SOPA and Hip-Hop’s Escalating Custody Battle
The response to Washington’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) was so swift and powerful that it can really only be called a protest in the same way that a first-round Mike Tyson knockout can be considered a fight. In a flash, Google got seven million signatures, Wikipedia staged a self-imposed blackout and countless other sites, including our small operation, followed suit. People crammed the streets in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and D.C., and many members of Congress quietly backed off. In only a few days, the web browsers of America had crushed two quickly rising pieces of legislation. Feel free to tamper with our civil liberties, but never, ever fuck with our internet.
SOPA, certainly, should have been stopped. In its current form, the bill is ambiguously worded and has the potential, if passed, to shut down any site whose users display or host pirated content. Sites like the Huffington Post and Grantland could conceivably be taken down for using copyrighted images and videos despite the fact that the pieces on those sites are original works. Most everyone involved in the SOPA debate agrees that online piracy needs to be curbed, but the extreme backlash to the bill is evidence that it needs to be done more responsibly.
The ultimately successful week, however, was shrouded by a dangerous attitude of helplessness and detachment. Many protestors were quick to frame this debate as a case of greedy entertainment moguls restricting the freedoms of the average American. What was largely missing, though, was any serious talk of the individual’s role in this important debate.
Read the rest of this article at Madbury Club
Category: Op-Ed | Tags: Hip-hop, internet, Madbury Club, pipa, protest, sopa
