Do not Scare us : SOPA and PIPA go Away with your cousins across the globe

Google and Facebook Inc., fighting a lawsuit in India against content deemed offensive by the government, asked a court to quash the case that underscores a clash over free speech in the world’s biggest democracy. Companies have told the Delhi High Court that blocking them was not an option as a democratic India does not have a “totalitarian” regime like China.

Worlds 2 biggest democracies seems to be fighting a battle on different grounds. But both seems to be a raging a battle online. On one side we have governments and on other side we have companies. Most of these companies fund the elections/political parties but have voiced their opinion against SOPA/PIPA. Not to forget the common men who are supporting the companies .

Wondering what is SOPA ? Below is a youtube video which explains it

Today(18 Jan 2012) a daylong blackout was declared by Web’s most popular and influential sites to protest the proposed SOPA and PIPA antipiracy bills. Some of the supporter where  Wikipedia , google etc

I posted some snaps at http://post.ly/4ta2V

The momentum has largely shifted away from the legislation. Several key legislators have backed off (the House has stalled on SOPA mid-markup but is set to resume next month; the Senate is mulling a cloture vote on PIPA as early as next week, but several key senators, including bill sponsors Orrin Hatch and John Boozman, along with Marco Rubio, Roy Blunt and John Cornyn, have turned against it; and the White House announced major opposition) and Internet activists are declaring a victory.

But still it is not over.  Some provisions of the Stop Online Piracy Act  and Protect Intellectual Property Act could potentially re-make the ways music is listened to, watched and traded online should Congress re-visit the legislation or pieces of it. On the other side another democratic country India is stepping up scrutiny of Internet postings and mobile communications, even as it held at least six meetings with companies in 2011 to weed out provocative comments and help prevent discord between religious groups. India’s Information Technology Act of 2008 gives Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal the authority to order portals to block sites and requires companies to designate a point of contact for receiving those government requests.

With such legislation around, Internet freedom seems to be at risk. One  understandable risk for the government i see is the 2011 storms. The Arab world revolution will go down in history as one of the first mass-revolutions to make an active use of the internet. The popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria have all made use of the internet as a tool for passing information and organization. Bloggers have been at the heart of making sure that what happens in these places becomes known around the world. With such massive changes resulting due to Internet, i am sure politicians will think ways to stop.

But  over a longer term things should be seen on a holistic perspective. Blocking the freedom of internet is not a solution. I hope all of us will exercise Blogger Responsibility and win our freedom in a democratic manner.

Advertisement