The Stop Online Piracy Act seems like a good idea – protect copyright owners from digital piracy. Who wouldn’t agree with that? Turns out quite a few people, including free speech activists and technology companies and sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, Google, Reddit, and others who fear that the language of the bill would make it easy to shut them down on just an accusation of piracy. How worried are they? Some major sites, including Wikipedia, are planning to “go black” on January 18th as a protest. Are they overreacting?
Check out these overviews and opinions:
SOPA is not the only Internet anti-piracy bill making its way through Congress. PIPA (PROTECT IP Act) is more narrowly focused on similar issues. If you want to learn more, check out Congressional Digest’s overview and scroll down for the Pro/Con arguments. Outside of the library, you’ll need your library card and PIN to access this copyright-protected content.
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