Irony Alert: Congressman Who Wrote SOPA Violated Copyright Law

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Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images

Lamar Smith (R-TX), the chief sponsor of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), cares very much about holding copyright violators accountable for their actions — except, apparently, when it comes to himself.

Jamie Lee Curtis Taete over at VICE did a little digging and found an archived version of Lamar Smith’s official website. The pretty picture in the background? Apparently Smith didn’t attribute it to DJ Schulte, the photographer who took it.

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Schulte told VICE:

“I do not see anywhere on the screen capture that you have provided that the image was attributed to the source (me). So my conclusion would be that Lamar Smith’s organization did improperly use my image. So according to the SOPA bill, should it pass, maybe I could petition the court to take action against http://www.texansforlamarsmith.com.”

It doesn’t seem like a huge violation, but that’s the point; if SOPA passes, who knows how minor infractions like this will be handled. Taete is now on a SOPA hypocrite witch hunt, asking users to comb through the list of SOPA supporters to find more examples of deliciously ironic copyright violations. Good hunting, kids.

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Disclosure: Time Inc. parent company Time Warner supports SOPA legislation.