Several prominent websites like Wikipedia and Reddit went 'dark' on
Wednesday to protest against the proposed anti-piracy legislation called
SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act). Many other sites oppose SOPA but did
not “go dark” in Wednesday’s 24-hour protest. These include Mozilla
(owner of the Firefox web browser), Facebook, eBay and Google. A similar
bill in the US Senate, the Protection of Intellectual Property Act
(PIPA) would allow U.S. copyright holders to get court orders against
foreign websites that steal from them. Sites that abuse copyright would
not be able to use many online advertising networks or credit card
services. It is now doubtful the bill will get the support of the sixty
senators it needs in a crucial vote on Tuesday, January 24th.
The entertainment, pharmaceutical and fashion industries strongly
support the bills. They lose billions of dollars every year to copyright
violators. Internet companies oppose the bills, saying they will lead
to censorship that would damage the Internet by discouraging new online
start-ups. A letter to Congress signed by 130 technology entrepreneurs
and executives expressed their concerns. It said SOPA and PIPA would
"hurt economic growth and chill innovation in legitimate services that
help people create, communicate, and make money online". Wikipedia has
said it would continue the fight. It declares on its front page: "We're
not done yet." It also said: “More than 162 million people saw our
message asking if you could imagine a world without free knowledge.”
-breakingnewsenglish.com
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