Definitely an attempt to control the internet.

"Right now, Congress is debating a law that would give them the power to censor the world's Internet -- creating a blacklist that could target YouTube, WikiLeaks and even groups like Avaaz!

Under the new law, our government could force Internet providers to block any website on suspicion of violating copyright or trademark legislation, or even failing to sufficiently police their users' activities. And, because so much of the Internet's hosts and hardware are located here in the US, their blacklist would clamp down on the free web for all of us in America and millions across the world."

I "believe", just my opinion, this is just one of many attempts to eventually shutdown Facebook, Youtube, etc... I think too many people are waking up to quickly, and this is an attempt to go after mainstream social media. They (PtB) claim it is to go after sites and shut them down, of the known smaller sites that are strictly out there for pirating. I think, it's an excuse to eventually go after the big boys and put an end to it already. They pass this law, it just opens the door is all it does, just like the Patriot Act.

the government wants as much information on people as possible so as to keep better track of them. people are not answering the censuses but everybody uses the internet. 2 + 2 = 4.

Well we all knew this was coming. This law has nothing to do with copyright. It is a law designed to stop individuals from posting footage which shows either Government officials doing wrong, or Law Enforcement Officers doing wrong. Or to stop alternative news sites such as Info Wars, And other alternative news sites from exposing the wrong doings by the Government as a whole.

This law is a smoke screen to stop individuals posting what the US Government does not want you to post.

It is unlikely there will be mass prosecutions, however you can expect youtube to take down related material.

I am not worried about mass prosecutions, what worries me is this is a major game changer. Youtube can't just easily take stuff down, they would have to verify literally everything that is put up before it can post. You will have sites like forums that won't let you imbed video anymore because they don't want to be in bed with anyone so to speak. Half the way we communicate, learn from each other, etc...is through video now. Who in their right mind is going to jeopardize their sites name, biz, etc...to continue to allow embedding? Not only that, but I think it drastically slows the learning curve down for all of us, especially those of us waking up or awake. What happens when they start going after people for telling others, "hey torrent this, or check this video out, you can find it here" because they can't embed it anymore? Now the sites are another police force to reckon with because they don't want to get caught up with people telling others how to get around this or the law. No more music or themes on sites, nothing but text or factual non-copyrighted material.

I think this just opens the door to more serious outcomes. Hollywood and Hollywood lawyers are the number one campaign contributors to the representatives that are sponsoring this bill. They want their students back, they don't want you learning from anyone else...they want your complete undivided attention.

Of course these are just my opinions, nothing factual