(Published in Manila Standard Today under the Greenlight Column, February 6, 2012)
On January 18, more than 150 million of Wikipedia’s daily users were caught by surprise when they were met with a message: “Imagine a world without free knowledge.” For 24 hours on that day, the site was on a ‘blackout’ in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act, which are being taken through the US Congress.
No to censorship
Other popular sites did not follow suit but posted protest messages on their sites. Google hosted a black patch on its US site and a message urging US lawmakers not to “censor the Internet.” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook wall that his company was against the censorship law and urged Americans to further lobby congressmen about the issue. About 7,000 smaller Web sites either joined in the blackout for the day or posted some kind of protest.
At 5 a.m. of January 19, Wikipedia service was back and claimed victory, sporting a ‘thank you’ banner at the top of its page and a message ‘The Wikipedia blackout is over--and you have spoken.” The site claims that more than 162 million people had seen the blackout.
According to reports, so many people logged on to the Web sites of senators that several crashed. After getting their attention, several US Senators have publicly withdrawn support for the two controversial anti-piracy bills. A total of 18 representatives said they no longer approved of the SOPA and PIPA bills.
Protect intellectual property
The Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act in Congress are designed to curb the sales of pirated US products overseas, such as music, films, TV programs and eBooks. SOPA would allow a private party to go straight to a Web site’s advertising and payment providers and request they sever ties. Its most controversial provision is that it would have enabled federal authorities to ‘blacklist’ sites that are allegedly distributing pirated content that would essentially cut off portions of the Internet to all US users.
Supporters of these bills include the film, music, and publishing industries, which frequently see their products sold illegally through the Internet, resulting in billions of dollars of losses annually. They say the legislation is needed to protect intellectual property and jobs.
There is no question that online piracy should be stopped, but critics argue that the bills could go much further and amount to an attempt to control and censor the Internet. It could also hurt the technology industry and infringe on freedom of speech. Lawmakers in the US should balance the need to protect the media and publishing industries while upholding the rights of Internet businesses and consumers.
Texas Senator John Cornyn moved for the postponement of the bills, saying “Stealing content is theft, plain and simple, but concerns about unintended damage to the Internet and innovation in the tech sector require a more thoughtful balance, which will take more time.”
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who co-sponsored PIPA in the Senate, announced recently in his Facebook wall that he is withdrawing his support. “We’ve heard legitimate concerns about the impact the bill could have on access to the Internet and about a potentially unreasonable expansion of the federal government’s power to impact the Internet,” said his post. “Congress should listen and avoid rushing through a bill that could have many unintended consequences.”
Far-reaching implications
A balanced anti-online piracy bill will be eventually passed in the US in some other name and form; and this will have far-reaching implications the world over, including our country.
In the Philippines, where pirated movies, music, and TV programs are blatantly sold in malls, pirates download copyrighted online content, burn these on DVDs, and sell in commercial establishments.
Highlighting the state of piracy in the country was the much-publicized incident of Presidential Adviser on political affairs Ronald Llamas, who was photographed by a national daily buying pirated DVDs at a mall in Quezon City.
An anti-online piracy law in the US would reduce, if not totally eliminate unauthorized copying of content from the Internet; hence, possibly reducing the production of pirated DVDs in the country.
Reynaldo C. Lugtu Jr. teaches strategy, management and marketing courses in the MBA Program of DLSU’s RVR-College of Business. He may be e-mailed at rlugtu2002@yahoo.com, or visit his blog at http://rlugtu.blogspot.com.
On January 18, more than 150 million of Wikipedia’s daily users were caught by surprise when they were met with a message: “Imagine a world without free knowledge.” For 24 hours on that day, the site was on a ‘blackout’ in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act, which are being taken through the US Congress.
No to censorship
Other popular sites did not follow suit but posted protest messages on their sites. Google hosted a black patch on its US site and a message urging US lawmakers not to “censor the Internet.” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook wall that his company was against the censorship law and urged Americans to further lobby congressmen about the issue. About 7,000 smaller Web sites either joined in the blackout for the day or posted some kind of protest.
At 5 a.m. of January 19, Wikipedia service was back and claimed victory, sporting a ‘thank you’ banner at the top of its page and a message ‘The Wikipedia blackout is over--and you have spoken.” The site claims that more than 162 million people had seen the blackout.
According to reports, so many people logged on to the Web sites of senators that several crashed. After getting their attention, several US Senators have publicly withdrawn support for the two controversial anti-piracy bills. A total of 18 representatives said they no longer approved of the SOPA and PIPA bills.
Protect intellectual property
The Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act in Congress are designed to curb the sales of pirated US products overseas, such as music, films, TV programs and eBooks. SOPA would allow a private party to go straight to a Web site’s advertising and payment providers and request they sever ties. Its most controversial provision is that it would have enabled federal authorities to ‘blacklist’ sites that are allegedly distributing pirated content that would essentially cut off portions of the Internet to all US users.
Supporters of these bills include the film, music, and publishing industries, which frequently see their products sold illegally through the Internet, resulting in billions of dollars of losses annually. They say the legislation is needed to protect intellectual property and jobs.
There is no question that online piracy should be stopped, but critics argue that the bills could go much further and amount to an attempt to control and censor the Internet. It could also hurt the technology industry and infringe on freedom of speech. Lawmakers in the US should balance the need to protect the media and publishing industries while upholding the rights of Internet businesses and consumers.
Texas Senator John Cornyn moved for the postponement of the bills, saying “Stealing content is theft, plain and simple, but concerns about unintended damage to the Internet and innovation in the tech sector require a more thoughtful balance, which will take more time.”
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who co-sponsored PIPA in the Senate, announced recently in his Facebook wall that he is withdrawing his support. “We’ve heard legitimate concerns about the impact the bill could have on access to the Internet and about a potentially unreasonable expansion of the federal government’s power to impact the Internet,” said his post. “Congress should listen and avoid rushing through a bill that could have many unintended consequences.”
Far-reaching implications
A balanced anti-online piracy bill will be eventually passed in the US in some other name and form; and this will have far-reaching implications the world over, including our country.
In the Philippines, where pirated movies, music, and TV programs are blatantly sold in malls, pirates download copyrighted online content, burn these on DVDs, and sell in commercial establishments.
Highlighting the state of piracy in the country was the much-publicized incident of Presidential Adviser on political affairs Ronald Llamas, who was photographed by a national daily buying pirated DVDs at a mall in Quezon City.
An anti-online piracy law in the US would reduce, if not totally eliminate unauthorized copying of content from the Internet; hence, possibly reducing the production of pirated DVDs in the country.
Reynaldo C. Lugtu Jr. teaches strategy, management and marketing courses in the MBA Program of DLSU’s RVR-College of Business. He may be e-mailed at rlugtu2002@yahoo.com, or visit his blog at http://rlugtu.blogspot.com.
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