Editorial: A global protest Thursday, 19 January 2012 05:12

The Wikipedia action of shutting down its website for a day has drawn global attention to a planned US anti-piracy law. The world’s free online encyclopedia was dark yesterday except for a paragraph urging users to protest legislation designed to stop copyright piracy and Google’s home search page has the logo: “Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the web!”

Sopa and Pipa, the pair of internet censorship bills working their way through the US Congress,  has been opposed by free speech groups who say it will pave the way for US authorities to shut down websites accused of online piracy, including foreign sites. At a time when the world has become glued to the Internet more than ever and developments in the industry have brought rich benefits, the US effort is seen as regressive and an attack on people’s right to know.

The legislation has been demanded by entertainment companies, publishers, pharmaceutical companies and many industry groups to curb online piracy which they say cost them billions of dollars in revenue. At the same time, internet companies which have furiously opposed the legislation argue that it would undermine innovation and infringe on free speech rights, hamper the Internet.

Looking at arguments of both sides, there is a need to strike a compromise. While any efforts to curb the Internet must be opposed, the concerns of the industry need to be addressed. But this can be done not by framing laws arbitrarily, but by taking the Internet firms into confidence on how the menace of piracy can be addressed without harming the interests of any sections of society.

The bills are said to be an example of the influence of corporate money on American politics. Reports say the US media firms donated tens of millions of dollars to the bills’ authors.   

The danger is that any US law meant to muzzle the Internet can be picked up by other countries with the same motives. For example, netizens are worried about a similar move by the Indian government where a court has threatened to take action against Facebook and Google for posting what it says is ‘objectionable content’ which can hurt religious and other sentiments. The cyber world is viewing the court action as a back channel operation of the Indian government which had earlier raised objections against these sites, triggering howls of protests from the cyber world.

The Wikipedia action of shutting down the site has been effective and has sent the right signals. Political support for the controversial legislation appeared to crumble as some senators withdrew their support for the legislation.

The world is so intensely connected and the medium so universal that any effort by any country to curb the internet triggers global protests.