Will the proposed bills threaten IMFDB?
 

I've been keeping up with the SOPA, the Protect IP and that other bill that if passed will vaguely give the government power to shut down sites for the sole reason that they have copyrighted images, or videos or even LINKS to sites that have copyright images used without permission and this would effectively by pass the fair use clause.

PROTECT IP is about what it calls an "ISDIA" ("Internet Site Dedicated to Infringing Activities") which it defines as a site which "has no significant use other than engaging in or facilitating copyright infringement, circumventing technology controlling access to copyrighted works, or selling or promoting counterfeit goods or services." SOPA only applies to things which are already recognised offences under the Federal Criminal Code.

IMFDB would be exempt on the basis that we are a site providing information and commentary, not just providing copyrighted material. In addition we have a two-point Fair Use argument; our images do not constitute the "heart" of the copyrighted works and therefore do not harm the copyright holder's ability to make money from them, and our images are provided for purposes of education, analysis and / or commentary.

It doesn't bypass Fair Use. It can't bypass Fair Use, since that law determines how the First Amendment interacts with copyright laws and voiding it would probably be unconstitutional. The two bills establish a framework for taking down sites which the Justice Deparment determines exist for the sole purpose of infringing copyright (ie warez / torrents / etc).

Apparently the SOPA bill does pretty much bypass due process and the fair use

Yeah, but that's as said by the sort of people who think the only reason the government hasn't actually broken into their house and raped them is that it would cut into their valuable drinking barrels of crude oil and cackling like Skeletor time.

It would also cut into their "come up with new ways to screw over the peasantry" time