Most people became aware of the SOPA and PIPA debate earlier this week when jessicazeun.com and many other websites went dark or displayed an alternative page for 24 hours in an attempt to draw attention to the issue. The most prominent site to do this was Wikipedia raising a cry from students all over the English speaking world.
Also included in the estimated 7000+ sites to do join the protest were WordPress, Reddit and Mozilla. Facebook and Google did not go dark but did display a link with more information about the issues to demonstrate their support of the protests. As a result of all this several US Senators removed their support for the SOPA and PIPA bills.
But what exactly is this all about and why should we care about American Internet laws? Well the proposed laws actually have very far reaching consequences for the internet globally. By placing a stranglehold on what is and is not allowed and therefore preventing free speech and open collaboration this could stifle the innovative creativity and free sharing of information that makes the internet so useful and popular. Here is a link to an article from a fellow blogger which explains it all in detail: http://www.blumunki.com/wp/?p=1 and here is a very interesting TED talk on the subject too:
In my opinion the USA is trying to prove that it has control over the Internet, regardless of which country the site is in or where it was created. They are trying to impose new laws which will give them the rights to take down a site immediately and therefore affecting users globally, even if they are in a country which should not be governed by US law.
Businesses of all sizes have built up a reliance on the internet for marketing, reaching new customers, trading online, networking and more. We need to protect our rights to free speech and free thinking and we need to keep the internet as an open collaborative environment which encourages expression, creativity and innovation.
You can add your voice to the debate by signing this petition (which at the time of writing this post has over 2 million names and counting):
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet_action_center_b
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