Posted on 18. Jan, 2012 by Argo Blue in News
On January 18, 2012, Wikipedia and many other high-traffic public websites will go dark in protest of SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and PIPA, the Protect Intellectual Property Act. For 24 hours, you will not be able to access their content. Are you aware of the SOPA blackout Jan 18 what is it and why is it happening?
The Stop Online Piracy Act
The Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act appear to protect private enterprise, namely American media corporations such as Time-Warner and Disney, from losing money through illegal downloading. But these bills actually order changes in the structure of the internet. These changes will not stop music and film downloading, and they will greatly impede your ability to use the internet for legitimate purposes. They will also make the internet less stable, by allowing the government to order changes to the security of domain name servers.
Most illegal downloading services exist outside the United States, so SOPA and PIPA give the U.S. government the right to control the global internet. The laws will allow entertainment lawyers to ask for court orders commanding internet providers and websites, up to and including your personal blog, to remove links to any domain names that the lawyers think might violate copyright.
The domains in question don’t actually have to be providing illegal content. All that has to happen is for a corporation’s lawyers to send a letter to U.S.-based advertising providers and payment services advising them that a certain site is illegally providing material owned by that corporation. The advertisers must immediately remove the site’s account. To get it unblocked, the site’s owner must attend a hearing in a U.S. court.
Is this censorship?
SOPA and PIPA legalize censorship by allowing the government to file lawsuits against any Internet company that is deemed to have insufficient safeguards against copyright infringement. The targets will inevitably include new web services and new social media sites, which don’t have a lot of money to hire their own lawyers. Any website that uses pictures, music or video — even legitimately — could be accused. All it takes is for an entertainment company’s lawyer to decide that the site has material on it that infringes his client’s copyright.
Being accused means your site goes down, even before you are found guilty. And if that site just happens to be someone’s blog, or a site devoted to art or political activism? Most domains that host illegal content also have plenty of legitimate material. if these bills pass, that won’t matter. Once a website is accused of violating the copyright of one of the entertainment world’s giant industries, it’s gone for good, and the site owners have little or no chance of appeal.
What is the SOPA blackout Jan 18?
Wikipedia is the most visited website in the world. The members voted to blank out Wikipedia on January 18. This is their way of protesting SOPA/PIPA’s illegitimate use of copyright protection laws to create an internet that is essentially run by the government.
Some websites have gone entirely blank, while others put up a black page which can be bypassed if you still want to read the site. Other sites including Google are displaying black banners or labels.
The House of Representatives has backed off on SOPA for now, but PIPA is alive and well in the Senate. Both bills are likely to be reworded and re-introduced. You can fight censorship by joining the SOPA blackout Jan 18. Write to your Congressman and join a group such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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On January 18, 2012, Wikipedia and many other high-traffic public websites will go dark in protest of SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and PIPA, the Protect Intellectual Property Act. For 24 hours, you will not be able to access their content. Are you aware of the SOPA blackout Jan 18 what is it and why is it happening?
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