Geek Squad on the SOPA and PIPA protest blackouts
SOPA and PIPA protests – what’s going on?
Is your favourite website down because of the organised blackout or have you just heard about what’s going on and want to know more? Either way, we have you covered here at Geek Squad. While we can’t restore your access to the sites that have temporarily closed their doors, we can give you the lowdown on what’s happening and why.
What’s the fuss about?
The creators and owners of a number of the biggest sites on the web are voicing their concerns today about two pieces of internet legislation about to be debated by congress, called the ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ (SOPA) and the ‘Protect Intellectual Property Act’ (PIPA). These complicated pieces of legislation have many legal implications that are causing major concern amongst online communities.
Under the proposed regulations created under the act, any site that contains any copyrighted material could be shut down and the people responsible for the content and the site prosecuted with the threat of prison time.
Now you may not currently run a website or ever plan to do so, but most people have the potential to be exposed to some of the repercussions of this bill. Let's paint the picture using a rather extreme but possible scenario to demonstrate.
How could SOPA effect me?
Let's say a mis-guided individual chooses to ignore Facebook’s guidelines on uploading copyrighted images to their site, perhaps they post some pics of a local artist's work that they've snapped on a smartphone without the artist’s permission. That artist quite rightly complains that their work is being used online without consent and legally challenges Facebook under the new act. Under the terms of the new legislation, Facebook could potentially be shut down and all parties prosecuted – no fun.
Huge multinational companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are obviously aware of this concern and are highly unlikely to expose themselves to the risk of being shut down to protect privacy. The choice for these types of social networking sites will be limited and one of the obvious avenues they must explore is censorship and more active monitoring of the content everyone posts online. Can you imagine a world where you decide to post something to Facebook and are greeted with a message stating ‘Your status has been placed in a queue for assessment and will be posted within 24 hours’? It takes a little of the spontaneity out of things doesn’t it when all you want to do is tell the world how much you enjoyed lunch or how funny your cat looks in that batman costume!
Which sites have been involved in the blackout?
There are literally hundreds that have decided to close their doors for 24 hours on the 18th of January. A detailed list can be found here in the sources at the bottom of the page, but major websites like Wikipedia, Reddit and the hugely popular game Minecraft are likely to cause the biggest waves amongst the web browsing community.
What can we do?
The situation is purely an American issue at the moment and we in the UK have no issues to be concerned about in the short-term. However, if you want to know a bit more about what’s going on, have a look at some of the information below.
Sources and further information:
- Wikipedia Information
- BBC article and interview with Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales
- List of websites protesting SOPA today (18th Jan 2012)
- ZDnet’s opinion on the long term political and social implications
- Zamisk’s artwork explaining the basics of the legislation on art website deviantART
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Agent Leon Andrews
Role: Covert Agent
Special interests: Tech Industry Watcher, Apple expert and Customer experience ninja
Joined: Sep 2007