Business Software Alliance speaks out against SOPA
The Business Software Alliance, a trade organization for the IT industry, has changed its tune regarding the controversial and terrible Stop Online Piracy Act. Though it issued a press release in October "commending" House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith for introducing the bill, BSA CEO Robert Holleyman wrote in a blog post this week that the BSA does not support the bill as it is.
SOPA will have to "balance key innovation, privacy and security considerations with the need to thwart the threat rogue websites pose" before the BSA, which counts Microsoft and Apple among its members, will officially endorse it.
Holleyman said that "definitions of who can be the subject of legal actions and what remedies are imposed must be tightened and narrowed. Due process, free speech, and privacy are rights cannot be compromised." Furthermore, "BSA has long stood against filtering or monitoring the Internet," which is a focus of SOPA.
It's nice to see some major software companies take the right stance with regards to widespread censorship -- at least through their trade organization.
