Science & Technology

Sites go dark over SOPA and PIPA

By T.K. Randall
January 18, 2012 ·  147 comments

Image Credit: PD SOPA ( Stop Online Piracy Act ) and PIPA ( Protect IP Act ) have caused massive outrage in the online community and represent a huge threat to freedom and innovation on the internet.

From Wikipedia's statement: SOPA and PIPA are badly drafted legislation that won't be effective in their main goal (to stop copyright infringement), and will cause serious damage to the free and open Internet. They put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. And, SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

What this means is that if these bills are passed then they could spell an end to free, open community-driven sites and forums. Today's black-outs and protests are aimed at increasing awareness and to put across a clear signal that these bills are not acceptable. [!gad]SOPA ( Stop Online Piracy Act ) and PIPA ( Protect IP Act ) have caused massive outrage in the online community and represent a huge threat to freedom and innovation on the internet.

From Wikipedia's statement: SOPA and PIPA are badly drafted legislation that won't be effective in their main goal (to stop copyright infringement), and will cause serious damage to the free and open Internet. They put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. And, SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

What this means is that if these bills are passed then they could spell an end to free, open community-driven sites and forums. Today's black-outs and protests are aimed at increasing awareness and to put across a clear signal that these bills are not acceptable.


Source: Wikipedia | Comments (147)

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