Sunday 22 January 2012

Protest 'blackout' in response to US piracy laws

Websites including Wikipedia and Wordpress went offline this week in a 24-hour protest against two bills about copyright infringement being considered by Congress

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) have been designed to combat sites using unauthorised copyright material. If they became law, content owners would have the power to request court orders to shut down sites associated with piracy.

Opponents of the anti-piracy legislation include major sites including Google, Yahoo, Facebook, eBay and LinkedIn. President Obama's technology advisors went on record at the weekend as saying that they would not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cyber security risks and 'undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet.' The White House will not be backing aspects of both SOPA and PIPA.

Wordpress and Wikipedia are encouraging users to support the protest.

Thanks to writers-online.co.uk for this story!

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