The interwebs are all abuzz at the moment over tomorrow’s SOPA blackout protest. Wikipedia, reddit, Mozilla, and Boing Boing are just some of the sites that will go dark.
Haven’t heard about SOPA or the companion bill PIPA? SOPA, Stop Online Piracy Act is the House bill, and PIPA, Protect Intellectual Property Act, is the Senate version. What these bills aim to do is stop online piracy of copyrighted work. And while piracy is a real problem, the vast majority of the issue comes from outside the country. However, the government doesn’t plan to let something like borders get in the way of it enforcing United States law.
There are many who can explain why SOPA and PIPA are bad better than I can. So here are a few links to help you sort out what tomorrow’s protest is all about.
From the New York Times: The Danger of an Attack on Piracy Online
From the American Library Association: PIPA, SOPA and OPEN Act Quick Reference Guide
From Publishers Weekly: Libraries are the best counter to piracy
From Gizmodo: All the companies supporting SOPA and how to contact them. Will you be surprised to see the names of all the major book publishers on the list? Television networks, movie studios and cable companies are also on the list.
The fight is shaping up as old media versus new media. President Obama said he does not like SOPA, so let’s hope if a version of either of these bills makes it to his desk he will veto it.
If the links I have provided are not enough, just Google “SOPA” or “SOPA blackout” and you will be rewarded. Or wait until after midnight Eastern Time and Google will have a link on its search page for more information. The subject is also trending on Twitter under #SOPA.
January 18th should be a very interesting day.
Update: The protest over SOPA and PIPA has kept legislator’s phones ringing all day and in some instances, overwhelmed their websites. Some Senators, including a few co-sponsors of the bill, have withdrawn their support. The NY Times has a piece on the waning support for the bill. The bill is not dead, but it has certainly got a severe limp.
What are we going to do with Wikipedia for the day?? Ha, just kidding. The protest is exciting, and I hope SOPA/PIPA get shut down. There has to be a better way of dealing with the problem. Thanks for all the links!
Thanks for the reminder. No Mozilla for the day? I just might have to write a letter instead of surfing the internet…….
I’m curious too about what will happen–it should be interesting. I don’t really understand it all either, though there was some talk about it at my work, so I’ll be checking out those links–thanks!
The crazy thing about the bill is that it only allows domain names to be blocked. If you know the IP address, the website will still be there. I suppose that’s enough to block most members of Congress, but not anyone who has ever downloaded anything.
But you know, if it was possible for the entertainment industry to nuke every possible copyright infringement out there, would we really be missing much? One of the best things about the web is the individual and collaborative creativity it fosters. I think Hollywood needs us more that we need Hollywood.
Thanks for this and the links – very helpful. I agree that no wikipedia for the day will really get peoples’ attention!
Thank you for this post and all the helpful links.
My son’s been talking about this for several weeks now because it affects his online gaming community. Ahhh, now it makes sense to me why he had picked today to go shopping after school for a new phone. He, who usually loathes shopping…. Thank you, Stefanie, I’m caught up to speed now!
Rebecca, heh, I know. I saw a tweet last night from Jimmy Wales encouraging kids to do their homework early since Wikipedia would be dark today. I agree that there must be a better way of dealing with the problem. Congress needs to talk to the internet/tech community for their ideas and then maybe we can get somewhere reasonable.
Helen, get your pen and paper out
Danielle, it’s pretty crazy and there is lots of misinformation coming from both sides. One can only hope that sanity will eventually prevail.
Sylvia, I would wager that most people don’t know what an IP address is or how to use one to look up a website. I agree that the entertainment industry needs us more than we need them. They are taking a huge gamble that people will just lie down and take it.
Rhapsodyinbooks, Wikipedia being dark will definitely get people’s attention. let’s hope it works!
Nymeth, you’re welcome!
Litlove, that is great that your son is paying attention to SOPA. It could definitely affect the gaming community as well as social networking and blogs and YouTube. It’s a quite draconian and far-reaching bill. He knows how to pick the day to go shopping
I’m one of those people who have no idea what an IP address is, let alone how to use it. I’m proud of myself being able to do legal research on-line (now that “getting into the books” means getting onto Westlaw) and I can do simple things on-line. However, the tech-y stuff makes me suffer from severe MEGO (aka my eyes glaze over). But I do not like censorship of any kind – that much I know. Nevertheless, I haven’t noticed anything odd about today, other than Google has a big black box over its name.
Just tried Wikipedia. Typed in Frankenstein. For a moment, Frankenstein popped up and then it went to the blackout window. I thought it was very cool, and it also gave me links to contact my congressman, which I did. Thanks Stephanie. I should keep up with this stuff more than I do.
Thanks for the good links! Been involved in several discussions about this today. In my opinion, SOPA/PIPA are definitely old media approaches to a new media problem. I’m embarrassed by the elected officials who have played ignorant of the workings of the media yet been involved in this bill. Being ignorant of the internet is not excuse! I wrote my rep and both my senators. I suspect that I will only hear from one of the Senators — and it will be months from now. (Based on past experience.) I’m sure my name is on some sort of list of people who send in words of support or disapproval too often.
Grad, I was going to launch into an explanation of what an IP address is and how it works but then I imagined your eyes glazing over so have refrained
I was just expecting Google to have a link, I think it is cool what they did with the black box.
Anne, You’re welcome! I hope they were useful. I agree that our representatives claiming ignorance of the internet is no excuse. It makes them look out of touch and it makes me wonder what else they don’t understand yet routinely create legislation for. I think I am probaly on a list too. All I ever get back from my representatives are automated email responses and a rare form letter.
Die! It’s a bad idea.
(not you, the bill. sorry… end of the day and my brain is totally fried.)
wherethereisjoy, heh, I assumed you meant the bill and not me but it was touch and go there for a brief second