Rep Power: 497

The U.S. Congress is embroiled in a heated de-bate over the Stop On-line Piracy Act (SOPA), pro-posed legislation that sup-porters argue is needed to combat online infringement, but critics fear would create the "great firewall of the United States."

SOPA's potential impact on the Internet and development of online services is enormous as it cuts across the lifeblood of the Internet and e-commerce in the effort to target websites that are characterized as being "dedicated to the theft of U.S. property."

This represents a new standard that many experts believe could capture hundreds of legitimate websites and services.

For those caught by the definition, the law envisions requiring Internet providers to block access to the sites, search engines to re-move links from search results, payment intermediaries such as credit card companies and PayPal to cut off financial support, and Inter-net advertising companies to cease placing advertisements.

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