Censorship and SOPA

After reading the several articles that were provided on the issue of SOPA, I can't help but imagine a future in which SOPA did actually pass. If this dangerous bill were to have gone through, what would this mean for the future of the Internet? Would the bill become a precedent which made it easier to pass other Internet censorship legislation? One of the most frightening things to realize when considering these questions is how close the bill actually was to passing, and could have passed largely unnoticed by the public. It is also horrifying to realize how much the government is influenced by whichever corporations have the most money. If anti-SOPA activists were not as effective in organizing a grass-roots movement, this bill would have passed for the simple fact that Hollywood had more money to spend.

 However, as is pointed out in the articles, SOPA was unsuccessful in passing into law. As far as understanding the issue and its effects go, I believe that Professor Herman's article, "A Political History of DRM and Related Copyright Debates", was the most comprehensive. The charts and graphs provided in the other articles were helpful as a visual aid, but were unsuccessful in describing the actual movement that took place in order to stop this bill. It was also very helpful to have a general overview of copyright law and its history in understanding SOPA and what it means for the public today. The point was also made in Professor Herman's article, which I find interesting, is that the success of stopping SOPA was largely credited to the technology division rather than to the general public. What does this mean for us as citizens? Even though it is beneficial to us that the voices of the technology division are being taken seriously, what does it mean that our voices as citizens were largely overlooked? Does the support of websites like Google, Wikipedia, and Facebook mean more to our politicians than the fact that millions of citizens took the time to call and email their representatives? Either way, we are better off without SOPA being in effect as law. However, I believe it was a mistake on the part of both the media and politicians to overlook the fact that grass-roots movements can still be effective in policy making without the backing of major corporations. At least I hope that still remains to be true. I am grateful that organizations like Fight for the Future exist to educate us about the great costs that bills like SOPA would mean for us. I also hope that the next time a bill like SOPA comes around, that the public will be ready to make history once again.