Online protests stop SOPA
The US Congress has postponed its consideration of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) after online protests aimed at the anti-piracy legislation.
Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, search engine Google and blogging platform WordPress all took part in the online protest against the legislation on January 18.
US Representative and House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith introduced SOPA into the US House of Representatives in October 2011. Eleven other politicians backed the bill, including IP Subcommittee chairman Bob Goodlatte. PIPA was introduced into the US Senate.
The anti-piracy legislation would have allowed the Attorney General to seek injunctions against foreign websites that profit from piracy and counterfeiting, to increase criminal penalties for traffickers of counterfeit medicine and military goods, and to improve coordination between IP enforcement agencies in the US.
At the time, Goodlatte said: “American inventors, authors, and entrepreneurs have been forced to stand by and watch as their works are stolen by foreign infringers beyond the reach of current US laws. This legislation will update the laws to ensure that the economic incentives … remain eff ective in the 21st century’s global marketplace.”
But opposition to the legislation soon gathered momentum. Google copyright policy counsel Katherine Oyama testified at a hearing on SOPA. She called the legislation “overly broad” and said that it would undermine the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by sweeping in “innocent websites that have violated no law” and imposing “harsh and arbitrary sanctions without due process”.
The opposition to SOPA achieved an important victory on January 13 when Smith said he would be removing the requirement for Internet service providers to block access to certain foreign websites, which was one of the more hotly contested provisions in the bill.
He said: “Aft er consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove Domain Name System blocking from SOPA so that the committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision. We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to US consumers.”
On January 18, Wikipedia instigated a 24-hour blackout. Visitors to its English-language website were greeted with a black page and white text that said “imagine a world without free knowledge”, as well as links to more information.
Google placed a black box over the logo on its search page and WordPress blacked out its home page.
In response to the online protests, Chris Dodd, chairman and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, said: “A so-called ‘blackout’ is yet another gimmick, albeit a dangerous one, designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals. It is our hope that the White House and the Congress will call on those who intend to stage this ‘blackout’ to stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy.”
The anti-piracy bills were shelved on January 20 after the US Senate decided to postpone its consideration of PIPA. “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith said.
“It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves who steal and sell American inventions and products. The House Judiciary Committee will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution.”
In a statement on Smith’s announcement, Dodd said: “We hope the dynamics of the conversation can change and become a sincere discussion about how best to protect the millions of American jobs affected by the theft of American intellectual property. The threat posed by these criminal operations has been widely acknowledged by even the most ardent critics. It is incumbent that they now sincerely work with all of us to achieve a meaningful solution to this critically important goal.”
