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January 18, 2012
Wikipedia Goes Dark, Google Logo Blacked Out ... In Protest Over SOPA And PIPA
Topics: Political News and commentaries
Web users are finding that many websites around the world today are shutting down to protest the alarmingly dangerous potential effects of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate companion, the Protect IP Act (PIPA). The Senate will begin voting on January 24th.
As Heritage Action for America points out, Protect IP. SOPA and PIPA purport to stop the theft of intellectual property from foreign-based websites. While well-intentioned, the manner in which these bills attempt to achieve those goals is unworkable and includes a host of unintended and dangerous consequences.
One of the main issues of SOPA and PIPA is that they force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to websites that have been accused of facilitating copyright infringement. Blocking access will likely slow down domain name resolution for the entire internet, while eroding the necessary trust the system needs. It would also set a dangerous precedent of allowing our government -- and others -- to filter domains. Fortunately, all sides have signaled this provision could be dropped.And as Erick Erickson notes over at Redstate, both pieces of legislation are overly broad and give too much power to the Attorney General to shut down websites that may be innocent of piracy, but are accused of being engaged in online piracy. Both pieces of legislation are written by old men who need young staffers just to tweet and run their Facebook accounts. The sponsors probably have no idea how far reaching and damaging their legislation is.Further, the legislation would put a tremendous legal burden on websites accused of third-party copyright infringement and would cause them to be removed from search engines. Opponents have compared the legislation to China's online censorship. Even if they made an honest mistake, they would be faced with litigation from the U.S. Attorney General. Fighting the accusations would cost so much time and money that smaller sites would likely go out of business fighting. Private lawsuits could also be brought against the websites. This would open up the potential for massive lawsuit abuse --even though the vast majority of online piracy occurs through a small number of websites.
While the federal government does have a role in protecting intellectual property rights, it should do so in a way that does not weaken internet security, disrupt growth or restrict free speech rights. To date, SOPA and PIPA fail to meet that standard.
Fighting online piracy is indeed important. But as Google points out at its 'End Piracy, Not Liberty' online petition page, the most effective way to shut down pirate websites is through targeted legislation that cuts off their funding. There's no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs.
FT-Tech Hub has more on this.
Much is at stake. Take action by signing Google's online petition here.
AND ...
Click here to call and write your Representative about SOPA. Tell your Representative to please oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act.
Click here to call your Senator about PROTECT IP. Tell your Senator to please oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act.
Posted by Hyscience at January 18, 2012 6:44 AM
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