Net Neutrality: Sopa and Backlash from a Democratic Internet

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) were acts proposed by the United States Congress and Senate respectively. The government proposed both acts as a response to the increase of illegal online downloading, which has been detrimental to both the music and film industries. However, large Internet companies such as Wikipedia, Google, Craigslist, and Reddit along with mass, individual user upheaval, participated in an online protest and the blacking out of websites on January 18th 2012 stating that both acts were violating net neutrality. The subsequent loss in backers of both bills due to mass protest and website blackouts shows that the average person still has a democratic vehicle to get their voice heard, the Internet. This paper plans to explain to readers what Net Neutrality is and how SOPA and PIPA were attempting to regulate aspects of the Internet. Continuing the paper will examine how a democratic Internet rose up and successfully protested potential Congressional and Senate laws it opposed, and the ensuing effects of these protests on any further attempts at regulating the Internet. Due to the freedom that the Internet now has, it is one of a few true democratic realms left and its users exercised that power to keep it free, according to Abrams (2012) due to the strong opposition from the Internet community, SOPA, PIPA and any legislation against online piracy is put off until further notice (P.1). The counter argument of these protests will be examined by looking at the position of the music, film and media industries to protect their property rights. The Internet in North America as it stands now, is a realm of completely free speech, where anyone can express their thoughts and ideas and everyone else can view, comment and expand on these ideas freely. This freedom is a unique, instantaneous and possibly worldwide phenomenon that may well lead to many of the most significant progress made this generation. This opportunity for progress is only possible, however, if the Internet remains for the most part unregulated and Net Neutrality remains constant.

Net Neutrality is a concept of an ideal Internet space where users have the ability to access any webpage or web application without restrictions or limitations (Joch, 2009, P.14). Though this concept seems straightforward, in reality it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep a reality due to many different parties attempting to control the domain, which is constantly becoming more and more profitable. Currently the Internet runs on a market-based governance that according to Foster, Rutoweski, and Goodman (1997, P.4) allows for users and to allocate the winners and losers via purchasing decisions. This market based governance based on the interests of the public sector and not the private sector allows for the values of the people to give government direction in what way to move the Internet forward. An Internet regulated by the private sector could "Stifle entertainment, culture, and political diversity (Joch, P.14). Another fear of limiting net neutrality is the possibility of blocking content for commercial or political reasons (Joch, P.15), which would severely limit the style of a free and open Internet that now exists. This type of censorship of the Internet can be seen in countries like China who " Devote enormous efforts to surveillance the Internet... (and) erect a fire wall to limit access of their own citizens to politically sensitive material"(Gardner, Ferdinand, Lawson, 2009, P.292). Limiting information access to a population is an extreme form of political rights abuse and Net Neutrality aims to keep the Internet as free as it possibly can. When the Internet is a free place it is one of the most positive tools for democracy that exists today, if properly used it could someday even be used as an arena for voting in referendums or even elections (Gardner, et al., P.80). However, bills such as SOPA and PIPA could open the door for further legislature that could censor the Internet far beyond pirating forms of media and destroy what Net Neutrality stands for.

(SOPA) the acronym for the Stop Online Piracy Act and (PIPA) the Protect IP Act are bills that have sincere motives, stopping online property theft from the film and music industries.

The acts were designed to stop websites that offer illegal streaming and downloading of media and other copyright content (Crowley, 2012, P.1). The bills, if well constructed, would be a step in the right direction in stemming the tide of increasing online piracy, which is becoming a serious problem in both media industries. The bills would allow court mandated blocking of alleged piracy and copyright violating websites on search engines like Google and force advertisers to stop paying offending sites (Crowley, 2012, P.2). This bills, however, contains serious flaws, which caused opposition form the high-tech community including websites like Google and Wikipedia (The Associated Press, 2012b, P.1). Concerns were also expressed from the Obama White House pointing out that the bills are "too broad and would have unintended consequences. They would ensnare small sites that have done nothing wrong in expensive legal battles"(The Associated Press, 2012b, P.1). The effect of online piracy is not something that can be ignored though; the major players in movie, television, and book publishing say, " without legislation 2.2 million industry jobs would be at risk"(Kaszor, 2012, P.1). The support of the entertainment industry is not surprising due to billions in lost profits annually to foreign copyright violators (The Associated Press, 2012a, P.1). Proponents for both bills argue that the bills only attack activity that is illegal already and only targets international websites that steal American products (The Associated Press, 2012a, P.2). Bills made with the best intentions can still not be the bills that society should accept, the bills are susceptible to subtitle interpretation that could lead the internet to become a cyber police state as it is in other countries (Kaszor, 2012, P.2). These potential catastrophic changes to the Internet are what lead the tech giants backed by armies of users for a democratic Internet to take on these two bills on and stop them in their tracks, in less than a week.

The flaws in both SOPA and PIPA lead the Web powerhouses like Google, Facebook, Reddt, YouTube, and Wikipedia along with Internet activists