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[Yosem Companys]

  Which tech companies back SOPA? Microsoft, Apple, and 27
others<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/11/17/which-tech-companies-back-sopa-microsoft-apple-and-27-others/>

17TH NOVEMBER 2011 by ALEX WILHELM<http://thenextweb.com/author/alexwillhelm/>
[image: 2011-11-17_1534]

After writing a rather lengthy and somewhat firey
post<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/11/16/sopa-is-an-easy-no-these-idiots-are-coming-for-your-internet/>
on
the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) yesterday, I realized this morning that I
didn’t know Microsoft’s position on the matter. As I edit our Microsoft
channel, I immediately sent off a query to the company concerning the Act.

To my surprise it took some time to hear back, and when I did get word the
response was ‘no comment.’ Obviously intrigued, I dug into the issue. As it
turns out, ‘no comment’ is Microsoft’s official position on SOPA. The
company has made no noise at all on the issue, other than what I would
wager is a rather conspicuous silence.

But Microsoft did
support<http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2011/05/25/microsoft-offers-its-support-for-the-protect-ip-act.aspx>
the
pre-SOPA Protect IP Act, something that SOPA did draw on heavily for its
roots. To quote the official page on the House
website<http://judiciary.house.gov/issues/issues_RogueWebsites.html>
: *“The Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261) builds on the Pro IP Act of 2008
and the Senate’s Protect IP Act introduced earlier this year.”* So we have
Microsoft supporting the intellectual ancestor of SOPA, but that’s
certainly not enough to say that the company supports SOPA outright.

We can, however, show that it does. And somewhat disingenuously, if I may.
You see, Microsoft is a major player in the Business Software
Alliance<http://www.bsa.org/>,
along with Apple and 27 other
companies<http://www.bsa.org/country/BSA%20and%20Members/Our%20Members.aspx>.
And the BSA supports SOPA. This is from a recent BSA
bulletin<http://www.bsa.org/country/News%20and%20Events/News%20Archives/en/2011/en-10262011-smithbill.aspx>
:

 The Business Software Alliance <http://www.bsa.org/> today commended House
Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) for
introducing<http://judiciary.house.gov/news/HR%203261%20Introduced.html>
the
“Stop Online Piracy Act” (H.R. 3261) to curb the growing rash of software
piracy and other forms of intellectual property theft that are being
perpetrated by illicit websites.

Yeah, how about that. In short, Microsoft is using a front group to throw
its support behind SOPA, while publicly saying and doing nothing, thus
avoiding our rancor and displeasure. Well, no, that won’t do at all.

The following list is every single member of the Business Software
Alliance. Each of them is complicit in supporting SOPA unless they publicly
distance themselves from the BSA on the issue. As the companies are,
presumably, dues paying members of the BSA, they are financially supporting
the enaction of SOPA.

   - Adobe
   - Apple
   - Autodesk
   - AVEVA
   - AVG
   - Bentley Systems
   - CA
   - Cadence Design Systems
   - CNC Software – Mastercam
   - Compuware
   - Corel
   - Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation
   - Dell
   - Intel
   - Intuit
   - Kaspersky
   - McAfee
   - Microsoft
   - Minitab
   - Progress Software
   - PTC
   - Quark
   - Quest
   - Rosetta Stone
   - Siemens PLM Software, Inc.
   - Sybase
   - Symantec
   - TechSmith
   - The MathWorks

To learn more about SOPA, and why you should be afraid of it, head
here<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/11/16/sopa-is-an-easy-no-these-idiots-are-coming-for-your-internet/>
.
 SOURCES: TOP IMAGE
CREDIT<http://chrisincyprus.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/mob_pitchforks.jpg>
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