The events leading to the postponement of the SOPA bill shows the power of the Internet. As the protests snowballed, culminating in the historic online blackout on January 18 when Wikipedia went blank, Google blanked out its logo, and thousands of blogs displayed protest messages on their home pages - the number of Senators supporting the legislation dwindled. But the war still continues as postponement does not necessarily mean the end.

So why should we be concerned about SOPA? A few years ago, I found that WordPress had blocked my blog. There was no email or any communication to that effect. When I logged in, I found out that some guy had complained about copyright infringement. My blog was blocked despite the fact that it was not commercial. This was before SOPA or PIPA. When the bills come into effect, things could get worse. If the US Attorney General seeks a court order against any offshore site, it has to be removed. Though the bills are supposed to target only ‘rouge' offshore sites, the definition is not quite watertight. If you run a site or blog, the US can force the Internet Service Provider to shut down your blog or freeze revenue streams by blocking advertisements and asking payment processors not to service your web site (Remember WikiLeaks?). You could fight it out legally but you have to remember that it is the US Government you will be taking on.

The bills are fast losing support among senators, but with top companies and chambers of commerce supporting the bill, we have to be prepared for the worst. Just as the digital protest ended on January 18, file-sharing site Megaupload was shut down the next day and the founder was arrested. Is this the shape of things to come?

dinakaran@thehindu.co.in

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