My own personal opinion as a private person (meaning, not deviantART, Inc.'s official stance or my stance as an employee) is, screw those bills.
If passed and enacted. they would accomplish nothing but making the internet a shittier place. My view on this matter isn't a highly educated one, but it doesn't take much to predict what these proposed laws would cause.
History tells that people will always invent ways to circumvent restrictions on the consumer content they desire, whether it's legal and their right or not.
Copyright holders might sate their appetite to punish those who infringe their rights and harvest money, as they already do, but they're not going to prevent anything.
Piracy can not be stopped the way the governments and corporate entities are going about that.
No, I think those bills would accomplish quite the opposite of what they claim to want, which is, make copyright infringement in any shape or form even more attractive, because simply nobody likes their movies, music, games etc. loaded up with legal restrictions.
However, I highly doubt that large web properties such as Google, Facebook or Youtube etc. would get shut down, and neither deviantART for that matter.
Those bills are just as vague as possible because the entities behind them want as much freedom as they can get to make use of those bills.
If you're in the U.S.A., let your government and the media know what you think of SOPA and PIPA.
Join a SOPA and PIPA debate 
`TimberClipse's dedication to our community is without question. From developing helpful tutorials, to being a community leader in groups such as #fella and #deviant365, you can always find Zev connecting with all areas of our community in order to spread his infectious enthusiasm and inspiring positivity. We are delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2012 to `TimberClipse, congratulations! Read More
Sta.sh
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I've had art stolen, and reposted onto sites that made money off advertising from the amount of traffic they got. I'd rather have that happen than the internet be censored by people who don't understand it.
I think thievery of others hard work is wrong no matter how common it may be... there is NO excuses for it, NO justifications for it... that makes it acceptable.... the point is IT"S THIEVERY!
There has to be consequences for thievery... I don't think SOPA has it all "right" with how to deal with it, but hey it's new and needs time to reworked, the point is still a strong one and needs to be dealt with.
*the funny thing is how the big sites react to all this makes me as a "average joe online" even more concerned about it. Their reactions make me think there must be some HUGE profits and or profit lose attached to this for them... the average joe online really isnt going to be affected by this much... People seem to forget that copyright laws only apply to profits made off copyright materials... personal copies and or small fan stamps aren't going to be in trouble, nor fan art... it is based on SALES and PROFITS as well misrepresentations..
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Your "hey it's new and needs time to reworked" makes it seem very mild and almost innocent, while those bills are anything but that. The people behind those bill have no pure intentions.
The ways they propose to deal with such cases are just wrong.
I mean, it would be pretty insane to see them enacted in a physical setting, if, say, someone somehow put up a stolen artwork in a gallery without the owners approval or even their knowledge and the entire gallery would be shut down for that, punishing the gallery owners and visitors, instead of just removing the stolen artwork and holding the perpetrator responsible.
SOPA and PIPA shouldn't be supported just because they have some good parts, while other parts are completely terrible.
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Oliver
Customer Service Representative
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*they are not saying step one is shutting down an entire site for a individual copyright infringement... they are saying "IF" the site allowing the infringements "CONTINUES" to share said infringements then they "MAY" take action.
... all laws and bills have good and bad parts to them, I am not saying I support this one completely, but I'm not against the idea of punishing those who do wrong to others either. There has to be consequences to our actions no matter how ethereal they may seem to be.
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Everyone has something truly wonderful to offer the world, so lets work together and make our dreams a reality!
All my finished works! [link]
Check out my Zazzle store! [link]
YOU CAN'T SAY THAT THIS IS NOT YOUR PERSONAL SPACE AS A PAID STAFF YOU CAN'T SAY THIS!
That said, fully agree with you.
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"If you love Heaven so much, why do you even have a mortal life?" -`WilderWein77
"If you love god so much, what are you doing reading lolly's journal?"-*pahness
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Oliver
Customer Service Representative
Community Operations
Got a bug to report?
--
"If you love Heaven so much, why do you even have a mortal life?" -`WilderWein77
"If you love god so much, what are you doing reading lolly's journal?"-*pahness
"Fuck, I'll get a well with his name on it tattooed on me." *jierumi
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