A
s many of already or never heard, there's a hot topic about SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) on the web these few days. A lot of tech companies like Apple, Intel, Corel, Dell and 25 other well-known tech companies are supporters under the BSA (Business Software Alliance)
Mozilla is strongly against both acts because its use of DNS filtering. Also, well-known sites like Google and Wikipedia are protesting, too. On January 18, Google had a black censor on the logo, and Wikipedia had a blackout for 24 hours
What is PIPA?
PIPA is an acronym for the Protect IP Act, and was first introduced to the U.S. Senate on May 12, 2011 by Senators Patrick Leahy, Orrin Hatch, Chuck Grassley. It is also good to take note that PIPA is a re-written legislation, the original being the failed to pass Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) of 2010.
PIPA, if passed, will give U.S. corporations and the government the right to seek affirmative legal action with any website that they see as enabling copyright infringement whether of U.S. origin or not. Here is a breakdown of all that they will have the power to do.
- Force U.S. internet providers to block access to websites deemed as enablers of copyright infringement
- Seek legal action by suing search engines, blog sites, directories, or any site in general to have the black listed sites removed from their website
- Will be able to force advertising services on infringing websites, and those supporting of them, to remove them from their advertising accounts
- Companies will also have the power to sue any new websites that get started after this bill is passed, if they believe that they are not doing a good job of preventing infringement on your website
What is SOPA?
SOPA is an acronym for the Stop Online Piracy Act, and is a bill introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives by Represenative Lamar Smith on October 26, 2011. In similarity with PIPA, SOPA is a build on a previous legislation. This legislation being the PRO-IP Act of 2008.
SOPA, if passed, will work in conjunction with PIPA. As described by such entities as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, SOPA is nothing more so than the U.S. government and private corporations black list. Here is a breakdown of the power given to the government and private corporations:
- The U.S. Attorney General can now seek a court order that would force search engines, advertisers, DNS providers, servers, and payment processors from having any contact with allegedly infringing websites
- It will allow private corporations to create their own personal hit lists composed of websites they feel are breaking their copyright policies, ironically this doesn’t have any odd feelings of a legal mafia at all. These companies will be able to directly contact a website’s payment processors a notice to cut all off payment involvement with the targeted website. This payment processors and website of question will then have five days to act before it is simply taken down.
- Payment processors will have the power to cut off any website they work with, as long as they can provide a strong reason of why they believe this site is violating copyrights
How can this affect us all?
Both SOPA and PIPA out power in hands of the entertainment industry to censor sites that allegedly "engage in, enable or facilitate" copyright infringement. This language is vague enough to target sites we use everyday, like Facebook, Pico, Youtube, Twitter, search engines, blog sites, any site that has a bit to do with copyight and privacy will be blocked. And for blog owners like me, these acts will make the blog owners responsibility for everything that is displayed on their site, including the comments from visitors.
What can we do?
Nothing much but protest, there are a lot of petitions you can sign online, and you don' t have to be a U.S. citizen to sign it. Here's the online petition that I signed. Also, stay informed, being unaware of what's going on is only allowing acts like these to pass through without anyone knowing.
Refrence:
Please help saving our internet,
if you got something to say,
your voice must be heard,
we don't like these bills,
we have right to protest.
if you got something to say,
your voice must be heard,
we don't like these bills,
we have right to protest.
Have a non-censored Pico life
With furious,
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