Have you heard? There is a protest going on today. The protest is international in scope. It is not the Occupy Movement or the Arab Spring but it might be just as important. If you use the internet regularly you should educate yourself on the reason for this protest.
Several internet sites are going dark in protest of two American bills that have been put forward in their congress and in their senate respectively that would limit the freedom we enjoy on the internet. The bills are called the Stop Online Piracy Act (of SOPA for short) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA for short). The purpose of these bills is to address internet sites that expressly promote piracy of copyrighted material. This material includes music, movies, books, and software.
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I’m Canadian so why should I be concerned about American legislation? Well, it is a global community these days and what happens in the United States, and else where in the world, does affect us. In this case, these bills could directly affect Canadians.
Stopping online thieves is a laudable goal but there are problems with this set of bills. University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist notes in the Globe and Mail this morning that these bills have a reach that goes far beyond the protection of copyright. However, it does not do the job of copyright protection. A lose/lose proposition.
The basis of the procecution abilities under the Acts hinges on the location of IP addresses of the servers or computers that warehouse websites. Take a moment now and think about how many online services originate out of the United States. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Flickr would be directly impacted by this legislation. Online data storage sites, like DropBox are based in the United States. If just one person uploads a pirated, copyrighted item to one of these sites, these sites could be liable of copyright infringement. With millions of users on these sites, how could a company possibly police its users effectively? Will a company continue to offer these services, especially for free, if it must assume a high risk of being sued. Ultimately, these bills could impact our access to these services.
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What is flawed about these bills is that the legislative drafters do not appreciate the nature and complexity of the internet.
The purpose of the internet is to share information. Often the price of the access to that information is $0. Companies such as movie studios, record companies, and book publishers are supporting these bills because piracy affects their profits. Their dire warning is that it will also affect jobs for the America people.
The only problem with that prediction is that copyright protection or not, the profit margin on items like music, movies and books are already becoming very small. Jobs will be lost anyway unless you are a programmer or graphic artist. Expensive hard copies is a flawed business model in the age of the internet. These companies need to get a mitt and get in the game. People do not want to pay $25 for a book, a CD, or movie DVD anymore. The information and entertainment value is the same if it is warehoused on a disc, behind a hard cover, on my computer or on Netflix. Where the money is to be made, is by cultivating a fan base. Die-hard fans pay good money for just about anything made by an artist they love. Mass markets are passé.
Let’s also remember that computer-savy pirates are creative folks. If one site is taken down, it might take a pirate a few hours to put up another site with a different IP address. They will be laughing all the way to their off-shore bank accounts. The legislation is a blunt instrument that will probably only adversely affect those companies in legitimate businesses. Black markets have thrived for centuries. The internet just offers a different type of back alley for those who want to fence stolen goods.
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What I find particularly interesting about this protest is that the protest itself is a demonstration of the power of the internet. It would take an awfully long time to collect the signatures of thousands of people the old fashioned way. Now it takes a day. So, today is that one day where people are protesting this legislation.
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The internet is fluid and quick. Information sharing takes a matter of seconds. I can look up the definition or description of anything. I can follow a trending topic on Twitter. I can quickly post an a link to my friends. Where did I learn about these bills? On the internet.
Access to information and my ability to share that information is at stake. That’s why I’m concerned about what is happening in the United States. Yes, the bills are both stalled today, but they are not dead.
Please take some time to understand this issue. If what you learn worries you, then go add your name to the protest and ask the United States government to drop these bills all together. Thanks.
Now, I’m going to check Twitter…
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Cheers, Catherine, Location: Edmonton, AB
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Thanks for reading! If you found this information useful, informative or even entertaining, please share. I really appreciate it!
