Internet Goes Black to Protest Censorship
Wikipedia, the world’s free online encyclopedia, went dark on Wednesday and other Internet players including Google put black censorship bars on portions of their websites in protest of pending U.S. legislation designed to curb online piracy.
The unusual protest was visible across the Internet in many forms on Wednesday, with dozens of commercial and non-profit websites either closing down for the day or urging visitors to oppose what had until recently been a relatively obscure and technical legislative proposal.
Internet companies aim to get U.S. lawmakers to back off of bills designed to shut down access to overseas websites that traffic in stolen content or counterfeit goods.
The effort has gained traction. The White House over the weekend warned that overly broad legislation could harm free speech, and on Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner acknowledged there was a lack of consensus on the bills.
Several members of Congress said the legislation appeared stalled, with some reversing earlier support for the measures.
The legislation, known as SOPA in the U.S. House of Representatives and PIPA in the Senate, has been a major priority for entertainment companies, publishers, pharmaceutical companies and many industry groups, who say it is critical to curbing online piracy that costs them billions of dollars a year.
But Internet players argue the bills would undermine innovation and free speech rights and compromise the functioning of the Internet.
“Something this big – which looks to be the largest and most prolific online protest ever in the short history of the Internet – that’s bound to get the attention of lawmakers across the board,” said Jeffrey Silva, an analyst at Medley Global Advisors.
Wikipedia mounted a 24-hour protest starting at midnight by converting their English page to shadowy black background and warning readers that “the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet.”
It included a link to help Internet users contact their representatives.
Craigslist, the free Internet classifieds site, also went black in protest, while Google’s home search page included a black bar slapped over its logo, and asked readers: “Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the web!”
Smaller sites, such as Reddit.com and BoingBoing.net, were also dark, with BoingBoing noting that the proposed anti-piracy bills “would put us in legal jeopardy if we linked to a site anywhere online that had links to copyright infringement.”
Bill Allison, editorial director at the Sunlight Foundation, a lobbying watchdog group, said the Internet companies’ 24-hour boycott was an effective campaign.
“It’s a way of engaging the public in something that had been a very much behind closed doors kind of business as usual in Washington thing. It’s a way to get the public aware and alerted to it, and somewhat on their side,” Allison said.
Momentum Cools
The bills were seemingly on track for approval by Congress, but sentiment has shifted in recent weeks and an implicit veto threat from the White House has cast doubt on whether legislation will pass.
Republican Representative Tom Price, head of the House Republican Policy Committee, said in a hallway interview, “I don’t think it is going anywhere.”
“There is real confusion about it, number one, but number two, there are real concerns about whether or not it would it would shutdown the ability of entrepreneurs, new businesses and the like to utilize the Internet for their purposes,” Price said.
When asked about the anti-piracy legislation at a news conference on Wednesday, John Boehner said lawmakers will continue to try to find support for it, but that it’s not there now.
“It’s pretty clear to many of us that there is a lack of consensus at this point,” Boehner said.
Staying on the Sidelines
Big tech names including Facebook and Twitter declined to participate in a boycott despite their opposition to the legislation.
The companies were not prepared to sacrifice a day’s worth of revenue and risk the ire of users for a protest whose impact on lawmakers would be hard to gauge.
Google’s solution allows the search engine giant to keep revenue attached to its searches, while still highlighting the issue.
The protest drew some criticism ahead of its launch.
“This publicity stunt does a disservice to its users by promoting fear instead of facts,” Lamar Smith, Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a sponsor of SOPA, said in a statement on Tuesday. “Perhaps during the blackout, Internet users can look elsewhere for an accurate definition of online piracy.”
Former Senator Chris Dodd, who now chairs the Motion Picture Association of America, labeled the blackout a “gimmick” and called for its supporters to “stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy.”
Grrrr!
I tried to do some research today & it was really a pain in the neck that Wikipedia (which usually leads me to other sites) was down.
No I did NOT join the protest. Some regulation would be a good idea.
It-s about time.
Good! This bill is the best thing that ever happened! The internet should be censored! This will do a great deal to make the internet much cleaner. It’s atrocious how law-less the internet has been the past 20+ years. This should keep webmasters and search engines on their toes. If this bill passes, I don’t think those who innocently use the internet will be bombarded with media the same way. I hope this goes through! In addition to that – I think that all the dirt floating around the internet will be much more centralized – and it won’t be all over the place anymore. Again, this is the best thing that ever happened! I support the bill.
I-m in total support of this.
Censor the web.
Enough.
Tame the beast! Not a bad idea…
DeClasse- Intellectual
To numbers 1 & 2, once you start censoring anything, you have destroyed a fundamental individual right and in this day of the ever growing presence of government interference or attempted
interference into every aspect of life–wait until Obama care kicks in and some mindless bureaucrat tells you what you can do and not do in health decisions–and trouuble for you as an individual has begun.
Besides do you think this legislation is going to do any good?? Get Real!!!! One the biggest countries in Asia is one of the biggest supporters of priacy over the internet etc. We borrow mony from them and even give them foreign aid.
As far as your concern about content–Hashem gave you the Torah and a brain.
Enough
The Government is slowly beginning to police every aspect of its citizen’s rights.
America is no longer the “ Land of the Free”.
Mother in Crown Heights
The reason you need SOME regulation is because of the irresponsibility of some sites…like the disgusting CH one that accuses innocent people of molesting kids. They say it because they can. The laws of libel don’t apply to the Web & they should.
FYI I am not related to anyone on the list & my name isn’t on there either!
Father in Crown Heights wrote:
Dear Mother in Crown Heights,
I cannot sit by and allow such a one sided attack against the directors of a website that is doing more than any other individual or mosad in crown heights to protect our children, e.g. crownheightswatch.com. So, I have copied their mission statement below.
FYI I am not related to anyone who runs chwatch and my name is not among the victims either!!!!!
Dear Anash,
Our children are our future. They are precious above all else, their innocent souls entrusted to us as their parents by Hashem Himself.
Not only are we obligated to treasure and love them, but also to guide and protect them.
Sadly enough, the darkness that surrounds us can sometimes be overpowering, causing us to lose sight of good and evil, right and wrong. We forsake our children’s purity for misguided ideals, social and political.
Due to a sequence of horrific events, the founders of CH Watch, together with many members of our community, have come together to say “Enough!” in one strong voice. We must protect our children from evil.
Our mission will be carried out on many fronts. We must heal the wounded, create awareness within the community, and prevent the horror from being perpetrated further.
Our Goals:
1. To create a strong awareness of the issues among all segments of the population: adults, children, and even potential predators.
2. To offer victims a place/helpline where they can receive proper guidance and appropriate therapy, in order to express themselves (anonymously if they wish).
3. To expose and bring to justice to every predator in our community. The purpose of this is two-fold: to prevent them from hurting anyone else, and to serve as an example and deterrent to others.
4. To have schools and camps adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward abuse.
5. To deal with halachic rulings on the matter.
Many people don’t want to believe that child abuse happens in their community, but it does. It is very important to talk about it. Such abuse will be prevented when it is no longer a taboo subject. The consequences of denial can negatively affect a person his entire lifetime, and can also, G-d forbid, be passed down to further generations.
It is important that we confront this issue and accept reality. Victims of these types of crimes must be given all the encouragement and support necessary to come forward.
Many in our community have been aware of these allegations for an extended period of time, and have done nothing.
As parents and community members, we have a duty to confront sexual abuse in our midst. This is the only way to ensure that it never happens again.
It is imperative to note that there is a positive halachic obligation not only upon the victim of abuse to come forward, but also on anyone else who is aware of it: friends, parents, or anyone else in a position of authority. These matters MUST be reported to the Special Victims Unit /Sex Crimes Division of the police.
We must have the courage and dignity to unite and ensure a full, thorough and proper investigation. Those who have taken advantage of our children must be held to account.
mother again
What “thorough & proper investigation” do THEY conduct? They talk the talk but where does it describe the “thorough investigation” they do before posting people’s names and wrecking their lives?
Protecting our children is and should be our #1 priority. No arguments from me on that but it must be done in a responsible way. That’s what I object to. This site isn’t done like that, it’s a “you have a name? GREAT!! Let’s post it!”
People can say anything. Maybe you don’t know about kids and women who cry rape and later on after OFFICIAL investigations the accused people are cleared. By then these peoples lives are ruined.
This is what I say should be done with this site. Post names of everyone who is arrested/indicted/convicted but DO NOT post names of people who were only accused by somebody of something. Wait till the police have done their job. Then yes, we should know who is out there molesting our kids. Again, you get no argument from me. Destroying decent people WITHOUT PROOF just on the say-so of someone who may have his own problems is wrong.
I hope I explained why I feel there should be some regulations on the internet and why this site should be closed until they act responsibly so they don’t cause any more pain like they’ve managed so far. I don’t have anything more to say on this topic except that I hope the site monitors will change their procedures.
PS Its about time parents took responsibility also and talk to their kids about safety.
Good Shabbos!
Who willingly gives up freedom? Really..
Kudos to #8. I strongly agree with your position on the matter. Aside from that, bills such as SOPA and PIPA wil stir a feeling of power in political figures, leaving them thirsty for more and essentially leading them to destroy individual businesses, capitalism, individual freedoms and ultimately act unconstitutionally.