How do SOPA and PIPA play into all this?

Legally, they don't. Both the "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA) and the "PROTECT IP Act" (PIPA) are just bills - not laws - which have currently been put on hold, after a mass online blackout against these pieces of legislation riled a surge in public outcry.

But let's assume for a moment that SOPA/PIPA still become law - which technically remains a possibility; what then?

SOPA and PIPA specifically target "foreign rogue websites."
Were either (or, more likely, a combination of both) to become law, websites that meet this description could be forcefully (or voluntarily) blocked by US-based Internet service providers, de-indexed from search engines, and have their sources of revenue strangled.

Because MegaUpload had servers house on US soil, however, it was considered simply a "rogue website" - even though its base of operations was officially in Hong Kong, and its founder was not a US citizen.
Therefore, the Federal Bureau of Investigation operated under the conclusion that it had legal authority to go after the company and its executives.

Posted: 8:35:20 AM  

These witnesses, and the dead native leaders of our FRD, were instrumental in publicly naming the churches and government of Canada as being guilty of crimes against humanity.
And they have all paid the ultimate price for doing so.

Posted: 8:29:49 AM  

Posted: 8:17:05 AM