Trying to clean up the Internet with SOPA

News agencies are awash with SOPA at the moment.

No it’s not the Sydney Olympic Park Archers, SOPA (also known as the Stop Online Privacy Act) is a bill proposed by congress to combat “rogue” websites. This is an amicable move but there has been a backlash from tech experts and industry insiders saying that the bill is badly written and too broad. They say that instead of protecting copyright holders it is censoring freedom of speech on the Internet.

If passed it will give powers to copyright holders and the U.S. government to give court orders to websites that they deem criminal or associated with privacy. Both parties can also force U.S. based Internet Service Providers, payment processors, advertisers and even search engines to stop cooperating with these “rogue” websites.

Today the White House have released this post in reaction to the anti-SOPA movement. In the article they outline the purpose of the bill, define its role and who it will be protecting.

To combat this unpopular bill, Reddit, Wikipedia and a blog called Boing Boing have staged protests where they have ‘blacked out’ to voice their opposition to SOPA. Today Google interestingly waded in to voice their concerns saying that they’ll be staging a protest.

Luckily for over 90% of Australians that use Google.com.au, it has been reported that Google will continue their services and will simply “raise awareness.” For example, today Google released this page on ‘End Piracy, Not Liberty’.

The staff here at Wunderman seem to be split down the middle. Clearly privacy is a serious issue that needs addressing, but should it be at the cost of free speech? We’d love to hear your comments!