The SOPA 'splosion

As I'm sure all you tech-savvy readers are aware, last week was quite an eventful one in the age of the internet. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its counterpart the Protect IP Act (PIPA, somehow short for the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act) have taken the internet by storm. And by "storm," I mean that thing that happens right after you kick a bee hive.

The goal behind SOPA and PIPA is simple: Stop people from stealing others' intellectual property by sharing it with others over the internet. The thing about it is, stopping someone from sharing material online is impossible by normal means; it's not the same as arresting someone with a camcorder in a movie theater. In order to fully understand the situation clearly, some explanation is required. For that, let's go to the video tape! Or, in this case, a video by the fine folks at TED.

The way Mr. Shirky puts it is somewhat of a simplified version, in order to get the message across. For a bit more of an in-depth explanation, you might consult this video:

Many site owners and internet users in general were outraged, as you might expect. So, what to do about it? Well, the obvious answer is to petition the government. There were numerous petitions in place, one of the most prominent of which appeared on Google.com's main page on January 18, accompanied by a black-barred Google logo. Google was participating in what was reportedly the largest online protest in history, when several heavy hitters online blacked out their websites in order to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA. Google's petition alone received over 7 million signatures, according to cnn.com.

Among the January 18 protesters were Reddit, Mozilla, Craigslist, Wordpress, Wired, Wikipedia, and many, many more.Wikipedia, which blacked out every page of its website for 24 hours, was able to get people's attention by the thousands. The purpose of blacking out the sites was to show readers what might be a real possibility if SOPA and/or PIPA passed. 

And do you want to know what the amazing thing is? People did notice. People wrote their congressmen. People called the government, they spoke out, and they were heard. What's more amazing? Two days later SOPA and PIPA were dead. "Postponed indefinitely," is the proper terminology. 

The leader of the SOPA legislation, Sen. Lamar Smith (R, TX), had this to say upon postponing SOPA:

"I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy. It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products." 

You can read Sen. Smith's full statement here.

So, the world is safe for the internet once again! Right? ...Right?