To protest SOPA ('Stop Online Piracy Act') and PIPA ('Protect IP Act'), two bills in the United States Senate and House of Representatives, Wikipedia have blacked out the English version of their website and have asked visitors to spread the word onto social media websites, such as Twitter and Facebook. To be brief, these bills seek to stop copyright infringement committed by non-foreign and foreign websites.
The PIPA bill calls for making websites that show 'illegal' material to be unresolved, and if a website links to them, the link will be unresolved. This would ban websites from displaying a significant amount of content, and is probably partly-created for the benefit of the media industry (to avoid copyright infringement on many websites hosting illegal copies of films, music, and media.) SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act) is a similar bill, and it forces websites that show infringing websites off the web and calls for them to be blocked in search engines.
For me, this is not acceptable because it gives the government the ability to control what can and cannot be displayed on the Internet and takes away these freedoms. As an artist and one who appreciates the arts, I do not agree with people infringing on copyright. If passed, this bill would allow the government to monitor what you can and cannot do on the Internet, and I believe that the government should play less of a part in peoples' lives.
Also, if someone wants to illegally download content or infringe on copyright, they will find a way to do this. In many countries, it is not frowned upon, and illegal copies of DVDs and music CDs are made. If someone wants something and does not want to pay for it or pay a smaller cost for it, they will find a way to get it for less or to get it for free.
I also believe that if this bill is passed, then the government will gradually begin to control and monitor more and more aspects of our lives. I would rather the government play a much lesser part in our lives.
To protest these two bills, Wikipedia have decided to black out their website as they feel that they prohibit access to online information, and Wikipedia state,
"Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. And, SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression." (1)
The blackout consisted of using Javascript to hide the page and display a message.
The content of the page flashes up for a few seconds before slowly being replaced by the blackout graphic, which is set using Javascript. To access the content and not see the blackout message, the user could simply disable Javascript in their browser.
I hope that these bills will not be passed. I do not wish the government to play a role in what I search for online or be concerned about what I search for. I do condone copyright infringement, but I feel that these bills will not solve the issues that they portray and will affect everyone.
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