We are a generation that has been born and raised alongside the Internet since before we could eat solid food. I would be surprised to learn that anyone reading this was caught unaware by the blackouts that occurred last Wednesday, Jan. 18.
Sites including Reddit , Wikipedia, and even porn sites blacked out their content for the day. Just to make sure no one is left behind, let’s have a recap of why the content was blacked out. The Stop Online Piracy Act ( SOPA ) and the Protect IP Act ( PIPA ) were proposed, the Internet got angry and content was blacked out in protest.
SOPA was written up by Congressman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, in an attempt to cut back on Internet piracy. Piracy has become a growing activity among Internet users as it becomes easier and safer for any Joe Schmoe with a Wi-Fi connection to do it.
On the surface, this sounds like a good idea. Internet piracy causes loss of revenue to movie production companies, musicians, and authors both big and small. However, it was the loose wording of this bill that caused the uproar in the digital world.
As it was presented, SOPA would give unrestricted power to the government to censor anything on the Internet that they deemed as an unlicensed use of any commercial or intellectual property. This meant that if you were to post a video that unintentionally had protected content, such as from a radio or TV in the background, your video could be censored. It would be censored because you did not own a license to distribute that song or to show that TV show, even though those things have nothing to do with the content. Ironically enough, Smith’s website was in clear violation of the law he wrote. The main image on his website was taken by D.J. Schulte, to whom Smith had not given credit.
The blackout turned into a huge success. Four-and-a-half million people signed online petitions, and a huge fraction of them actually took time to call their local representatives. I checked Wikipedia the next day when it was back up and found that a majority of SOPA and PIPA supporters had withdrawn their support, and the bill had been tabled for the time being.
It seemed like the Internet had finally prevailed. However, before we had a chance to be proud of our victory, the Feds shut down Megaupload , which incited outrage among Internet users, myself included. We had made it clear that we did not want our sites censored, especially sites like Megaupload , where people actually store legitimate personal files. These people lost years of work when Megaupload was shut down.
The shut down of Megaupload meant war. Pseudo-hacker and a wannabe Internet terrorist group Anonymous overloaded the servers of cia.gov, fbi.gov, and many other .gov and .mil sites in retaliation. None of those sites are actually important to the government, but the point was made.
As the war continues, international file sharing sites have started to restrict access to U.S. users for fear of being unjustly shut down. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement ( ACTA ) has now been proposed internationally. This is more of the same garbage coming from people who don’t know how the Internet works. The announcement was followed by Anonymous threatening to release dirt on anyone who helps pass ACTA .
What started as a protest to protect our free speech and to change a bill has turned into all-out war. The international online community refuses to work with the U.S. government pseudo-terrorists are exchanging threats and the sentiment of the original movement has been lost. Who do we have to blame for this? Only we are to blame, for making fun of Congress when they made pizza a vegetable.