These three sources show the different phases of this debate. The first is an article in the Washington post titled “SOPA(Stop Online Piracy Act) debate: why are Google and Facebook against it ?” delves into the different sides of the debate from the perspective those affected. The second is a blog titled “SLAC colloquium examines Wikipedia’s protest of SOPA, PIPA on may 7”. It discusses the actions which the affected parties have taken to stand against the bill. The third is a journal article titled “Combating Online Piracy while Protecting an Open and Innovative Internet”. It petitions to it’s readers by stating the reasons the bill would be detrimental to the Internet innovation while also stating the need for alternatives to the bill. These sources explore all sides of the debate and show the actions that are being taken for or against SOPA.
Source 1
Title: SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) debate: Why are Google and Facebook against it?
Author: Beth Marlow
Summary: This article discusses both arguments pertaining to SOPA. SOPA’s critics include internet giants such as Yahoo, Google, Facebook and the Consumer Electronics Association who believe the act is a ” full-on assault against lawful U.S. Internet companies.” on the other extreme is the Motion Picture Association of America, pharmaceuticals makers, media firms and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They lament over the estimated $135 billion in revenue lost each year to piracy and they believe the act is needed to protect jobs.
Useful Information: This article furthers the discussion by accessing the effect of the act on the artist themselves. while the law would protect established musicians from having their work stolen online. It would also prevent amateur remixes, covers and mash-ups of works by others because “these works would be considered copyright violations, and not only could the creator of the work be legally vulnerable, but also could the host of the content.” This is useful to the debate because it shows how this act helps established artist protect their work but inhibits the creativity of amateurs.
Further Research: this source discusses two books that have opposing views of the effect of online piracy . One titled “remix” by Lawrence Lessig which argues that copyright laws should allow amateur creativity. The other is titled“Free Ride: How Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back.” by Robert Levine who thinks “the best way to save artists’ jobs is to strengthen copyright laws”.
Source 2
Title:Wikipedia’s protest of SOPA, PIPA on May 7
Author: Alexander Wise
Summary: Internet giant Wikipedia intended to have a black-out on their site in order to protest the bill because they believe the bill oversteps it bound and it would ” have a chilling effect on the sharing of legitimate content.”
Useful Information: just gives some insight into the symbolism of the protest sites that would be forced permanently offline by SOPA wanted to show the internet world what it would be like without their services. This is only pertinent because it shows how seriously some companies are taking this act.
Further Research: It would be interesting to find out what other internet companies are doing. This could lead to comparisons of methods for example offline protest vs lobbying.
Source 3
Title: Combating Online Piracy while Protecting an Open and Innovative Internet
Authors: Victoria Espinel, Aneesh Chopra, and Howard Schmidt
Summary: It states the importance of the preservation of the free and innovative nature of the internet. any law which is intended to protect the artistic property from piracy must not open the door for frivolous litigation that would discourage innovation. if the proposed plan manipulates the Domain Name System it could pose a threat to cyber security. although online piracy is a major problem that cost a lot of people their jobs, the laws that combat piracy should neither impede innovation nor reduce cyber security.
Useful Information: This journal explicitly explores and explains the risk that come with SOPA. This is paramount to the topic at hand because it paints a big picture of the consequences of SOPA. It also considers the need for an act such as SOPA. finally it suggests a middle-ground solution.
“Let us be clear—online piracy is a real problem that harms the American economy, and threatens jobs for significant numbers of middle class workers and hurts some of our nation’s most creative and innovative companies and entrepreneurs. It harms everyone from struggling artists to production crews, and from startup social media companies to large movie studios. While we are strongly committed to the vigorous enforcement of intellectual property rights, existing tools are not strong enough to root out the worst online pirates beyond our borders”
Students Against Censorship 