Citizens around the globe are more concerned than ever with SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), ACTA (Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), and PIPA (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act). Behind all of these mechanisms are economic interests from big companies who claim to lose more than 200 billion euros per year, due to piracy.

The legislation has broad support from organizations that rely on copyright, such as the Motion Pictures Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, Macmillan US, Viacom, Nike, L´Oreal, and Acushnet among others. The opposition group includes companies such as Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, AOL, Linkendin, Ebay, Mozilla Corporation, Human Rights Watch, and many more.

SOPA and PIPA are two sister bills currently being considered by the House of Commons and the Senate, respectively. Both are designed to tackle the problem of foreign-based websites that sell pirated movies, music and other products. SOPA and PIPA are very similar, but SOPA includes a provision making it illegal to stream unauthorized copyrighted content. Access could be blocked by making it impossible for users to type in a simple web address into a browser to reach the site, or by requiring search engines like Google to disable links to the sites.

What is clear, is that ACTA and SOPA have the same objective, which is to protect against copyright infringement, by blocking certain elements of the internet.  Monica Horten (www.iptegrity.com) defines SOPA as a mechanism to stop websites from being visible or trading in the United States, in order to avoid American citizens getting access to websites and services which are hosted outside the United States.

SOPA is a theft and antipiracy bill that seeks to protect American property, so it appears like a way to give US authorities carte blanche to police copyright worldwide.

It is important to point out that ACTA does not comply with American intellectual property and copyright law, as SOPA does, stopping websites that are indulging in unethical behavior, such as cyber crimes, or intellectual property right violations, which can be forced to be taken down or blocked in U.S. websites. For example, Megavideo and Megaloud have been some of the victims of SOPA, while FilseSonic has disabled its feature allowing users to share files on its site.

ACTA could be viewed as international version of SOPA, which aims to establish international intellectual property standards, focusing on conterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement. Countries need to have their own versions of copyright law. The proposals of ACTA focus on counterfeit goods and generic medications. This means that generic drugs and food patents will be more difficult to obtain in countries like India and Brazil, who are against ACTA.

Phil Hunt, the UK Pirate Party’s foreign policy spokesman told theinquirer.net: “Criticism of ACTA has often focused on the harm it will do to the Internet, but that doesn’t address one of the most important issues that ACTA presents: the fact that it will kill sick people in developing countries by denying them access to affordable generic drugs- whilst doing nothing to address the issue of unsafe counterfeit medications.”

The ACTA treaty was signed by the United States, Australia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea last October. The European Union, Mexico, and Switzerland have not yet signed because of their domestic procedures. The treaty has be to translated into all of the E.U. languages. In the United States, there is a petition to end ACTA and to protect internet privacy, signed by more than 30,000 citizens who are calling on the Obama administration to veto the treaty.

In Europe, opposition to ACTA has picked up in the past few weeks, with thousands protesting across Eastern Europe and in Germany, France, and Ireland. On January 26, while the Polish Government signed ACTA, Polish Members of Parliament wore Guy Fawkes masks, like the one in V for Vendetta, in order to protest the treaty. It was an ironic jab at Time Warner, who owns the intellectual rights to the movie.

Last week, the European Union suspended attempts to ratify the international anti-counterfeiting treaty, ACTA, and asked Europe’s high court to see if the controversial proposal violates any fundamental E.U. rights. E.U. trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said on Wednesday that an opinion from the European court of justice would clear what he called the “fog of misinformation” surrounding ACTA. De Gucht told reporters in Brussels, “ACTA will not censor websites, or shut them down; ACTA will not hinder freedom of the internet or freedom of speech.”

De Gucht continued, “Intellectual property is Europe’s main raw material, but the problem is that we currently struggle to protect it outside the E.U. This hurts our companies, destroys jobs, and harms our economies.”

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidberkowitz/

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Controversial YouTube user AnonymousVoice777 has made a video threatening to target the servers hosting Facebook, Twitter and more in light of Congress’ recent closure of Megaupload.com.

Less than 72 hours after the closure of popular file-sharing website Megaupload, YouTube user AnonymousVoice777 has posted a video in which threats are made to the security of social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as to corporate companies and even the United Nations. The video’s narrator, using the guise of a voice modulator, dictates that:

“We are prepared to unleash a full-scale global blackout of these websites … if Megaupload is not reinstated to the Internet. We have access to banking and credit card information of millions of citizens … to those who support SOPA … you have been warned.”

The video closes with the voice declaring:

“We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

The claims made here are as of yet unsubstantiated, but the video has become a viral sensation since it was first posted on January 19th, so far attracting close to half a million hits while AnonymousVoice777’s YouTube channel has amassed over 2,000 subscribers. There is no indication that the threats made here will indeed amount to anything in execution, however, the popularity of the video suggests that public opposition to the highly-contested SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) bills is as strong as ever.

These bills, which seek to make amendments to the current rules and monitoring of copyright piracy, have so far been stalled after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith postponed the vote “until there is wider agreement on a solution.” Nevertheless, supporters of AnonymousVoice777 appear eager to continue in their protests of the bills before any such vote can be carried out, with one further video appearing on late Monday (January 23rd) with information on how the public can get involved with this alleged multi-platform blackout.

The gargled narrator repeats its earlier declaration and provides an in-depth breakdown of how this blackout would take place on its scheduled date of January 28th.

AnonymousVoice777’s identity remains unknown, however, the possibility of it being a title adopted by unconnected opposers to SOPA and PIPA has been raised after Senator Chuck Grassley’s Twitter account was hacked by a figure urging Grassley’s followers:

“Dear Iowans, vote against ACTA, SOPA, and PIPA because this man, Chuck Grassley wants YOUR Internet censored and all of that BS.”

These tweets have since been deleted and no reference to the hacking was made in AnonymousVoice777’s latest YouTube video, thus, the uncertainty over the user’s true identity has only served to strengthen public interest in these proposed acts of protests; whether or not anything will come of these allegation remains to be seen.

Rob Kints / Shutterstock.com

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After an entire day of #SOPASTRIKE on the web, joined by giants like Wikipedia, Reddit, Boing Boing, Google, WordPress, Mozilla, and many others, the discussion over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is still far from coming to an end.

Wednesday January 18, a large number of sites voluntarily blacked out for 24 hours – from 8 am to 8 pm EST – while other sites, as a sign of solidarity, featured anti-SOPA content on their home pages to protest against this controversial anti-piracy bill considered by opponents a real threat to internet freedom.

The SOPA strike was the largest online protest in the history of the Internet, “Nothing like this has ever happened before,” commented Fight For the Future, a non-profit that helped organize the virtual strike.

“This is the biggest online protest in history, and it’s no wonder,” said Holmes Wilson, co-founder of Fight For The Future. “Internet users have grown up around the abuse of copyright laws to punish political speech, creativity, and successful businesses. So the thought of giving rightsholders the power to erase entire sites from the web is horrifying to us.”

Millions of people defending the online community and its right to freedom of speech and expression, joined together both online and offline with the aim of pushing Congress to block the bill. Protestors were meeting up for street rallies in various American cities as New York and San Francisco and gathering in front of senators offices to make their voice heard.

The unprecedented online protest which has caught the attention of the world was sparked by an anti-piracy legislation that could change the Internet as we know it. In fact, the impact and the consequences of SOPA, and its related Senate bill PIPA (PROTECT IP Act), could be tragic for web users’ freedom of speech, for businesses, for users’ online privacy as for the nature of the Internet itself.

As stated by Laurence H. Tribe, a Harvard University professor of constitutional law, in an open letter on the web, SOPA “would undermine the openness and free exchange of information at the heart of the Internet. And it would violate the First Amendment.”

Also the Obama administration expressed skepticism over SOPA in an online statement released Saturday January 14, “While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet.”

Moreover, the consequences of SOPA could go beyond the United States, triggering a global chain reaction as pointed out on November 2011 in an article of Cynthia Wong, director of the Project on Global Internet Freedom at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

“If SOPA and PIPA are enacted, the US government must be prepared for other governments to follow suit, in service to whatever social policies they believe are important—whether restricting hate speech, insults to public officials, or political dissent,” wrote Wong.

In spite of all the criticism, the unprecedented SOPA online protest, and the growing opposition it has roused, the Stop Online Piracy Act has not stopped its track yet. The debate is to be continued and the vote, even if delayed once again, is still on the Congress’ agenda, presumably for February.

The vote on the PIPA legislation is scheduled for January 24 but public opinion and that of the senators is still split, and controversy is far from over. What is sure is that next weeks will be crucial – for the future of internet.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillipstearns/

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In late October last year, former Texan ranch manager Rep. Lamar Smith introduced the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) to the House of Representatives. The legislation was announced under the banner of being the United States next and ultimate weapon against ‘rogue sites’: offshore web sites in nations less concerned with copyright infringement than the States, but whose location makes them an out-of-reach target for American prosecution.

The Chamber of Commerce phrased their motivation in the following way, to the New York Times: “Rogue web sites that steal America’s innovative and creative products attract more than 53 billion visits a year and threaten more than 19 million American jobs.”

Over 400 businesses and organizations have expressed enthusiasm and support of SOPA, but the most vocal supporters have been the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

As you could expect, the entertainment industry is on the front line when it comes to seeing this piece of legislation to term and have outspent Internet companies in lobbying effort, funneling more than $91 million into support for SOPA and its related Senate bill the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which is under similar scrutiny. This is more than the entertainment industry has ever spent on lobbying. Ever.

While anti-piracy laws have been in place for years, many would not be unfamiliar with the idea that efforts to stop illegal downloading of copyrighted content fall short of discouraging the practice. Opponents of SOPA have equally acknowledged that protection of copyrights and trademarks both in and outside of the US is a real concern which should be addressed. However, as lifehacker.com puts it:

[T]he Stop Online Piracy Act, is another one of those bills that sound like it’s going to do something mildly positive but, in reality, has serious potential to negatively change the internet as we know it.

The outcry throughout the digital community has been strong and continues to grow. Netcoalition.com has compiled a list of companies and organizations who oppose SOPA/PIPA  and voice after voice has broken down the issues and dangers involved in the legislation for everyone to understand:

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

There is even a protest song.

Like the supporters, the opposers have one overall reason against: it will be the end of the Internet as we know it. The effects are expected to ripple through the landscape of electronic content and ruin many of the services which have become deeply ingraned in the 21st century.

Though supporters deny that the impact will be as severe as anticipated, the expected negative impact range from user content websites becoming reliable by default and forced to either censor users or shut down (Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) mentions that sites such as Etsy, Flickr and Vimeo would be blacklisted), to seriously undermining DNS, DNSSEC and other means of internet security to full blown invasion of privacy and threatening freedom of speech online.

In between you have the discouragement of investing in web-related businesses, the downfall of open source software and the dangerous presumption that the United States ‘owns’ the Internet and can overextend its laws beyond its borders.

In mid-November, the nay-sayers were joined by high profile web companies who sent a letter to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, signalling the battle to come. But the months ahead could be a battle uphill; Cnet.com reported that support for PIPA is “remarkably broad, and for SOPA a little less so.”

Apparently, an analysis show that out of 1882 bills introduced in the 112th Congress, PIPA is one out of only 19 which has enjoyed substantial bipartisan support. This has made it one of the most popular bills so far, and while SOPA is newer in comparison, it has been gaining an equal momentum.

PIPA is currently on the fast-track to approval, and SOPA seems to be right behind it. What internet users and web businesses around the world seem to have most animosity towards is the wording of the bill; there are serious concerns that the bill makes overreach a real liability. However, the real scope of the repercussions will have to be assessed once the bill’s approval goes into its final stage, and it is possible that the bleak predictions will be curbed.

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