It's a very interesting topic.
I think all governments would like more control and technology provides many ways to get it.
Why do they want more control over what the populace does? Firstly perhaps to be able to tax people then perhaps for crime fighting purposes. In any case knowledge is power, as they say.
It is interesting to note how at first an idea may sound silly, wrong or even outrageous but the more exposed we are to the idea the more it worms its way into our heads and then suddenly we think 'oh, perhaps this idea is not so bad after all' and I suppose that's how advertising works. The Comfort Boot springs to mind, it is a warm comfy boot that you put both feet in while watching TV to keep you warm
Here is another example. I think we will all agree that crash helmets are good for motorcycle riders, after all statistics will state that you have more chance of survival if you are wearing one while involved in a crash.
In some countries they are in the last phases of making the wearing of helmets mandatory for cycle riders, this too may seem like a good thing. The more you think about it the more logical and good it sounds.
What about in the future if they introduce the mandatory wearing of crash helmets for pedestrians?
At the moment that idea seems ludicrous but let it simmer and roll around in your mind for a while and it won't sound so stupid, after all I'm sure they can come up with statistics that state that any pedestrian walking in or close to traffic will have a greater chance of survival when involved in a traffic accident if they are wearing a pedestrian crash helmet and anyone seen walking alongside traffic not wearing a helmet will be subject to prosecution and a fine.
The problem is that the freedoms that we take for granted today are being slowly eroded and in a one-way fashion, like the arrow of time, more and more laws and regulations are made but they are never un-made.
Soon we will need to compile a long list of things that you mustn't do that we can give to a time traveller from the past just so that they can walk down the street without breaking any laws.
In Oxford, England they have just decided that taxi drivers must pay for and install equipment that will record the driver and passengers in video and audio. Yes audio too, so the passengers conversations will also be recorded.
Recording will start when the engine is turned on and continue for thirty minutes after the shift.
Big brother anyone?
It is almost inevitable that we, the lowly populace won't get away with the freedoms that the internet currently gives us for much longer.
Big brother is already watching, you may one-day find yourself in court where the prosecutor says 'we have requisitioned your internet history, can you tell me about this file that you sent in 2005 to a person in asia?'
Scary.
SOPA may be shoved in under the pretext of protecting innocent hard working artists who are being usurped out of their hard-earned wages but what other purposes will it fulfil for Big Brother?
What unforeseen effects will it have on our currently unrestricted internet freedoms?
We've all heard of the 'Great FireWall of China'
Are we headed for the same fate?
IanMc
This is just a taste of what the SOPA bill will do should it pass. 
