Here is a day without Free Knowledgeable source – WIKI
As announced, Wikipedia’s main page is “blackened” today in protest of the controversial Stop online privacy act (SOPA).
From their page – “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,”.
Reddit, Imgur, Boing Boing and many other sites will join the protest by shutting down or “blacking out” their homepages today.
If you are not aware of what’s going on, better late than never may be this is the right time.
So, What is SOPA ?
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. ( More Info – Wiki )
Effects of SOPA
The bills propose that anyone found guilty of streaming copyrighted content without permission 10 or more times within six months should face up to five years in jail.
The US government and rights holders would have the right to seek court orders against any site accused of “enabling or facilitating” piracy. This could theoretically involve an entire website being shut down because it contains a link to a suspect site.
US-based internet service providers, payment processors and advertisers would be outlawed from doing business with alleged copyright infringers. Sopa also calls for search engines to remove infringing sites from their results – Pipa does not include this provision.
The bills would also outlaw sites from containing information about how to access blocked sites.
The bills originally demanded that internet service providers block users from being able to access suspect sites using a technique called Domain Name System (DNS) blocking.
( From BBC : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16596577)
Why they need SOPA ?
Content groups like the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and business representatives like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argue that innovation and jobs in content-creating industries are threatened by growing Internet piracy. Overseas websites, they argue, are a safe haven for Internet pirates profiting off their content.
Some more Interesting articles
SOPA – What You Need to Know Today
How SOPA Would Affect You: FAQ
Save Internet,
WorthvieW
