Tech News: SOPA
SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) - it's been in the news, across the internet and it could affect all of us. So what is it, how will it work and do we really want it?
What is SOPA?
In brief, SOPA is a United States bill intended to give US law enforcement additional powers (including the ability to bar websites from appearing on search engines and criminalise the streaming of certain content) in order to enable them to better fight online piracy.
The intent is a good one - after all, we're all aware of just how rampant piracy is across the internet and some judge that it is costing certain industries millions of dollars a year, if not billions.
So why all the hate for SOPA? (And PIPA, it's cousin relating to protecting intellectual property from online threats).
Well, the general opinion is that SOPA as it stands offers too much control to law enforcers. Police could block an entire domain just because one poster blogged something that they shouldn't have. On top of this, many people are arguing that SOPA will threaten free speech and innovation. The concern is that it could lead to a widespread censorship of the internet.
Could it actually affect us here in Australia?
Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Despite this being a US act, voted for and implemented by the US, it would still have an impact on our lives. Consider how many international websites you visit on a monthly, if not daily, basis. Consider how many videos you watch, images you see or songs you listen to that were created in the US.
Even something as simple as movie reviews would be affected - and potentially restricted - by the act, for their use of and reference to copyrighted material.
What's been done to stop it?
You may have heard of the 'blackout' that occurred recently. On January 18, 2012, there was a joint online protest against SOPA. It is estimated that over 7000 websites, including big players like Reddit, Wikipedia, Google, Boing Boing and WordPress - just to name a few - joined in the protest.
Whether the sites blacked out all their content completely, or just circulated graphics and information about SOPA, the massive protest was heard and had a near instant effect. Over night, SOPA went from having 80 supporters and 31 opponents in Congress to having 65 supporters and 101 opponents.
As a result, Congress has postponed actions on the Act. Check out this great slideshow of the blacked out sites:
What happens now?
While everyone is still a bit on edge as to whether SOPA in its current form will go ahead or not, it is agreed that in any case something will be done. On the 20th of January it was announced that the US Judiciary Committee "remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation".
All we can hope for is that a better outcome can be reached than the flawed SOPA legislation.
What are your thoughts on SOPA? Do you think these Acts will lead to a censored internet? How might that affect you?
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any censorship of the net will let to the same during everyday life. give ANY government an inch and they will take a mile. you just have to look at those countries with dictators ruling to see that. all of these countries started out with great intentions but as the rulers slowly inserted their ideas of justice peoples freedoms were curtailed - all ' for their own good' of course.
over a year ago by midgie
I remember a song from the 1960's 'In the year 2525" had a line that said 'Everything you do, think or say was in the pill you took today" It is a slippery slope that we stand on and the do gooders would have us taking the first step in which we lose all RIGHTS to free speech/ expression. All ' for our own good of course"
