You may have heard that there is a bill in Congress (SOPA - House of Representatives, PIPA - Senate) that could lead to Internet censorship by the government and copyright holders. Censorship means that somebody gets to decide what information you can get and cannot get. So the government and copyright holders could take something off of the Internet and you would not have access to it. The bill was made to protect people with copyrights. A copyright means that the person who created the piece "owns" it and it should not be copied without permission. The bill was meant to protect mainly music and film artists because their copyrighted materials are being "stolen".
Read about the bill and post a comment by 1/30/12. Answer one of the following questions and use evidence to support your opinion. Alternatively, you may respond to another comment or pose questions yourself.
- Do you agree or disagree with this bill? Explain.
- What do you think of censorship in the media? Explain.
- Do you think "sharing" film and music on the Internet is the same as "stealing"? Explain.
Good resources:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/technology/sopa_explained/index.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/11/sopa-internet-piracy-bill-criticized-as-internet-censorship/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/sopa-internet-censorship-online-piracy-house-hearing_n_1098255.html
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-11-17/news/30412322_1_ip-act-rogue-websites-sopa
Read about the bill and post a comment by 1/30/12. Answer one of the following questions and use evidence to support your opinion. Alternatively, you may respond to another comment or pose questions yourself.
- Do you agree or disagree with this bill? Explain.
- What do you think of censorship in the media? Explain.
- Do you think "sharing" film and music on the Internet is the same as "stealing"? Explain.
Good resources:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/technology/sopa_explained/index.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/11/sopa-internet-piracy-bill-criticized-as-internet-censorship/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/sopa-internet-censorship-online-piracy-house-hearing_n_1098255.html
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-11-17/news/30412322_1_ip-act-rogue-websites-sopa