You might be aware of the protests that took place yesterday, Wednesday, 18th of January on the internet. Various giant websites such as Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, and Craigslist took action against SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act.
The move was an unusual one, as it was the first time when websites joined in order to fight against a governmental bill. Wikipedia blacked out its website, meaning that their articles were unavailable for 24 hours. Google displayed a link to a petition, and it seems that 4.5 million people signed it in 24 hours. Twitter stated that more than 2 million tweets were related to the subject, which was much more than in the previous days. According to Engine Advocacy, a service that helps people call their local members of Congress, more than 2,000 calls were made per second.
Protests Against SOPA (Source: blog.brandprotect.com)
People from New York, San Francisco, and Seattle went in the street in order to protest against the bill. They were few, but even so, their efforts should be taken in consideration. The bill wants to remove the foreign websites which contain copyright materials from the search engines. However, according to the tech industry, the bill is too big, and too ambiguous, and in the current form, it could represent a serious threat to the freedom of speech and to the online freedom.
Protests Against SOPA (Source: img.ibtimes.com)
The ones who support the bill stated that it is very difficult for them to express their opinions. The reason for that is the fact that no one listens to them. People have already formed their opinion about the bill, which the supporters consider to be wrong, and because of that, they are indifferent to what the supporters of the bill want to say. It is unknown what the future will hold, if the bill will be modified or not.
11