Boing Boing Editor: SOPA and PIPA Are 'Completely Ineffective'

January 18, 2012 via Al Jazeera English

Numerous US-based websites, including Wikipedia, Boing Boing, and Reddit have gone offline as a protest against two US laws that they say limit important freedoms that the internet has brought people. The two laws are called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, eBay, and AOL have all spoken out against the proposed legislation. Rob Beschizza, the managing editor of Boing Boing, joins Al Jazeera English from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Stop Online Piracy Act

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a United States bill introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Provisions include the reques... Explore this topic

PROTECT IP act

The PROTECT IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA) is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to i... Explore this topic

Boing Boing

Boing Boing (originally bOING bOING) is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog. Boing Boing started as a zine in 1988 by Mark Frauenfelder and Carla Sinclair, his wife. Issues were subtitled "The World's Greatest Neurozine". Associate... Explore this topic

US Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Congress meets in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Both Representatives and Senators are chosen through direct ... Explore this topic

Anti-piracy

Anti-piracy is a term used to describe countermeasures against maritime piracy but moreoften by some to describe the attempt to prevent copyright infringement, counterfeiting, and other violations of intellectual-property rights. It includes, but is by no means limited to, the... Explore this topic

Internet censorship

Internet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations at the behest of government, regulators, or on their own initiative. Individuals and organizations... Explore this topic

Internet activism

Internet activism (also known as online organizing, electronic advocacy, cyberactivism, e-campaigning, and e-activism) is the use of electronic communication technologies such as social media, especially Twitter and Facebook, YouTube, e-mail, and podcasts for various forms of ... Explore this topic

Wikipedia

Wikipedia (IPA: /ˌwikiˈpiːdi.ə/, /ˌwɪkiˈpiːdi.ə/, or /ˌwaɪkiˈpiːdi.ə/ (Audio (U.S.) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project. Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers; the vast majority of its articles can be edited by anyone with access t... Explore this topic

reddit is a social news website where users can post links to content on the web. Other users may then vote the posted links up or down, causing them to appear more or less prominently on the reddit home page. The site has discussion areas where users may discuss the posted li... Explore this topic

Google

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is an American multinational corporation which provides Internet-related products and services, including Internet search, cloud computing, software and advertising technologies. Advertising revenues from AdWords generate almost all of the company's ... Explore this topic

Also See

Stop Online Piracy Act

PROTECT IP act

Boing Boing

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