Making sense of the PIPA protests

On Jan. 24, the United States Senate will vote on whether to censor the Internet.

If the bill passes the Senate and then the House, popular websites and companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Google will face shutdown if they do not control users and remove links and content the entertainment industry finds objectionable.

The bill is called the Protect IP Act (PIPA), and is aimed at reducing the number of illegally downloaded movies, television shows, and songs. Most of the companies that offer these types of services are outside US jurisdiction. The bill allows the government to block access to infringing domain names without due process. Corporations could sue to have links to infringing websites blocked from search engines, blogs, or forums. The government and corporations would have the power to block US advertisers and payment services from giving money to infringing companies.

In short, PIPA gives the government and the entertainment industry the power to censor and shut down any website they feel is harmful to the industry.

But PIPA will not work. Users would still be able to access any site by entering the IP address instead of the domain name in the address bar. Any person savvy enough to illegally download a movie or television show from the Internet will have the technical skill to type a few numbers instead of words.

Instead, PIPA would cripple small, young Internet companies because the bill’s language is ambiguous enough to allow copyright holders to sue any business they feel is not censoring well enough. These lawsuits would bankrupt start-up companies and kill Internet innovation. Further, popular social media sites could become targets for the actions of their users, and users who post copyrighted material face up to five years in prison for each infringement.

Finally, the government would be interfering with the infrastructure of the Internet. Experts believe a government with the ability to regulate domain names would lead to less security for users.

The government and corporations already have the tools to fight piracy and copyright infringement. They have the power to remove specific content, sue companies that provide services that may be used for copyright infringement, and to sue journalists for talking about how to infringe copyrights.

Companies and the government would have no problem stretching their new powers. The Recording Industry Association of America has used laws designed to fight large-scale copyright infringement to sue children as young as 12. The entertainment industry even sued to ban the first VCRs and MP3 players.

In response, Web sites most likely to be affected by PIPA staged a protest yesterday. Wikipedia and Reddit blocked access to their sites to show what PIPA could do to them. Google changed its logo in silent opposition. Craigslist put up a front page with a message that said, “Corporate paymasters, keep those clammy hands off the internet!”

These protests have spurred a few members of Congress to drop their support of PIPA, but more needs to be done. The American people need to send a message to Congress that reactionary tactics that would cripple small businesses and existing social media just to sell a few more DVDs is not a step in the right direction. It is a step toward censorship and a restriction on free expression.

The Internet allows for grassroots political campaigns, allows protest organizers to overthrow fascist regimes, and is the platform for one America’s fastest-growing and successful economic sectors.

The Internet should stay the way it is. Contact your national representative to oppose PIPA and any similar legislation. Tell Congress that censorship is wrong and the Internet is more valuable than the entertainment industry.

Do it before they can censor you.

 

Roy York is a second year law student at UK. Email opinions@kykernel.com.