[the-cakeboss]

Sure, but then again, so is Google's, Wikipedia's, Reddit's, Mozilla's, The Pirate Bay's, Torrentfreak's etc...

While I do believe Mr. Sherman isn't coming from the best of places, I think that there was quite a large amount of misinformation coming from various interested parties, and I have always felt comparing SOPA with China or even censorship is nothing more than alarmist rhetoric.

[malandrew]

I think it is hardly alarmist rhetoric. It's not particularly easy for sites to be shut down under the current rules, but it's far from impossible. DaJaz1.com was shut down by the ICE for over a year unjustly, with almost no recourse for the owner and not one was held accountable.

If that kind of abuse can happen now, it is most certainly not hyperbole that we will see a LOT more of these injustices happen by taking due process out of the courts and putting it into the hands of the copyright industry.

Slippery slopes usually are, except when lawyers get involved. I wish I still had the link, but I once read an extremely informative essay on the impact of lawyering on the erosion of civil liberties, especially when corporate law is involved. There is simply too much money supporting the time and effort of corporate law to the benefit of companies and detriment of citizens, civil liberties and the commons. Heck, copyright terms now extend beyond the life of the author. If that's not proof of a slippery slope, I don't know what is.

[adrusi]

It's true that by the end of the fight, SOPA and PIPA were drifting farther from their original policy of privatized censorship, and the messages from various sites didn't adapt as much as they could have.