These two words have been all over the Internet lately, and they could mean an end to the web as we know it. SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are two bills which aim to provide tolls for law enforcement and copyright holders to protect their intellectual property rights. Well that’s what it says on paper anyways. In reality the two bills will cause an enormous amount of collateral damage to the Internet, and have a high potential for abuse, and above all it wont even be effective in stopping the crimes it targets.
The targets are the entertainment pirates out there, but that’s not the people who will be effected the most. Any material or websites that appear to break copyright in any form could be blocked from the USA or even be shut down entirely.
But Ben your British, not American silly? That’s right but websites that we all use on a daily basis, Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia will all be affected by these laws and most of all smaller websites like Have A Cookie could become blocked in the USA thus loosing over two thirds of you loyal fans!
SOPA and PIPA are very similar bills, one from the House of Representatives and one from the Senate. Both are well on their way to becoming laws after a vote in the chamber of congress. This must not happen, we must do something now before it becomes too late and the Internet as we know it is lost. SOPA and PIPA are only the beginning, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world follows in Americas footsteps…
Do your part and visit www.americancensorship.org for more information.
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.