Internet censorship is bad for America

Internet users received good news this week when the White House announced its opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill that would allow for censorship of websites that link to pirated music, movies and TV shows. The fact that this legislation has gotten as far as it has should be unsettling to all Web users, as it would limit the exchange of vital information.SOPA and its Senate companion bill, the Protect IP Act (PIPA), may have the good intentions of wanting to limit the flow of illegally pirated intellectual property, but organizations such as Google and Wikipedia have pointed out that good work being done by American websites and search engines would be caught in the sweep and subjected to unprecedented censorship.On Saturday, the Obama administration said it was opposing SOPA because of its potential to disrupt “the underlying architecture of the Internet.” The Hill reported this week that the controversial bill was subsequently shelved in the House of Representatives, but that PIPA is still being considered in the Senate.The bad news in all of this is the fact that SOPA was merely “shelved” and not killed by its bipartisan proponents, and PIPA remained alive. Seemingly ignorant of how the Internet works, the bills’ supporters have consistently failed to acknowledge that one of the greatest uses and ultimate benefits of the Internet lies in the ability to freely share and distribute information. Any law that infringes upon that openness should be seen as a threat to freedom and American democracy. Anyone who wants to see what a censored Internet looks like can travel to China or North Korea to see (or, actually, not see) how many websites are being blocked by the governments in those countries. In the United States, access to information is vital to our existence as a free nation.Numerous websites, including Wikipedia, Reddit, Boing Boing and Cheezburger Network went “dark” Wednesday to protest the provisions in SOPA and PIPA and to bring attention to the issue of Internet censorship, while supporters of Internet freedom reminded users to stay vigilant in their opposition to future versions of the bills. Wikipedia’s main page featured the headline “Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge,” along with a short disclaimer: “For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.”Over at Google, the search engine remained up and running, but a page dedicated to the SOPA/PIPA issue explained that opponents are not supporting copyright infringement. “Fighting online piracy is important. The most effective way to shut down pirate websites is through targeted legislation that cuts off their funding. There’s no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs.”With SOPA shelved, the fight against Internet censorship legislation will be focused against the Senate PIPA act, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). Contact Senators Lieberman and Blumenthal to voice opposition.