Graphic Artists Guild Changes Mind: Withdraws SOPA Support

from the good-for-them dept

It seems that many of the supporters of SOPA blindly signed on thinking things like "gee, protecting copyrights sound good," but without looking at the details (or recognizing the implications). The latest to change their position is the Graphic Artists Guild (sent in by Ross Pruden), which has put out a statement saying that, after hearing from a number of concerned members, it no longer supports SOPA:

We have been closely following online anti-piracy legislation since we submitted a Comment Letter to the study conducted by Victoria Espinel, the Intellectual Property Enforcement Commissioner, in 2010. We supported the IPEC’s recommendations in her 2010 report. The “Stop Online Piracy Act” has different terms that we can no longer support.

We are concerned that the bill may have unintended consequences that may do more harm than good.

At this time, we are withdrawing our support for SOPA. We don’t see the Committee making significant changes during the mark-ups that would narrow the scope and process outlined in the bill that so many of you are concerned about. We’re doing our best, watching out for you.

The key point is that a big part of what caused them to change their minds was that they heard from many members questioning the decision to publicly support the bill:

We further want to thank everyone who has emailed or Tweeted the Guild expressing dissent. Your comments helped us decide to take another look at the bill and to withdraw our support at this time. For the record, we have not spent a dime on any lobbyist in Congress for this bill.

Looks like all that hyped up "support" for the bill continues to crumble.

Filed Under: graphic artists, pipa, protect ip, sopa
Companies: graphic artists guild