Those who have been following the fallout from last week’s internet blackout breathed a sigh of relief on January 20 as SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) was shelved indefinitely.
The protests enacted by websites such as Wikipedia, Reddit, and many more helped raise awareness and spread knowledge of the dangers of SOPA and its counterpart PIPA (the Personal Information Prevention Act) until the bill was dismissed.
Some may figure we (the citizens of the internet age) dodged a bullet, but few realize how close it came, or how much damage the act would have caused. However well-intentioned the bill may have been, it could only have had one outcome: censorship in the last free place on earth.
We live in the information age. Today, knowledge really is power. The oppressive regimes out there know this. North Korea’s government enjoys such tight control over its citizens because it controls the country’s most valuable resource: its information. SOPA, PIPA, and similar legislative acts may not be the crown jewel of totalitarian regimes, but this is how it starts.
And remember: the act is not destroyed, merely shelved. The act, and the power brokers invested in passing it, will be back. Those powers are also not exclusive to the states; how long do you think it will be before we see similar legislation up for review here? Canada’s copyright laws are an inscrutable mess, and our parody laws are borderline-draconian.
With such tight legislation in a place to be used as a precedent, there would be little to stop a Canadian internet censorship law, except one thing:
You.
An online petition was created to stop SOPA. Seven million people signed it. It showed the rest of the world that you can have a direct influence on the laws in your country; all you have to do is speak.
SOPA appears to be defeated for now, but the bill’s supporters are learning from this setback. They are taking lessons away from this, and so must we. Apathy is no longer an option. This past week, we have seen the power of a peaceful protest carry just as much, if not more weight than it does for those united with the Occupy Movement. That power is our privilege as citizens of a democracy.
Using it is our responsibility.
