As of May 11, 2011, two bills have been posing a serious threat to what has recently become one of the world’s most treasured sources of news and opinions – the Internet. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, these bills, the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) and “PROTECT Intellectual Property Act” (PIPA), both aim to reduce online piracy by allowing the Entertainment Industry to block, sue, and/or blacklist US-based sites that host or link to illegal content. If passed this week, what they will actually do tells a completely different story (eff.org). These bills, as well as any future ones like them, must be prevented from turning into law.
The Internet, as extensive and important as it is, is extremely fragile when it comes to change. Giving a corporation the right to block any sites it feels are infringing – including blogs or forums – is a power that can easily end up being abused. In fact, with SOPA and PIPAs’ vague wording, corporations would be able to completely demolish small, harmless websites that, because of the fluidity of the Internet, contain copyrighted material. For example, if someone posts a blog featuring a trademarked logo, or a video with a famous song playing in the background, PIPA and SOPA enable the “victim” corporation to take legal action, sometimes blocking the page. Depending on the case, they can even take down the entire domain, seriously changing and censoring a public space (1stwebdesigner.com).
Imagine this happening on a larger scale; since so much of the Internet is not part of public domain, this type of censorship would have a severe impact on users’ expression. SOPA and PIPA would also force sites like Youtube, Twitter, Google, and Facebook to censor their content, or otherwise be held liable for whatever their users post (americancensorship.org). According to an Anti-SOPA and PIPA letter written by a few of the Internet’s “Founding Fathers,” “Such legislation would […] hamper innocent parties’ right and ability to communicate and express themselves online. [These] censorship schemes impact speech beyond the category they were intended to restrict” (theinquirer.net). Essentially, by allowing corporations to block websites at their leisure, PIPA and SOPA propose to leave the Internet at the mercy of the Entertainment Industry.
With society’s increasing dependence on technology, things like the Internet have become vital to innovation. So many up-and-coming people get their start by founding a website, or even posting on one – take Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg, or Youtube-discovered Justin Beiber, for instance. Furthermore, each person or business that gets started on the Internet opens doors to new and much needed jobs. According to an Anti-SOPA and PIPA website, however, bills like SOPA and PIPA would thwart innovators and stunt technological growth, just to give corporations more money (americancensorship.org). They would cause progress to slow unnecessarily, particularly during these already laggard times.
Almost more important than any of these consequences, though, is whether the bills will actually help solve the online piracy problem. According to the non-profit Online News Association (ONA), the answer is “no.” In a letter from ONA President Christine Montgomery, Montgomery writes, “[W]e believe SOPA would do little to stem those problems and would actually cause harm to the Internet and to the American public. Indeed, the act – and its counterpart in the Senate, the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) — would inappropriately shut down websites, disrupt the free flow of legitimate information and limit Americans from fully exercising their First Amendment rights” (journalists.org).
Ever since it was first opened to the public in 1974, the Internet has rapidly grown into a widespread, easily accessible reservoir of information and culture, that, according to a consensus taken in 2011, over two billion people use worldwide (internetworldstats.com). It has fueled revolutions, connected families, and, said Senior Marin Sanders, “…is one of the few places we actually have freedom of speech.” All of the Web’s benefits are directly due to its ability to be shaped by the user.
Unfortunately, this property, while extremely valuable, makes the Internet very easy to exploit – whether through illegal music downloads, movie torrents, or other forms of copyright infringement. In order to protect against this, counter measures must be taken. However, in their current forms, SOPA, PIPA, or any other similar future bills are not the right steps.