Over the past few months, there has been massive controversy resulting from the introduction of the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) bill into United States Congress. The bill would attempt to combat online theft of copyright material by blocking Internet domains found in violation, essentially censoring the Internet. The outcry against the bill by Internet users has been phenomenal, setting into motion real-life protests and even a “Blackout Day” of popular sites like Wikipedia and Google. These actions were successful and led to a postponement of the bill on January 20th. While the bill has been postponed, the argument between those who support SOPA and those who do not is far from over. Personally, I side with those who do not support it.
In our Information Age of today, a bill like SOPA could potentially be one of the most harmful acts ever imposed upon the country. It would mean that any site where user-posted content is possible could be in danger. This includes sites like Facebook, Wikipedia, and every image board and forum on the entire Web. If copyrighted material is found on a site, it must be removed or legal action can be taken. It would also require that search engines such as Google could not redirect to the offending site in a search. This copyrighted material is not just limited to songs and movies. It also includes clips and screenshots from full movies and television shows. This would not only censor the Internet but could potentially kill websites like YouTube and Tumblr where users share pop culture interests.
Of course, I’m not just against SOPA because it would possibly shut down some of my favorite websites. It could have a large amount of far-reaching, indirect consequences. Take for example Google’s fight against the Chinese government. When they censored China’s Internet, Google decided they would rather leave the country. What would happen to the United States if Google, a major search provider and company, decided to stop offering its services? Another question is that of a “censorship arms race” between countries. If our government managed to censor the Internet, how would other countries respond? It is most likely that they would attempt to follow by example. Of course, this is all a massive violation of the First Amendment.
I do realize there is another side of the argument. SOPA would indeed protect copyrighted property and bring the fight against Internet piracy nearly to a close. The intentions of the bill are definitely good ones, as some musicians and such make their living through selling works on the Internet. However, there are better ways to go about this than total Internet censorship.
Some musicians have already put in measures to prevent piracy of their work. Artists like Radiohead have put music on their websites with the option to download the music for free or make a donation of any amount. This eliminates the need to download the music illegally, and can even make the artist more profit than just releasing an album how they normally do. This is working evidence that there are better ways to prevent piracy.
There is always the question of whether Internet piracy could be considered “ethical” or not. While my opinion is relatively uncertain on this matter, I do know that it will not stop anytime soon. The FBI’s takedown of file sharing site Megaupload has caused a rise in Internet piracy due to the fear that it will become unavailable. In the past, websites such as The Pirate Bay have avoided persecution by moving to other countries and circumventing United States copyright laws. The FBI’s removal of Megaupload is a demonstration of how censorship would catch a few criminals by punishing the majority. While there were pirated files on Megaupload, the site was also used by many as a perfectly legal file drop-box. A persecution of the many to punish the few is exactly what would happen should SOPA pass and the Internet become censored.
All-in-all, I simply don’t think that passing a bill like SOPA would be beneficial in the long run. While it would indeed quickly solve the issue of piracy, the solution would only be temporary and the bills long-lasting harmful effects would well outweigh its good ones. Piracy will never just go away, and there are better ways to fight it than total censorship.
