In November, we mentioned the House hearing regarding the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its possible ramifications if passed. On Wednesday (January 18), thousands of websites (including Concrete Loop) participated in a widespread blackout in protest of SOPA and its Senate counterpart, the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).
While these bills are aimed at fighting online piracy, the methods used to do so could essentially allow the government and corporations to dictate everything about the internet experience for you, as demonstrated in the video below.
The online protest resulted in decreased support from Congress, including bill co-sponsor Marco Rubio (R-FL), who many consider a rising star and possible vice presidential contender in the upcoming election, who mentioned “legitimate concerns about the impact the bill could have on access to the Internet and about a potentially unreasonable expansion of the federal government’s power to impact the Internet.” The Senate is expected to vote on PIPA January 24, while the House will resume work on SOPA next month.
Over the weekend, the White House offered its take on combating online piracy:
Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small. We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet. That is why the Administration calls on all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders while staying true to the principles outlined above in this response. We expect and encourage all private parties, including both content creators and Internet platform providers working together, to adopt voluntary measures and best practices to reduce online piracy.
As the fight continues prior to the Senate vote beginning on Tuesday, it’s imperative that we all let Congress know how we feel about this legislation as it will greatly impact and possibly forever change the internet as we know it.
I hope that this bill does not pass. I am going to vote for sure.
This is a scam by the elite. Our rights are being snatched from us in every way possible. Too bad most people are to dumb and brainwashed to care or take a stand.
What’s crazy is that soooooo many people don’t know
@ T-ROCK. People don’t know because they don’t want to know. Everyone is too caught up in the elite propaganda to care. I can say that more people are slowly waking up.
There are more than hundred comments on a post bout beyonce’s baby, but only 10 on this – yeah, that’s crazy!
My (and my friends) thoughts on SOPA/PIPA
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beleaveme/6721329065/
i fear for the future. take a stand. now.
Seriously- did you all really think we were going to keep getting a free lunch? As much as I hate to admit it, we are demolishing the social bonds, the very fabric of our evolution, with how poorly we use the Internet. Students now just “copy and paste” no one goes to movies anymore and music became nothingness. The goverment is looking for our best intentions, and that we practice what we do online with virtuous morals. I’m not saying to not be yourself and just go online to check your email, but it is the greedy,immoral individuals whom destroy our way of communication and entertainment thru the Internet, this is not a judgement , just an observation of how things have progressed with regards to the Internet, just stop and think before you act that’s all.
I agree with you, some of the viciousness and hateful things written about people encourages hate-minded impressionable humans.
EbonyMtofmuscle I agree with you to a certain extent but do we want the government to come in and control this? It will be terrible. Concreteloop will not be the same or any of the sites that we love to look at in our spare time. Yes the internet has an effect on the social aspects of our life now. But to start suing people because of a Youtube video that gets so many views because they sang someone elses song is crazy. I do think there needs to be a change but this bill is way to much. They need to come up with another way.