Headlines
The Review Online
SOPA - Stop Online Piracy Act
19th January 2012
If you tried to use Wikipedia for that last-minute essay on the 18th of January 2012, you may have seen a black screen of death. Not literally, but the sentence ‘For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia’ may have been just as scary.
The SOPA topic has once again risen to media attention.
A debate against the campaign to ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ has caught the attention of online users – a lot of them. On Twitter, ‘trending topics’ such as ‘If SOPA’, ‘#thingsbetterthanSOPA’ and ‘StopSOPA’ have been tweeted by all in attempts to get the online community’s voice heard. One user wittingly tweeted, ‘How am I supposed to know what SOPA is if I can’t Google it?’ This question, despite its humour, is very relevant. In efforts to understand this topic, I searched PIPA and SOPA online. Terrifyingly enough, Wikipedia would not let me access the page.
Lamar Smith, who introduced the act said, ‘I am committed to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to send a bipartisan bill to the White House that saves American jobs and protects intellectual property.’ This makes me wonder what ever happened to sharing wisdom. His Wikipedia page, unlike the rest, remains open and free to browse.
As a generation powered by technology, we will be impacted by SOPA. Despite living in the UK, we will be affected. Most of the elite websites are American.
But credit shall be given where credit is due: there is online piracy occurring on the internet which has caused many legal battles. For those who are unfortunate enough to experience these, my condolences lie with you. However, as a teenager growing up in a very modern society, I will be the first to admit I would be lost without the freedom of the internet.
by Lorraine German