In the past few days, the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) have gone from looking like they had a good chance of passing to, at least for now, quite the contrary. Both SOPA in the House and PIPA in the Senate would target foreign websites accused of enabling piracy by forbidding advertisers and payment processors from doing business with them, as well as allowing Internet service providers to block access to them. SOPA would require search engines not to list such sites, while PIPA would allow copyright holders to request court orders shutting down access to websites accused – without proof – of hosting pirated content.
Big business groups such as the Motion Picture Association of America, Recording Industry Association of America, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce support the two bills, while major websites, understandably, tend to oppose them, as do libertarian-leaning people.
On Wednesday numerous websites, including Wikipedia, Google, Craigslist, Reddit, Amazon, WordPress, Mozilla, and Wired, went dark (to various extents) to protest the bills. Various public figures, including 83 of the original architects of the Internet, expressed their opposition to SOPA and PIPA. The outrage spread throughout social media, to the streets, and to congressional offices’ phone lines and inboxes, thanks to the protests organized by tech companies and websites dedicated to Internet freedom, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, NetCoalition, Black Out SOPA, Stop American Censorship, and more.
But some more unlikely people stood up for Internet freedom as well. Earlier in the week, the White House expressed its opposition to the bills in a press release, saying, ”any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity.” Additionally, at least 10 senators and 20 representatives publicly announced their opposition to the legislation, some of whom were previously co-sponsors. They include senators Jim DeMint (R-SC), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and John Boozman (R-AK), as well as Representatives Rick Larsen (D-WA), Ben Quayle (R-AZ), Dennis Ross (D-FL), and Lee Terry (R-NE). Verizon, Netflix, GoDaddy, and Verizon also withdrew their support.
Furthermore, all four candidates in last night’s Republican presidential debate said they opposed SOPA and PIPA. Rick Santorum was the least enthusiastic, expressing his opposition to the bills as written but saying, “The Internet is not a free zone where people can do anything they want to do and trample the rights of other people.” Newt Gingrich called the proposed laws “exactly the wrong thing to do,” and Mitt Romney called them “too intrusive” and said, “I’m standing for freedom.” Ron Paul said he was the first house Republican to oppose the laws and added, “The Republicans, unfortunately, have been on the wrong side of this issue.”
This means that SOPA, at least for now, will not face a vote in the House. The Senate is still planning to vote on PIPA on Tuesday, but they may not have the necessary 60 votes, and any bill that passes may well be vetoed by Obama.
Having been in the pro-liberty minority many times on various issues, I think it’s great to see so many mainstream websites and organizations, and the public at large, take the right side (in my opinion) in this debate on Internet freedom. The New York Times called it “a moment when the new economy rose up against the old.” USA Today says, “Score one for tech geeks up in arms.” And Ron Paul proclaimed during the debate, “Freedom and the Constitution bring coalitions together, and this is a good example.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
