There's a heated debate about whether illegally copying an .mp3 file is equivalent to stealing a CD from a record-store shelf. For the purposes of this piece, let's assume that the industry lobbies are correct -- that stealing intellectual property is equivalent to shoplifting from a retailer.

The Stop Online Piracy Act is meant to help stop that kind of stealing and other problems besides. "Whether we're talking about copyright or trademark, software or American-made apparel, U.S. businesses are getting robbed and U.S. consumers are getting duped," one proponent told Congress. "You can still search for 'drugs without a prescription' and yield natural search results for scores of illegal on-line pharmacies. We still see legitimate ads being placed on illegal sites dedicated to offering infringing movies or music. And thousands of sites still offer counterfeit products, many of which affect the health and safety of consumers. These sites are easy to locate, and you can still use your credit card to obtain these products. This problem is not going to just go away on its own."

Thus the remedies proposed in the law.

Fight for the Future, a group opposing the legislation, does a good job laying out the particulars and articulating specific objections in this short video:

To sum up, the Stop Online Piracy Act goes after piracy by targeting not just copyright violators, but entities on the Internet with which they might interact. And the way the law is written, these other entities will be effectively forced to censor content not after piracy has been proven, but when it is merely alleged. "One infringing file or 'portion' (e.g. a forum thread) could be used as the basis to take down an entire website," Devin Coldewey writes at the blog TechCrunch. "That's a hell of a lever to have at your disposal, and the process for review is slow enough that it could easily be used as a perfectly legal kill switch for any site on the internet."

WHAT WE UNDERSTAND IN THE OFFLINE WORLD

After reading the bill, I thought about a story I reported on several years ago. It isn't a perfect analogy, but it is worth pondering. When the 210 Freeway opened, it was good for residents of Alta Loma, Calif., who could get to and from Los Angeles more quickly. But nearby bank branches had a problem. Suddenly it was easier to rob them and escape. A masked man could snatch a few thousand dollars, hop in his car, and be speeding away at 70 MPH in under a minute. It had taken half-an-hour to reach a freeway. The new infrastructure made it significantly easier to get away with stealing from the local banking industry! Yet no one thought that California's Department of Transportation was obligated to help catch the thieves using its network of high-speed roads.