In the receding wake of the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act, or Protect IP Act) acts, many people have come to the realization that some forms of censorship have already been put in place.
In the receding wake of the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act, or Protect IP Act) acts, many people have come to the realization that some forms of censorship have already been put in place.
Back in October of 2011, President Obama signed ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement bill. Much like the now scrapped SOPA and PIPA bills, ACTA was written in order to protect intellectual property.
ACTA acts as a way of establishing international standards to protect the rights to intellectual property, generic medicines and copyright infringement on the internet. In doing so, ACTA becomes a governing body outside of other founded governments, much like the United Nations or the World Trade Organization.
The U.S. is not alone in signing this bill; other countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea, have also agreed to comply with ACTA.
While ACTA is nowhere near as severe as SOPA or PIPA, opponents of the bill have argued that it restricts civil and digital rights. These rights include freedom of expression and communication privacy. ACTA is more concerned with fighting internet piracy of intellectual property than regulating what people post on their personal blogs. But that’s only the beginning.
Midway through January, internet users were shocked to find that MegaUpload, a file sharing and data storage website, had been shut down. The owners of MegaUpload were arrested, found guilty of massive copyright infringement and indicted.
MegaUpload was generally used as an easy way to obtain music, television programs and movies. The website had many sub-sections including, megavideo.com, an ad-supported video hosting site, and megapix.com, a photo-hosting site reminiscent of the long ago forgotten photobucket.com. Megaupload also had sub-sites for live video-streaming, music hosting, and a file sharing site solely dedicated to pornography.
Over the last few years many countries, including Hong Kong, blocked access to megaupload.com. While Megaupload never made an official disclosure as to why their site had been blocked numerous times, Hong Kong Customs officials suggested it was an attempt to escape from legal investigations.
In December of 2011, Megaupload released a music video titled: “The Mega Song.” This video depicted musicians such as Kanye “Imma Let You Finish” West, Snoop Dogg and Alicia Keys. The video contained no copyrighted material, and all the artists had signed agreements stating that they endorsed the website.
The music video was uploaded to YouTube.com, but later removed after the record company Universal Music Group requested said action. Universal eventually apologized to MegaUpload and the music video was returned to YouTube, although the reasons behind the take down were never disclosed.
The dealings that go on behind the closed doors of the internet are shady. With the rise (and eventual downfall) of websites like MegaUpload, Mediafire and Rapidshare, it has never been more important to be aware of censorship.
Following the demise of MegaUpload, multiple protests, both online and real-life, took place. Many websites, including the god-like Wikipedia, participated in blackout protests. Wikipedia went so far as to block all usage for a day.
The U.S. Department of Justice took its site and many other government websites offline due to hacking attacks by the “hacktivist” group Anonymous. Since Anonymous has succeeded in hacking many websites in the past, it was a wise decision on the USDJ’s part to take down their site.
Government-supported websites are not the only one being threatened by those for and against anti-censorship advocates.
The Motion Picture Association of America and its head, former Senator Chris Dodd, have been accused of attempting to intimidate lawmakers into supporting current and future anti-piracy acts.
Dodd and his goons have threatened to cut off campaign contributions to politicians who do not support their efforts to catch those pesky copyright infringers.
In an interview on Fox News (you know, the best, most unbiased news source out there), Dodd was quoted as saying, “Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.”
Someone should tell Dodd that acting like a little baby will only get him so far.
The MPAA should quit its whining. It is already a multi-billion dollar corporation. Rather than crying about the thousands (not billions) of dollars they lose every year from piracy, it should concentrate on what it does best: doling out unfair ratings to all the movies released in the U.S.
Regulating what we can view and/or download via the internet can only do so much. “It’s pointless because people are going to find a way to pirate stuff if they want to no matter what the government does. It’s gonna cause more piracy than what’s already happening,” said biology freshman Lianne Weller on the subject of censorship.
What Weller said is true. Even if future forms of SOPA or PIPA are passed, piracy is always going to happen. Our society is too technologically advanced to let some government censorship stand in the way of our music and movie needs.
However, what is more important than fighting off possible censorship is being aware of what is going on and what you can do to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Many anti-censorship websites exist. Just like with SOPA and PIPA, there are organizations working to petition the onslaught of censorship. These organizations suggest lobbying politicians (like state senators, etc.) and asking them to not support bills such as this.
Learn about how to fight internet censorship while the information is still available to us. If this kind of legislation goes into mass-effect, it’s going to affect everyone. If we give anti-piracy activists an inch, they will take a mile. A mile of internet means no more Tumblr or Reddit.
So if you value free information (read: Wikipedia), take a stand. Get informed and get involved! Fight censorship!
