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The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to debate and vote on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA today at 10 am EST. SOPA, sponsored by Texas Congressman Lamar Smith, ostensibly targets foreign “rogue” sites that distribute US content in China and elsewhere, among other things. The version of SOPA to be voted on tomorrow has been amended to appease, although unsuccessfully, the bill’s many critics. Opposition has been spearheaded by cyber giants like Google and Facebook, who claim the bill would seriously hamper internet functionality. Proponents of SOPA like Disney, Viacom, Sony and quite notably the Motion Picture Association of America (now headed by Sen. Chris Dodd), have justified their positions under the banner of American job security and intellectual property rights. However, companies on both sides fear a plummeting of their profits should their respective efforts not come to fruition. An alternative bipartisan bill sponsored by Congressmen Darrell Issa (R-California) and Ron Wyden(D-Oregon) has been drafted and will be presented to Congress next Tuesday for consideration. The bill known as the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN), would allow the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take on online infringement cases instead of the Federal Court System. Amidst the bedlam created around SOPA, the Obama administration has remained virtually silent on the matter, with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton barely making a passing remark in support of limiting government control over the internet during a speech at the Hague last week. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has been among the many vocal critics of the bill, making a prominent call for a “public uprising” and threatening to shut down the English language version of his internet institution in protest. In October, the Italian language version of Wikipedia sported criticism of proposed Italian legislation that would have potentially curbed internet freedom. Wikipedia and other grass-roots opponents to SOPA hope that such actions, combined with calls and emails to government officials will send a clear message to lawmakers and permanently kill the bill.

GUEST: Holmes Wilson, co-founder of Fight for the Future, an advocacy organization against internet censorship

Find out more about the Stop Online Piracy Act at www.fightforthefuture.org and www.americancensorship.org.