Lots of sites went dark yesterday, January 18, 2011. With all this talk about the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill in Congress that is meant to stop foreign Internet sites from pirating copyrighted US materials off the Internet, it’s easy to get confused. Surely, none of us want our materials stolen by a “rogue” overseas site or anyone else. But the way the current bill is written, there could be backlash against sites as big as Wikipedia.
In the worst case scenario, SOPA could shut down your site for an infringement you may not even be aware of. Small businesses or self-employed bloggers would probably go out of business rather than try to keep up with regulations meant to protect them that could be ultimately be turned against them. A lot of bigger sites could find themselves in hot water and endless legal disputes that could severely harm their bottom lines as well. The ACLU sees this as a free speech issue.
How SOPA would affect you? – FAQs answered on CNET.com
Besides turning your site off for the day and/or doing your best to keep a low-profile online what else can you do to stop SOPA?
First, you can try to understand what SOPA is and share that information with as many people as possible. (See the FAQ link above). Then, if you support the work of the ACLU and their dogged protection of our first amendment rights, you can sign their petition. There is a Senate version of SOPA that is much better written than the current House version. Even President Obama opposes SOPA in its current form. Do what you can to stop SOPA and keep the Internet safe to express your opinions and freely share information. There is no place for censorship in the United States. Here’s also a link to a HuffPost piece where SOPA forces Obama to pick sides between donors from Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
