Two bills are making their way through Congress right now that pose a danger to the innovation that makes transparency possible on the internet. The bills – the PROTECT IP Act and Stop Online Piracy Act – have the legitimate goal of lessening theft of copyrighted material, but in effect both bills would undermine some of the core online freedoms that have enabled the important democratization of expression that characterizes today’s internet.
While Covestor is regulated by the SEC as a financial advisor and is not therefore the sort of open, user-generated content site that would be most directly impacted by the legislation, the spirit of our company and our mission are very much in line with those sites. We believe that a free and open internet enables the discovery of extraordinary portfolio managers, just as it enables the discovery of musical, artistic and intellectual talent outside of traditional media channels. We all benefit from the power of the uncensored net to enrichen our lives through talent discovery.
For this reason, we stand together today with online innovators such as Google, Facebook and Twitter in opposing these two bills, and urge you to learn more about the matter from the following sources:
- American Censorship Day
- Protect Innovation: Preserve the Information Economy
- Video from Fight for the Future:
PROTECT IP Act Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.
Asheesh Advani, CEO of Covestor
