Several companies have come together today in an unusual protest: they have closed their sites to resist the laws discussed in Congress, aimed at stopping piracy and protecting intellectual property online. Wikipedia was the first company who has sacrificed the website on this day to draw attention to the catastrophic effects that the two laws would have on the Internet. Those who have accessed Wikipedia site today were greeted by a black background page with the message “Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge”, followed by the explanation: ” For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history.
Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia” and concluded by inviting users to make their voices heard through social networking. One of the most influential websites is, therefore, against the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act).
What happens if SOPA and PIPA laws will be approved?
The two laws have high chances to be approved, given that they enjoy support in the Senate. On the other hand, a growing number of activist groups and public petitions were lately asking President Obama to veto the laws. Any address that is suspected of providing content that violates the intellectual property will be blocked by DNS method, practiced in China, Iran and Syria. Censorship would reach new standards in the United States, therefore. Revenue from Web traffic, advertising and search traffic would also be blocked. Concerned are, first, social networks, personal pages and hosting pages. The approval of the two laws would lead to auto-censorship and to hindering the launch of new web applications, a significant source of income in the United States.
In short, companies that oppose the two laws say that SOPA and PIPA would lead to blocking some of the most popular sites, e-mail content can be controlled and modified by the authorities, and the content of social networks would be most likely more closely monitored and censored.
Lobbying efforts by major U.S. companies
Users can not access Wikipedia today, Reddit and I Can Has Cheezburger, but the number of companies that protest against SOPA and PIPA laws is incomparably greater. Twitter and Google have been heavily involved in communication implications that come with the two laws and gaining support from users. The protest is intended to show users what would mean that the two laws be approved, and Wikipedia is the first in a long line of companies that protest today, January 18.
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