By: Johnny Bint

Current legislation going through the United States Congress is sparking rapid debate throughout the country and beyond about the future of the internet. SOPA, (Stop Online Piracy Act) going through the House of Representatives, essentially marks a proposed censorship blow to the internet, allowing the government to act as a copyright protector ensuring that websites that violate copyright infringement laws are shut down. PIPA, (Protect IP Act) which is going through the Senate, essentially extends SOPA and allots the government more power to stop online piracy.

While SOPA has gone through an extensive national debate that has made few Representatives vocally support and come to a consensus about the bill, PIPA still poses a real threat. PIPA, which will be voted on this coming January 24, could mean multiple things. Obviously the first of which is virtual censorship by Big Brother that’s entirely Orwellian—which is putting it lightly. Others, though, state that PIPA protects intellectual property from piracy, and thus allows businesses to maintain creative rights to the products they create. And so it’s a sensitive issue. Even President Obama has stated he opposes both pieces of legislation, though he has stated that he would support them if they were radically rewritten. (What that really means is anyone’s guess?)

Essentially, though, SOPA and PIPA operates an electorate blackhole, in which many believe if a politician expresses their support for either legislation, they won’t be reelected. But some believe that isn’t enough. And so many internet companies are staging a massive protest January 18, in which they would blackout their website in protest against SOPA and PIPA.

The list of companies staging a blackout is extensive. The bigger names are obviously Wikipedia and Reddit, but approximately 7,000 to 10,000 websites will be blacked out tomorrow. Some of which are small, some are big. Even Google will have a link sharing information about the protests as a form of solidarity. And not just to the United States. As the Wikipedia article states, they are staging a global protest to not only combat the United States’ internet censoring legislation, but other countries’ censorship legislation as well. Whether or not you agree with SOPA or PIPA, that is a huge act of solidarity that revitalizes the spirit that went into many of the Occupy protests and Arab Spring.

Whether or not the protest is successful, only time will tell.

For further reading about the subject:

WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE
IBTIMES.COM

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