January 18th, 2012 
admin Many of you have heard the news that many websites are shutting down today in protest of SOPA/PIPA legislation that is being considered in Congress right now. The legislation, being lobbied for by the Record and Movie industry, could potentially force websites to shut down if they provide links to pirated content and force search engines like Google to remove URLs from their database – essentially, a death penalty for a website. Many Silicon Valley companies and Free Speech advocates are opposed to this legislation and are voicing their protest. These websites included Google, Move On, Reddit, Mozilla, Wikipedia, etc. Others voice the potential for increased security problems, unstable DNS network, and the overall structure of the internet at it is today could be compromised. Those in favor of this legislation, corporations such as Time Warner and NewsCorp and the RIAA state that they attempting to prevent the trafficking of their intellectual and copyrighted property.
Read one of the following articles:
- Wikipedia, other websites go dark in anti-piracy bill protest (CNN).
- Wikipedia, Google blackout sites to protest SOPA (CNET).
In the comments section below, or on a separate sheet of paper, please do the following:
3- Three things you learned from the article.
2- What are two questions you still have about this topic?
1- What is one way you feel this current event article will enhance your understanding of Global Studies?
