Protect IP Act in the United States

In an effort to protest and raise awareness of two bills introduced by United States government representatives, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), popular websites like Wikipedia and approximately 7,000 other sites in January 2012 formed a united front in the form of a “blackout.” The bills were said to have come about with the intention of finding a solution to the problem of online piracy, and protecting American intellectual property and innovation.

Millions of people claim the legislation threatens free speech and innovation, and would allow our government to limit or block access to entire internet domains. The outrage and demonstrations spread across the nation not only through website blackouts, but in the form of boycotts, rallies and petitions as well. Censorship of the internet, in many people’s opinion, is a direct infringement of the 1st Amendment rights.

The internet has definitely given society a form of freedom of expression at an unsurpassed level, making it easy to see why proposals like SOPA and PIPA caught so much flack from the general public. The prospect of a censored or blocked world wide web certainly does not sound appealing.

However, some think about what then is the solution to protecting the rights of artists and innovators that do require some form of defense. They ask how much would the proposed monitoring and blocking of access to particular sites and content actually affect the people ability to garner a well-rounded education on a given topic.