Jan. 18, 2012

Thousands of Internet sites “went dark,” that is, took themselves offline, today to protest Internet anti-piracy legislation being debated by the U.S. Congress. The websites displayed only a critical summary of the two bills–Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA)–instead of their usual content and urged website visitors to contact their congressional representatives. The bills, if passed, would impose harsh measures on websites that are found to distribute or link to copyrighted material. Faster broadband networks combined with fast, powerful computers have made it easier to download and stream music, movies, and television shows. The bills were strongly supported by the Motion Picture Association of America and other media companies, which have poured millions of dollars into lobbying for it. Such companies claim that online piracy–that is, the illegal sharing or distributing of copyrighted material–is rampant on the Internet and harms content producers’ ability to make profits.

Under the legislation, the U.S. Department of Justice and content owners could seek court orders against any website accused of “enabling or facilitating” piracy. Such U.S.-based search engines as Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. would also be forbidden to direct users to sites that distribute pirated materials.

The Internet makes possible communication that reaches around the world. In this photograph, Buddhist monks access the Internet from laptop computers and mobile phones at an Internet cafe in India. People everywhere use the Internet to research, shop, watch television, play games, and talk with friends. © Gianni Muratore, Alamy Images

The bills have, however, provoked a backlash. Critics, including the administration of President Barack Obama and powerful Internet companies, charged that the bills would grant overly broad power to media companies and could enable censorship. Critics took particular issue with the bills’ DNS (Domain Name System) filtering provisions, which could remove offending websites from the Internet’s directory. They also claimed that the legislation would hamper growth, innovation, and investment and curtail the First Amendment right of free speech. Congressional supporters of SOPA and PIPA said they would remove DNS filtering provisions from the bills but still try to pass their other provisions.

Additional World Book articles:

• Intellectual property
• Internet, Copyright, and You (A Special Report)
• Back in Time 2000 (Popular music)
• Back in Time 2007 (Popular music)