A few days ago, I was casually browsing the Internet, looking for information about humor in the Soviet Union (it’s a pet hobby of mine). But as I tried to access Wikipedia’s article on Russian jokes, I found myself confronted with an ominous black page.
As I would find out, Wednesday was the day the Internet went on strike. Thousands of websites went dark to protest the Protect Intellectual Property Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act.
These websites include Wikipedia, the research tool known and loved by many UCLA students and more than 85 million other visitors each month; WordPress, with more than 30 million visitors; and Reddit, with more than 2 million. Many other websites including Google, although not blacked out completely, have altered their pages to protest the bills.
SOPA originated in the House of Representatives, and PIPA from the Senate, but the two bills aim to prevent online copyright infringement. Both operate on the principle of Domain Name System redirecting. When users type the domain name of a site suspected of copyright infringement (for example, “www.thepiratebay.com”) in their browser, they will be redirected to a page indicating that the website is inaccessible.
Earlier this week, the White House released a statement saying it will veto any bill that alters the DNS, on the grounds that it would lead to less security and stability on the Internet. Emboldened by the president’s reaction, Wikipedia and other websites decided to stage a protest across the Web.
But did it work? According to reports from multiple sources, it has. Several of the bills’ supporters in Congress have either withdrawn their support or issued statements encouraging thoughtful consideration before the Senate votes on PIPA, scheduled for Jan. 24.
Since the battleground is the Internet itself, an “Internet strike” on several key websites was a logical and clever way to get the attention of both the public and Congress. If the bills pass, the websites which link to other sites that host pirated content will be prosecuted.
Thus, it makes sense that a search engine such as Google, a user-run news site such as Reddit and an encyclopedia such as Wikipedia, which requires links to cited sources, would be against it.
However, these websites should take care not to employ this method of negotiation too often. Holding content hostage in exchange for political support is an extreme tactic. If a website’s content is not available consistently, users will stop visiting it, and future “protests” of this kind will have less of an effect.
Furthermore, what if the bills come back in newer, stronger incarnations?
The Internet has warded off SOPA and PIPA once, but it is doubtful whether the same strategy will work again.
Email Mirea at
nmirea@media.ucla.edu or tweet at us @DBOpinion.