intellectual property can easily steal digital products and produce them for a much cheaper and easier rate of production. One such country is China, which has indirectly stolen billions of dollars for the American economy by either replicating or developing products that America invented. America has tried to engage the Chinese to try to stop such theft, but while doing so may have surpassed civil liberties that are constitutional to all American citizens. The United States needs to ensure safety of intellectual property, while at the same time protecting the rights of the American people. By allowing overzealous amounts of regulation on the Internet would be unconstitutional.

The most detrimental forms of Internet piracy do not happen within American borders; instead, they occur from overseas countries, like China (London, 2011). This causes the American economy to lose billions of dollars. In reaction to the piracy issue, the United States approved the Protect IP Act, which creates new tools to disrupt Internet piracy. The bill defines a website that participates in Internet piracy as something with “no significant use other than engaging in, enabling, or facilitating” the illegal copying or distribution of copyrighted material in “substantially complete form” (London, 2011). There is no question that the Protect IP Act limits constitutional rights, while another issue occurs w...

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