What are PIPA and SOPA? Why should you oppose them?

You may have heard of PIPA and SOPA lately. Even though they are US Bills, their acceptance as law will affect everyone who uses the Internet. Here is a video that will help summarise the issue.
I think most of us agree that the musicians, artists, writers and everyone else who work to provide the music, film, books and many others that we consume should be rewarded for their efforts. However, this is not the contention between those who support and oppose these legislations. I personally oppose these legislations because of the following:

• The method of control it uses is simply to make it hard to recognise the domain name only. Those who know the IP number of the domain name (which is quite easy to get with many tools online that provide this conversion) can simply type the IP number of the domain name to get to the files they need to get to.
• It is worrisome that entire websites can be shutdown due to the action of one user. Websites like Facebook, Google, Wikipedia, Twitter, eBay and many others can be shut down because one user, clueless about copyright, uploads a picture of a flower they found on the Internet?
• I'm not too clear on this but it seems to me that the burden on website owners seems highly impractical. These bills seem to propose that you can only link to websites that do not have any material that infringes on someone else's copyright. Before you link to a site, are you seriously expected to have access to each of that website's files and inspect them to make sure that each of their files are complying with the copyright laws before you can link to it?
• These bills seem to increase the cost of doing business (legal and compliance costs) for everybody and that cost will eventually be passed on to the consumer in the end. Therefore, the end result would simply be higher costs for consumers and put in place a barrier to entry. It stops entrepreneurs and small business owners due to increased start up costs. All we will have again, is a world dominated by bigger and bigger companies, therefore reducing competition. The effect on Piracy will be likely to be minimal but everyone else will be worse off.
• We must also consider what would happen when other countries follow the US and eventually pass on similar laws. With so many examples of Governments abusing their power to repress freedom of thought, these type of laws will inevitably be used to censor the Internet. This would be tragic. We all want the Internet as a tool to find useful, relevant and accurate information.

For a while, it did seem that these two Bills were to become law, but after Internet citizens were educated about the issue and protested, their passing seem unlikely at this moment. It would be of no surprise however, if we see them resurface in some form or another. It is still important to remember our list of objections so we can ensure each item is addressed when new versions of similar legislations are introduced.

Market overview for Friday 13th January 2012

Currencies

The euro on Friday dropped to its lowest against the U.S. dollar in nearly 17 months and tumbled to an 11-year low versus the yen, pressured by talk of a downgrade in the credit ratings of several euro zone countries later in the session.

A senior euro zone government source said Standard & Poor's is set to downgrade the ratings of euro zone countries, but not Germany's.

This was later confirmed by French Finance Minister Francois Baroin, who said France and other euro zone countries have been warned that it would be downgraded by S&P.

The euro plunged to a low of $1.26240, its weakest level since late August 2010. It last traded at $1.26641, down 1.3 percent on the day. The euro was on track for its third straight weekly loss.

The single euro zone currency also fell to 97.200 yen, its lowest since 2000 and last changed hands at 97.336, down 1.1 percent.

Losses in the euro propelled the dollar index to its highest since mid-September 2010 at 81.784. It was last 81.548, up nearly 1 percent on the day.

The dollar, meanwhile, was 0.3 percent higher against the yen at 76.900 yen.


Energy

Oil prices fell on Friday, posting a loss for the week, as anticipation of downgrades by Standard & Poor's of several euro zone countries countered the supportive effect of anxiety about Nigerian strikes and Iranian threats to shipping.

After the U.S. stock market close and oil price settlements, the credit ratings agency did lower ratings for France, Italy, Spain and others in the European single-currency bloc, though it left Germany's AAA rating intact.

Ahead of its contract expiration on Monday, Brent February crude fell 82 cents to settle at $110.44 a barrel. It fell intraday to $109.71, just above its 100-day moving average of $109.69, after retreating from a $112.50 high.

U.S. February crude fell 40 cents to settle at $98.70 a barrel, having swung from $97.70 to $100.19. For the week, U.S. front-month crude lost 2.82 percent, wiping out the previous week's 2.76 percent gain.


Precious metals

Gold fell 1 percent on Friday, after the dollar surged against the euro and fears about an imminent credit downgrade of euro zone countries prompted bullion investors to take profits on the recent rally.

Spot gold was down 1 percent at $1,633.90 an ounce. It was still up about 5 percent so far this year, thanks to buying by investors re-entering the market after a 10 percent drop in December.

U.S. gold futures for February delivery settled down $16.90 an ounce at $1,630.80.

Silver was down 2.5 percent at $29.51 an ounce. Spot platinum was down 0.7 percent at $1,481.24 an ounce.

Spot palladium was down 0.2 percent at $635.22 an ounce.


Stock indices

U.S. stocks dropped on Friday, snapping a four-day winning streak after news reports that Standard & Poor's would downgrade credit ratings on several euro-zone countries.

Friday's slide came as investors' focus shifted back to the euro zone's debt crisis.

The Friday selloff shows Europe's debt problems can still make U.S. investors skittish. However, it is notable that the major U.S. stock indexes finished well off the day's lows.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 48.96 points, or 0.39 percent, to 12,422.06 at the close.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 6.41 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,289.09.
The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 14.03 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,710.67.

Investors will look to earnings next week for insight on how the euro zone's debt woes may affect profits.




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