Digital Blog

SOPA and the internet blackout

So Wikipedia, Reddit and Boing Boing are only three of the big names confirming they will be going ‘black’ on January the 18th…. but why? PIPA, the Protect IP Act in the US Senate and SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, have been presented as a way to protect movie studios, record labels and others from digital piracy. Supporters range from the Country Music Association to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. However, the Internet giants say the bills could require your Internet provider to block websites that are involved in digital file sharing and search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing could be stopped from linking to them – removing the ideal of an ‘open internet’.

“If you want an Internet where human rights, free speech and the rule of law are not subordinated to the entertainment industry’s profits, I hope you’ll join us,” said Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing.

Internet entities such as Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Tumblr said the two bills would force them to be online police and hold them responsible if users of their sites link to pirated content. Not an easy task!

“While I support their goal of reducing copyright infringement (which I don’t believe these acts would accomplish), I am shocked that our lawmakers would contemplate such measures that would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world,” said Sergey Brin, one of the co-founders of Google, in a December post on Google+.

Here at The Digital Agency we are on the fence with this one. Copyright infringement is a serious offence and we do whatever we can to ensure our client’s digital properties and intellectual property is protected against any piracy acts, however holding some of the world leaders in digital innovation is not the ideal solution. Although this is a US ruling, it will effect the internet as we know it (as in it’s essence it is the WORLD WIDE web and not just the USWEB!). By passing this bill, search engine optimisation and back linking projects will be effected world wide and could disrupt internet usage as well as your own website ranking quite significantly. If you are worried about how this could effect your site or want more information on PIPA or SOPA just give the team here a shout or discuss it with us on Facebook or Twitter!

Check out Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorows explanation in this video -