An old piece of legislation is in the process of rearing it’s ugly head. Protect IP, formally known as COICA, is a bill that attempts to “counter the illegal online sale of counterfeit goods.” Sounds like a plan, right? The problem is, if the bill is passed it will allow law enforcement officials the right in meddle with the intricate architecture of the Internet and shut down certain domain name services. This will prove to be particularly problematic for Internet services like Google, YouTube, Facebook, and any start-ups wishing to enter the Internet market.

One of the many good things about these companies is that they provide a platform for users to obtain a wealth of information, unfortunately a small portion of those users are rights infringers. It’s a sticky situation. “I would be very, very careful if I were a government about arbitrarily [implementing] simple solutions to complex problems,” says Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google.

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