I am vehemently opposed to both acts. One of the essential elements of my campaign is the democratized means of communication that is helping to bring down dictators -- and allowing us all opportunities through user-generated cyberspace the means to create, innovate, and yield a greater voice with expanded freedoms. I have often said that, in this campaign, social media will help us topple the dictatorship of corrupt money in our government.

Many current elected officials seem to have little regard for due process, as reflected in these bills, as well as in the outrageous NDAA provisions allowing for indefinite detention. We must act in every way to protect the rule of law, including due process rights. Due process is one of the most important features of a free society. There are a multitude of problems with these acts that are characteristic of the positions of many, if not most, Republicans and Democrats in recent years. These bills are written in such broad terms that they effectively give corporations the purported legal justification to infringe on basic freedoms. For example, SOPA allows the Department of Justice and copyright holders to request court orders against those allegedly distributing copyrighted material without permission. These court orders can require search engines to omit search results of suspect websites, and require Internet service providers to block the site's DNS records. On top of that, they could force payment processors (credit card companies, Paypal, etc.) to freeze accounts associated with those accused websites. This would be devastating to the Internet, users, and to freedom generally. Initiatives like this have been implemented by some other countries, but the nature of these bills is akin to anti-freedom Internet policies of Iran and China. These bills (SOPA & PIPA) portend a further diminution of our freedom and democracy, ironically at a time when our government contends it is fighting wars to bring greater freedom and democracy to other nations.