Google, Facebook Protest PIPA and SOPA

US Congress Recants After Web Blackout Jan 18

On January 18th, many of the Internet's most popular websites - Google and Facebook among them - participated in a joint blackout to protest two zealous anti-piracy bills before Congress - Protect IP Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).These sites posted detailed opposition to the bills and invited users to join them while others, such as Craigslist and Wikipedia, went down completely.

Though the bills were written with the intent of combating Internet piracy and protecting the intellectual property of content creators, the actual wording of the bills contained language that would completely change the dynamic of the Internet, effectively giving entertainment companies the power to shut down websites.

In demonstrating the effectiveness of the blackout, independent news site Propublica said that on the morning January 18th, the day of the blackout, the bill officially had 80 supporters and 31 opponents in Congress (with many still undecided). Two days after the blackout, the bill still had 61 supporters, but an astonishing 189 opponents.

Powers Granted by PIPA and SOPA Bills

Section 102 of the bill states:

"A service provider shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures designed to prevent access by its subscribers located within the United States to the foreign infringing site (or portion thereof) that is subject to the order...Such actions shall be taken as expeditiously as possible, but in any case within five days after being served with a copy of the order, or within such time as the court may order."

A popular site like YouTube, which has users posting thousands of hours of video every day, would be responsible for shutting down every single instance of copyright infringement or face legal action.

Facebook would be forced to monitor the activity of its 800 million members to make sure they are not posting intellectual property they do not own. The average Internet user could face up to five years in prison simply for posting a Michael Jackson music video (which would technically be one year less than his accused killer).

Support for PIPA and SOPA Shifts on Capital Hill

Initially, the bills received widespread support from major entertainment, fashion and pharmaceutical players, as well as regulatory bodies for film (MPAA) and video games (ESA), many of whom worked to lobby for their quick passage in Congress. Some even suggested the bills were named to trick the public into thinking the acronyms referred to Kate Middleton's younger sister and Italian soap - harmless enough.

Anthony Falzone, the executive director of the Stanford's Fair Use Project for Internet and Society, summed up their point of view: "The reason everyone was so excited is that this is a piece of legislation that's only good for a tiny handful of corporations, and it's really bad for the rest of us."

Reddit Initiates Protest of PIPA and SOPA

While the bills had been presented to the House Judiciary Committee for approval in mid-November, some claim that PIPA and SOPA only began to receive media attention a month later when social news aggregator Reddit launched a successful boycott of GoDaddy to protest the web hosting company's support for the bill.

As a result, numerous other websites removed their data from GoDaddy's servers, eventually causing the company to reverse its position. Many members of the Reddit community pointed out that most major news outlets would be unlikely to bring much attention to the bills, since their parent companies were in fact supporters of PIPA and SOPA.

Overall sentiment seems to indicate that while the bills will not pass in their current form, Congress is going back to Washington to work on new anti-piracy legislation.