Stop Online Piracy Act

Stop Online Piracy Act, Most critics of the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act emphasize that online piracy is a major problem – they just thought the bills went too far. So now that the bills have hit a wall, what’s next?

The Consumer Electronics Association, which joined thousands of other organizations in blacking out its website last Wednesday to protest the bills, supports a different bill that refers disputes to the International Trade Commission instead of the Department of Justice. The Online Protection & Enforcement of Digital Trade Act, or OPEN Act, would not create frivolous lawsuits or have the collateral damage of SOPA or PIPA, said CEA’s vice president of government affairs Michael Petricone.

The halting of SOPA and PIPA allows stakeholders to “step back” and “reset” and think about reasonable solutions, Petricone said, adding that an ideal solution would make both the content and tech/Internet communities happy. And while SOPA and PIPA could be amended and advanced again, they have become so “toxic and radioactive” that they likely won’t make any progress.

“No one wants to come close to them,” Petricone said.

While the OPEN Act is much better than SOPA or PIPA, and includes some practical solutions to online piracy problems, there is no rush to push a bill through, said Art Brodsky, the communications director of Public Knowledge.

“We’re not prepared to throw [the OPEN Act] out, but we don’t think there’s any need to go ahead and pass something,” Brodsky said.

Wikipedia Blackout

Wikipedia Blackout, Wikipedia will go dark all day Jan. 18, 2012, along with Reddit and Boing Boing as a protest to the SOPA and PIPA bills in Congress. (ABC)

Do not try to look up “Internet Censorship” or “SOPA” or “PIPA” on Wikipedia, the giant online encyclopedia, on Wednesday. SOPA and PIPA are two bills in Congress meant to stop the illegal copying and sharing of movies and music on the Internet, but major Internet companies say the bills would put them in the impossible position of policing the online world.

Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, says his site will go dark for the day on Wednesday, joining a budding movement to protest the two bills.

“This is going to be wow,” Wales said on Twitter. “I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know!”

Several sources said members of Congress, reacting to the online objections, were pulling back on parts of SOPA and PIPA to which Internet companies object. But the protest movement continued for the time being.

Other sites, such as Reddit and Boing Boing, have already said they would go dark on Wednesday. And some of the biggest names online, including Google, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, have vocally opposed the proposed legislation.

PIPA, the Protect IP Act in the Senate, and SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, have been presented as a way to protect movie studios, record labels and others. Supporters range from the Country Music Association to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.