The proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) discussed in a prior blog post is garnering some very negative reactions from internet and technology companies, culminating in a day of protest by many websites to draw attention to the bills, which are making their way through the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. Today, Wikipedia has blocked all of its English-language pages and Google has blacked out its U.S. home page logo (see sopastrike.com for a full list of the SOPA protest participants). Late last year, a group of nine technology companies (AOL, Ebay, Facebook, Google, Linkedin, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo and Zynga) took out a full-page ad in the New York Times voicing their concern that "the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding U.S. Internet and technology companies to new and uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring of websites." Both bills have been the subject of controversy because of the severe measures that can be invoked relatively quickly and easily to block access to, or financially cripple, allegedly infringing websites.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
