Digital News Report – On January 18th, 2012, while several major website on the Internet went on strike, the Mayor of San Francisco, Edwin M. Lee, released a statement about how the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act (PIPA) are overkill and threaten to undermine innovation and the economy.
The statement released by Mayor Lee said,
“Innovative technology and new media companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the nation are creating hundreds of thousands of good jobs and driving our economic recovery. While protecting intellectual property against piracy is extremely important, we must not take steps that stifle the free exchange of information on the internet or harm critical engines for jobs and economic growth. As currently proposed, both SOPA and PIPA are overkill. This is a new frontier, and I strongly urge members of the House and Senate to consider all the issues at stake more carefully and seek greater input from all impacted communities to help craft a more focused solution that protects against piracy while preserving the free flow of information that is a cornerstone of the 21st century economy. As a nation, we cannot afford to undermine our innovation economy, jeopardize thousands of jobs, and threaten the basic architecture of the Internet.”
The Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA, as well as the PROTECT-IP Act, both have the same meaning. Both would give the US Government the power to block the entire website that has illegally linked to or has uploaded copyrighted material on the server from allowing people in the US to access the domain.
Many sites have gone on strike against both legislations online, and offline in New York City, on January 18th, 2012, including Wikipedia, Minecraft, Google, Tumblr, and many others. The strike has been mentioned in news broadcasts, and was the largest online protest in history. PIPA and SOPA bills have not been passed by legislature, nor has it been vetoed yet. PIPA is going to be voted on in Congress on January 24th, 2012.
By: Greg Cook