SWA13

Issue 1- Bobs vs Toms
a)Toms is a well-known brand of shoes that are also part of a charity effort- for every pair that is purchased, a poor child gets a free pair of shoes. Skechers released a brand of shoes called Bobs which essentially copy the idea, down to the shoes being very similarly designed.
b) The controversy is the fact that Skechers is capitalizing on an idea that someone else came up with by changing the name, and whether or not this should be considered theft of intellectual property.
c) I am of the belief that Bobs is essentially a theft and should not be allowed to operate.
d) I would like to learn if there is a side to this story that I have not heard that changes the way I see things.

Issue 2- PETA
a)People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an activist group for animal rights, and they have employed many tactics over the years that some consider to be extreme.
b)Peta2 is the young adult division of PETA, which is often seen on college campuses trying to convince people to be vegetarians. The controversy is whether or not the methods that Peta2 uses are too extreme for what they are trying to accomplish.
c) I am a firm believer that Peta2 is much too strong-armed in their tactics.
d) I would like to learn if there is more to Peta2 than just what I have seen, and if they might actually have some positive aspects to their campaign.

Issue 3- SOPA
a) SOPA is a bill currently being reviewed in the US House of Representatives that would give much more power over the Internet to the US government.
b) The controversy is whether or not this bill would violate basic rights set down in the Constitution by allowing the government to censor essentially anything they wanted to on the Internet.
c) Right now I am against this bill because I believe it violates some of the rights given to us by the First Amendment.
d) I would like to learn if there is more to this bill than the people against it have claimed, and whether or not it actually is unfair to the common people of the US.