Call it life imitating art. Call it a cynical election year ploy for campaign cash. Call it a desperate Hollywood remake. But don’t call it over. Sources on Capitol Hill claim that, although last week saw the timely and bloody death of two bills whose interference with individual liberty was unparalleled in the digital age – SOPA and PIPA – the fight may not be over.

Many key journalists in the tech industry have already pointed out that SOPA and PIPA were, until the industry and American consumers got a hold of the bills, a “sure thing” set to pass without much, if any opposition from members of Congress. The indefinite delay, prompted by massive outrage and widespread protests last week, prompted a total reconsideration of the bill, with Marco Rubio and Congressional Republicans leading a firestorm of criticism and a mass exodus from the bill. Its worth noting, however, that one of the bill’s key sponsors, Democratic Senator Harry Reid, was quick to note that we haven’t seen the last of the bills.

“We live in a country where people rightfully expect to be fairly compensated for a day’s work, whether that person is a miner in the high desert of Nevada, an independent band in New York City, or a union worker on the back lots of a California movie studio,” he said in a statement posted by Games Industry (requires free account sign up.)

He went on to encourage other key senators to look into the proposed amendments to the bills, rehashing SOPA to make it more likely to pass if pushed through again.

Its worth noting that the bill’s backers – the MPAA, RIAA and a host of union thugs – are known for their persistence, whether its prosecuting unwitting grandmothers for Internet music “theft” or protesting Wisconsin governors who are trying to rescue their state’s financial well-being, and Americans should not expect them to back down any time soon. And with the amount of money and the future of Democratic party rule at stake in this next election, the MPAA’s, RIAA’s and unions’ deep pockets and ability to write huge campaign checks probably won’t be put at risk for something as silly as the rights of the American people.

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The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), currently the subject of hearings in the House Judiciary Committee, has generated interest far beyond the community of copyright lawyers.

To its proponents, SOPA is a critical addition to copyright law, necessary to help creative Americans protect their legitimate property rights from foreign attackers, and thus to preserve the numerous American jobs in our world-class creative industries.

To its opponents, SOPA is an unprecedented attack on civil liberties that threatens to destroy free speech, the Internet, and the thriving American technology sector—not to mention the many American jobs that it creates.

Who is right?  It turns out that they both are: SOPA will help copyright holders protect the rights that copyright law grants them by suppressing free speech and impeding the functioning of the Internet, with predictable consequences on American jobs.

This result is hardly an anomaly.

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The video sharing site YouTube.com recently started blocking access to countless parodies of the 2004 German movie Downfall, a critically acclaimed film that chronicles Adolf Hitler’s final days in a Berlin bunker.

The parodies take off from a powerful monologue by the great actor Bruno Ganz and the original joke version had Hitler being banned from XBox Live for bad behavior. Other examples feature Hitler trying to score Miley Cyrus concert tickets, counseling Conan O’Brien after losing a late-night slot to Jay Leno, and much more.

It’s understandable why Downfall’s production company, Constantin Film, might be upset that such a serious movie is being burlesqued, but pushing YouTube to ban the parodies is a terrible idea for at least three reasons:

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