What Is SOPA, Why It Matters, and Top Websites Fighting Back

posted on Jan 18 by Roseanne in the Disability News, Interesting Links, Opinion and Discussion category

If you’ve been on the Internet at all today, you may have noticed a few things that are a bit out of the norm. Google has a giant blackout bar for its logo, Wikipedia, Mozilla and several hundred other sites display blacken home pages, and “On Strike” pages are popping up all over Facebook.

So why is this happening? It is all because of two bills currently under debate in Washington. SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, is a bill introduced in the House of Representatives in October. A similar bill, PIPA, the PROTECT IP Act, is in the Senate. The aim of both these bills is to fight the online piracy of copyrighted materials like movies. In order to fight piracy outside the U.S., the bills seek to cut off access to sites that host these materials or in any way provide services to them. And the far-reaching arm of SOPA and PIPA is what is causing all the commotion on the internet today.

Both supporters and opponents of the bills agree that online piracy is a bad thing. Its backers, which include media companies and Hollywood industries, would like to stop media piracy on the Internet. The bills target overseas websites that cannot be otherwise controlled by U.S. law. But opponents of SOPA and PIPA counter that the bills will lead to widespread censorship on the net, especially because they do not provide an adequate process for accused sites to fight allegations. The result, they say, would be an immediate, drastic shutdown of many sites that have become part of our daily lives. In the words of Google’s public policy director Bob Boorstin: “YouTube would just go dark immediately. It couldn’t function.”

Detractors also point out that the bills fundamentally misunderstand the paradigm shift in the way media such as music or movies are shared and marketed today. One notorious example of an activity the bill would criminalize is the YouTube videos that turned Justin Bieber into a famous pop star. The fact that he posted video of himself singing covers of copyrighted music, opponents of SOPA and PIPA contend, means he could be prosecuted as a felon – a possibility that is disturbing to anyone who has posted a birthday party or talent show online.

The White House has already come out against SOPA and PIPA, and the bills have lost some of their key supporters in Congress. Websites are hoping that today’s demonstrations will help turn public opinion – and leaders in Congress – away from these bills. What is your opinion on these two bills? Although some of their websites are down due to high traffic today, you can find contact information for your senators and representatives at http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml. Call and let them know your opinion on the two bills.

A Few Sites Taking Part in the Blackout: