You might have logged onto Wikipedia today and were greeted with an ominous black page asking you to imagine a world without free knowledge. No, this isn’t a new stunt by Jimmy Wales to get his hands on your hard earned dosh; this is the latest wave in internet activism.
Silicon Valley has been unusually collective in their opposition of a new piece of legislation in America that could, if you believe the hype ‘censor the Internet’. The Stop Online Piracy Act known as SOPA has honourable intentions, to stop piracy; or in closer terms, make it easier for US media companies to limit access to file-sharing sites such as the aptly titled Pirate Bay.
With the new legislation in place, uploading clips of, or that contain licensed movies and music to Facebook and YouTube could technically be termed a criminal act, potentially landing you with a five year jail term at the big house!
Wikipedia is leading the crusade to keep the internet censor-free, whilst recent Twitter arrival, Rupert Murdoch has been understandably vocal in his support of the two bills, tweeting; ‘Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying’.
What has been really surprising is how well the technology industry has managed to galvanise public and media support for their cause and are putting up a far tougher fight than anyone imagined. The battle is far from won, but the lines have been drawn in the sand.
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