Online protests urge people to contact their lawmakers and Nancy Pelosi tweets we "Need to find a better solution than SOPA." After simmering on the back burner for the last few months, the internet piracy legislation has come to the forefront and the battle is heating up.
Online protests create examples of censorship
The war over who controls the internet is taking place on the battleground of the internet itself. On Wednesday numerous websites and technology companies used their websites to create examples of censorship and urged their users to contact their lawmakers to express their feelings. Some websites were symbolically blacking out their front pages or sections of content to express opposition to proposed piracy laws.
The protests are in response to renewed attention in congress this week to The Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R.3261) as is has been proposed in the US House, and The Protect IP Act (S.968) as it is known in the US Senate.
Proposed system fatally flawed
Opponents call the proposed system of blocking pirated sites fatally flawed. California lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum agree.
Concerns regarding the proposed laws expressed by Representative Darrell Issa (California, Republican) to congressional newspaper The Hill:
“What they’re realizing is there are so many unintended consequences that they can’t just use Google as a piñata and bash on it here... I don’t believe this bill has any chance on the House floor... I think it’s way too extreme, it infringes on too many areas that our leadership will know is simply too dangerous to do in its current form.”
Joining her colleague Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (California, Democrat) questions the proposed laws as she tweeted on Thursday: "Need to find a better solution than #SOPA #DontBreakTheInternet"
Politicians understanding technology
Many of the pirates sites, those that offer access to copyrighted materials that they do not own are outside the control of the US authorities. Since they can not be closed down, one of the proposals hopes to use the technology of how internet traffic is routed, the use of domain names, and block traffic to sites identified as pirate sites.
In the politics of the past, trade embargoes and travel restrictions were difficult to enforce, and seldom as effective as promised in influencing the actions of the folks being punished. Similar to an economic blockage or embargo, with website blocking you are not really shutting the sites down, you are just making it more difficult to reach them.
Perhaps the politicians that are considering waging war on the internet pirates are beginning to understand all the technical details, and technology nightmares The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and The Protect IP Act will create.
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