Contemporary Controversies- Online Piracy 2

http://northernstar.info/dekalb_scene/columns/article_2a7752ea-425b-11e1-b8e4-001a4bcf6878.html

Shelby Devitt sheds some light on the protests surrounding the passing of the proposed legislation to regulate online piracy. She also analyzes some of the pitfalls that occur with the acts. These acts, SOPA and PIPA, are intended to shut down websites that feature content with copyright infringement readily available. However, Devitt explains that many of these websites are not operated out of the United States, so passing the legislation would not affect them. The main victims of the bills are advertisers who chose to post their advertisements on such websites, and the bills provide a means for the government to legally pursue these advertisers and force them to pull off of the sites. The other suggested plan the bills feature is to block the URLs of the sites that are featured abroad. The problem with this is that the URLs may be blocked, but the IP addresses would remain intact and fully functioning, and that would allow for them to be accessible despite the blocked URL, and users would still have the ability to download blocked content from them. Devitt quotes the perspective of student, Steven Polak to explain the downfalls of the acts. He asserts that these acts do not stop illegal downloading, but the government enforcing this type of legislation "gives censorship power." In protest, many internet sites temporarily shut down in black outs, explains Devitt. Others featured a page that informed the user of the acts and encouraged them to take action in protest. Users had to pass this page before they could enter the site. Polak believed that websites taking action this way was a particularly good idea because it generated public awareness of what was going on in Congress.