SOPA, PIPA, Internet Censorship and Free Speech

This may be the first post you’ve read about the Stop Online Piracy Act (more commonly known as SOPA), or this may be the 20th, but there’s a reason so many websites and bloggers are writing about SOPA today. If either SOPA or the Senate companion bill PIPA (PROTECT-IP Act) passes, it will fundamentally change the Internet. For those still unsure of why sites like Reddit, Google and Wikipedia are protesting today, read on to find out.

What is SOPA?

The Stop Online Piracy Act is a piece of legislation currently in the US House of Representatives, while the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) is the corresponding bill in the Senate. These pieces of legislation give copyright holders new tools to protect their intellectual property. Copyright holders can sue websites where their content has appeared, regardless if the owner of the website was the one to post that content on the site. Reposting other people’s ideas, thoughts and content would be impossible on social media networks and blogs.

Why are so many people protesting SOPA?

While stopping piracy is a noble venture, PIPA and SOPA would cause more damage than good. Websites like YouTube, tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit and more would virtually cease to exist. As Mashable editor Lance Ulanoff writes, “[Congress is] essentially making it impossible for anyone to do anything online without fear of retribution.”

Take, for example, Maria Aragon. She’s known for singing covers of Lady Gaga songs and has millions of hits on YouTube. Under PIPA, not only could Lady Gaga and her label sue Maria (probably her family, since she’s a minor), but Standing Dog would be forced to pull this blog post because I just embedded that link to her video. That’s just a small example, but hopefully you get a sense of how seriously SOPA/PIPA would change the way we use the Internet.

Fighting piracy is a good thing, but SOPA and PIPA offer copyright holders too much power. With a simple letter and absolutely zero due process, intellectual property holders can claim that a website did not do enough to prevent piracy or even penalize a website because of content posted by users.

For more information, check out this helpful infographic, read this well-written Gizmodo article, or search Wikipedia—it’s one of the few articles that you still can read while Wikipedia is under blackout.

What can you do?

Writing Congress, calling representatives and senators and signing petitions are all good options. Raise awareness amongst your friends, repost videos (while you still legally have the right to), and use the #StopSOPA hashtag on your tweets. Not enough people know about SOPA. Too many were surprised when Wikipedia redirected them to a SOPA awareness page or when they first glanced up at the most recent Google doodle. Internet censorship is a serious thing.

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