Let’s wash our hands of SOPA

Check your browsing history. Don’t worry, I won’t be asking you to send in a list; there’s no need to scramble quite so hurriedly for the delete button. I will, however, be betting that at some point in the past week you have used at least one of the following: Facebook, Google, or Youtube. And that is why SOPA effects you.

SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) is a bill currently on its way through the American legislature as we speak, and the consequences if it passes won’t be pretty. The aim of the bill, as you might have guessed, is to stop online piracy. How it will do this, however, is vague. Although reluctantly, you may see the logic in taking the Pirate Bay offline. However, your favourite services may also be heavily affected.

Under the provisions of the bill, uploading content from your favourite movie, TV show or song could become a criminal act. One group who oppose the bill, ‘Fight for the Future’, even claim that Justin Bieber could go to prison for posting covers of Usher songs online.
The tech giants claim that the ramifications will go further; the bill will most likely curb creativity, cost jobs and stifle free speech.

Until now, politicians seem to have largely avoided making any attempt to clarify exactly who or how the internet will be policed, or even if it should be, come to that. SOPA seems to some the start of a dangerous trend. If one bill can be passed, with ambiguous terms to be interpreted as convenient in order to police the content of the interwebs, how many more can follow?

Yes, it begins on the other side of the pond, but where does it end? Further, those sites we talked about (Google, Facebook, Youtube) are based in Silicon Valley, USA. Their decisions will be impacted by SOPA. You will be impacted by their decisions.

If you weren’t aware of SOPA, go forth and google. Technology is developing at an amazing pace, and it is our job to stay on top of it.