The day the Internet went dark

On Jan. 18, an estimated 7,000 Web sites on the Internet blacked out their services for a 24-hour period to protest the SOPA and PIPA bills which were soon to be voted on in the US Senate and House of Representatives. The online activism led to many American politicians withdrawing their support for the bills, and congress has decided to postpone their debate on this issue.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) are two bills that are being proposed to stop copyright infringements primarily by foreign Web sites.

Wikipedia participated in the black-out, cutting its users off for 24 hours. Visitors of the site were redirected to an information page on SOPA and PIPA explaining why the Web site is opposed to them and what people can do to prevent the passing of the legislation.

Wikipedia stated that over 162 million people saw their message and more than eight million used the site's online tool to look up their elected representatives' contact information.

The World's largest search engine, Google, stayed active, but also protested the bills by blackening its logo and posting the message: "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web".

Many other sites, such as Reddit, Craig's List and Wordpress, followed suit.

Though many politicians have withdrawn their support for the bills, copyright infringement and intellectual property are still important issues in the information age.

"I have certain sympathy for those who want to protect their copyright. Google has allowed millions of books on the site, it's a good service, but it is a violation of a copyright," said Brock University Political Science Professor Juris Dreifelds.

The supporters of SOPA include companies such as Time Warner, and groups like the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have stated that online piracy leads to US job losses because it takes income away from the creators of content – primarily entertainment content. Every film and song that is downloaded illegally costs the entertainment sector money.

"For the music and entertainment industry, their dominant revenue strain is in rights and retaining copyrights," said Brock University Popular Culture Professor Scott Henderson. "The industry is kind of scrambling and I think SOPA is evidence of that."

According to the British Broadcasting Company, the bills proposed that anyone found guilty of streaming copyrighted content without permission 10 or more times within six months should face up to five years in jail. The US government and copyrights holders would have the right to seek court orders against any site accused of "enabling or facilitating" piracy. This could theoretically involve an entire Web site being shut down for containing a link to a suspect site.

Many media sources have called the controversy over SOPA and PIPA a "war between Hollywood and Silicon Valley," meaning a conflict between the entertainment and technological industries, but the truth may not be so simple.

Thousands of sites from Wikipedia to independent Internet bloggers all over the World have stated that the supporters of this bill do not understand the complexities of the Internet and that the proposed legislation is also a threat to free speech and advocates censorship of the Internet. Wikipedia called both SOPA and PIPA, "Misguided solutions to a misunderstood problem".

"It's the failing of the traditional media," said Henderson. "Even though they are aware that the times are changing, it is so hard to stop a moving ship without continuing to drift in the same direction."