SOPA and PIPA, two acts with names that sound like British royal wannabes, are now shelved. This is after a huge outcry of the internet users and internet companies.
What are these acts? In a nutshell – pieces of legislation allowing the government to censor Internet sites. The main force behind these bills is the movies’ industry, as usual. While the studios defend their monopoly on “piracy” (a word they use to describe sharing of licensed content between people), they tried to enter into our living rooms, bed rooms and offices and have the government watch (on their behalf) what we do there. If the government (on their behalf) finds that we’re doing something that the government (or the studios) don’t like – it will censor our actions. Cort orders? Due process? Who needs it when we have SOPA.
So that has been stopped. Is the fight over? Not at all.
