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If we use non-US domain names, DNS and webhosting will we avoid these laws if any of them come to pass?

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if your are not target US visitors, for non US domain and non US hosting, you can ignore these laws – Eric Yin Apr 4 '12 at 19:35
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@EricYin the intent of SOPA and PIPA is to extend US enforcement's reach globally. – toomanyairmiles Apr 4 '12 at 21:44
@toomanyairmiles only when infringe US copyright or other right, then use a way to stop US visitor reach the website ( this might cause the website totally down ) – Eric Yin Apr 5 '12 at 1:59
@Eric Yin: There's no point in doing that. SOPA/PIPA-type laws are intended to blacklist foreign-hosted websites that infringe or purportedly infringe copyrights. If having your site cut off from the U.S. doesn't affect you, then you don't need to worry about those laws. But if it does effect you, then blocking U.S. visitors yourself is essentially doing the exact same thing. So what would that achieve? – Lèse majesté Apr 5 '12 at 10:40

1 Answer

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SOPA is specifically designed to be used against foreign websites violating American owned copyrights and trademarks, as is PIPA, so no matter where you host, if your site contains content owned by US copyright holders then they may apply to you - even if the site itself is not available to US users.

The former is a US House of Representatives bill, the latter a senate version. If both pass their provisions will be merged into a single bill and voted on again before being sent to the president for signature or veto so it's hard to say how to avoid them until the final bill is voted on.

I can't speak to what CISPA's intent is, but most of these acts are designed to give US (or other countries) law enforcement global reach where copyright or trademark is concerned.

I'm not a lawyer in any jurisdiction, this isn't legal advice, it's opinion.

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