Websites Take Their Stance Against PIPA And SOPA By Taking Their Sites Offline
Wed 18 Jan, 2012 // Chris Allan
Two bills proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have been proposed in an effort to combat copyright infringement across the internet. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protection IP Act (PIPA) have been met with fierce competition from a variety of industry commentators and website owners.
Let's expand on each of the acts to understand what extent the impact will have on online activity, if the bills are passed. SOPA will enable U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. PIPA, has the goal of giving US government and copyright holders additional tools to help combat "rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods".
The opposition, who support a free internet, have all become public with their views. With giants Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, and many more all taking further action throughout the 18th of January. Wikipedia have 'blacked' out their English content, with the following statement visible on all of the pages:
“For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.”
Google themselves have also chosen to protest to the legislation by including “Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!” below the search box. Leading users to further information on the bills and the chance to sign a petition.
Other websites that have also chose to 'black' out their websites yesterday were:
Reddit
Mozilla
Wordpress.org
Minecraft
The icanhazCheezburger Network
WPS Security Lock
Greenpeace International
TwitPic
The new laws will make the internet companies accountable for the hosting and linking to websites that offer unlawful content, such as the ability to download illegal movies, music, and TV shows.
Those who oppose the proposed bills believe that SOPA will not only violate the first amendment, but also is a form of internet censorship, with fears of it impacting freedom of speech.
It is also worth noting that there are many supporters of the proposed legislation, including publishers, television networks, and most industries that produce or create content that is currently being widely pirated across the internet. Those backing the legislation believe that in order to save jobs within these industries the impact of piracy must be stopped.
Impact On Cyber Security?
SOPA has raised many concerns regarding information security. The Sandia National Laboratories who are part of the U.S. Department of Energy raised their concerns, stating it is “unlikely to be effective" and will "negatively impact U.S. and global cyber security and Internet functionality."
The main fears by those who oppose the bills argue that censoring the internet will inevitably lead to an increase in network errors and security problems, with the SOPA undermining Domain name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), a proposed security upgrade for DNS.
A white paper released by the Brookings Institution stated "The DNS system is based on trust," adding that DNSSEC was developed to prevent malicious redirection of DNS traffic, and that "other forms of redirection will break the assurances from this security tool."
Resolution Date?
Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader plans to bring the Protect IP Act (PIPA) to vote on January the 24th, 2012, with further debates required for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
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